CELSI researchers Marta Kahancová and Tibor Meszmann contributed to a special issue of Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, providing a comprehensive picture of developments in industrial relations and trade union movements across Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries under the influence of EU enlargement.

CELSI researchers Marta Kahancová and Tibor Meszmann contributed to a special issue of Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, providing a comprehensive picture of developments in industrial relations and trade union movements across Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries under the influence of EU enlargement.

20 years after. Changing perspectives on industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe two decades after EU enlargement: from transition to transformation. (2024). Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 30(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589241229184

In 2004, eight CEE countries joined the European Union, together with Cyprus and Malta. This was the largest ‘big-bang’ enlargement in the EU’s history. Twenty years on, and despite respectable levels of GDP growth, the social and wage gap persists, and industrial relations in the region remain fragmented and unstable.

Earlier this year, Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research published a special issue providing a comprehensive picture of the developments in industrial relations and trade union movements across the region under the influence of EU enlargement.

The issue revisits the early hopes and expectations of this process and analyses its impact on industrial relations in the ‘new’ CEE Member States.

CELSI researchers contributed by two articles. Besides the editorial covering broader perspectives on industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe 20 years after the EU enlargement, Marta Kahancová also co-authored, with Mehtap Akgüç and Jaan Masso, the article titled “One-way street to the European Union? Between national and EU-level social dialogue 20 years after eastward EU enlargement”.

CELSI researcher Tibor Meszmann contributed to the review by article titled “Weathering Intermediated Temporary Labour Mobility” together with Sonila Danaj from the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research.

Publication: 20 years after: perspectives on industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe 20 years after the EU enlargement in Transfer - Volume 30 Issue 1, February 2024 at: https://www.etui.org/publications/20-years-after-perspectives-industrial-relations-central-and-eastern-europe-20-years