Inside the trade union family: The ‘two worlds’ within the European Trade Union Confederation

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sławomir Adamczyk
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
National Standards ◽  
The West ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
European Trade ◽  
Level I ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Social Europe

The enlargement of the EU in 2004 and 2007 to the post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe brought an encounter between two distinct ‘trade union worlds’ in terms of attitudes towards European integration. Unions from the old EU Member States want to defend their existing national standards, while those from Central and Eastern Europe have nothing to defend and look for solutions at EU level. I ask whether it is possible for the European Trade Union Confederation to realize a trade union vision of ‘Social Europe’ based solely on the perspectives of the West.

Trade union education in Central and Eastern Europe

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 486-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Bridgford ◽  
Michal Košt'al ◽  
Dušan Martinek ◽  
Yuliya Simeonova ◽  
Janusz Zabiega
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Slovak Republic ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Training Needs ◽  
European Trade ◽  
Union Education

The changes in Central and Eastern Europe that were set in motion at the end of the 1980s threw up a variety of challenges for trade union organisations and placed new demands on their officers and representatives, which in turn produced a range of new training needs. This article intends to start a process - gaining a better understanding of trade union education provision in Central and Eastern Europe. Evidence from four case studies - KNSB (Bulgaria), ČMKOS (Czech Republic), KOZ SR (Slovak Republic) and NSZZ Solidarność (Poland)- shows that trade union organisations have continued to consider education as an integral part of their development strategy, and have established structures for the aggregation of training needs and for the delivery of training within their organisations. In the absence of systematic funding from the state or of agreements with employers' organisations, trade unions carry the financial burden themselves, on occasions with support from western trade union organisations and European or international organisations. The pattern of trade union education provision is generally structured so as to ensure a 'stepped' pathway for the learner, and emphasis is placed, unsurprisingly, on capacity-building. The twin-track approach undertaken by ETUCO provides a response to certain specific needs articulated by CEEC trade unions and also enables a limited number of CEEC trade union officers and representatives to participate in pan-European trade union education activities. However further resources will be needed to increase the number of training activities to the level required to respond adequately to the training needs of ETUC-affiliated organisations in the CEECs.

Welfare reforms and socio-economic trends in the 10 new EU member states of Central and Eastern Europe

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolanta Aidukaite
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
New Eu Member States ◽  
Better Than ◽  
The Eu

The paper reviews recent socio-economic changes in the 10 new EU member states of Central and Eastern Europe and the earlier and latest debates on the emergence of the post-communist welfare state regime. It asks two questions: are the new EU member states more similar to each other in their social problems encountered than to the rest of the EU world? Do they exhibit enough common socio-economic and institutional features to group them into the distinct/unified post-communist welfare regime that deviates from any well-known welfare state typology? The findings of this paper indicate that despite some slight variation within, the new EU countries exhibit lower indicators compared to the EU-15 as it comes to the minimum wage and social protection expenditure. The degree of material deprivation and the shadow economy is on average also higher if compared to the EU-15 or the EU-27. However, then it comes to at-risk-of-poverty rate after social transfers or Gini index, some Eastern European outliers especially the Check Republic, but also Slovenia, Slovakia and Hungary perform the same or even better than the old capitalist democracies. Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, however, show many similarities in their social indicators and performances and this group of countries never perform better than the EU-15 or the EU-27 averages. Nevertheless, the literature reviews on welfare state development in the CEE region reveal a number of important institutional features in support of identifying the distinct/unified post-communist welfare regime. Most resilient of it are: an insurance-based programs that played a major part in the social protection system; high take-up of social security; relatively low social security benefits; increasing signs of liberalization of social policy; and the experience of the Soviet/Communist type of welfare state, which implies still deeply embedded signs of solidarity and universalism.

scholarly journals THE SCOPE OF FUNCTIONS AND STRENGHT OF INSTITUTIONS IN ECONOMIC POLICY OF THE EU MEMBER STATES FROM CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE. CONCEPTION OF ANALYSIS

Ekonomika ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-21
Author(s):  
Ireneusz Jaźwiński
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Economic Development And Growth ◽  
International Comparative ◽  
The Eu

The manner of conducting economic policy determines various phenomena and socio-economic processes, including economic development and growth, to a considerable degree. A significant role in economic and social sciences is attributed to international comparative studies. The aim of the study was introduction of the conception for analysis of the scope of functions and strength of institutions on an exampleof the national policies of the EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe.The paper introduces the selected dimensions of economic policy in the EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe. On the basis of the use of existing indices, the measures of these dimensions are proposed. Also, elements of the typology of economic policies of these countries considering the selected policy dimensions are presented.The analyses show that there are differences among national economic policies of particular states of Central and Eastern Europe. From the standpoint of economic policy and its dimensions, the situation is most favourable in countries with the most powerful institutions: the Czech Republic and Estonia. It is crucial to strive after improvement of the quality of institutions in individual states, which should result in a faster socioeconomic development and an increased efficiency of the public authorities.

Serendipity or a Missed Chance? On the Interaction Between Vaccine Distribution and the EU Recovery Funds

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Corrado Macchiarelli ◽  
Renato Giacon
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
European Project ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Vaccine Distribution ◽  
Implementation Stage ◽  
Important Test ◽  
The Eu

Abstract In this article, we discuss the interaction between the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in EU member states and the effective use of grants and soft loans from the EU pandemic recovery fund. With some of the national spending plans for the Recovery Fund still awaiting initial submission (Bulgaria), others pending the Commission’s endorsement (Poland, Hungary) or formal Council’s approval (Romania, Estonia), and various other national plans in their implementation stage, the next challenge for policymakers will be to ensure that the initial and subsequent tranches of EU funds are released as economies reopen. We claim that special attention ought to be paid to Central and Eastern Europe, where some countries are lagging in their vaccine rollout and/or the preparation for their use of the EU recovery funds. This is likely to be an important test for EU institutions in determining the stability and coherence of the European project as a whole.

Restructuring in an enlarged Europe: challenges and experiences

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guglielmo Meardi
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Social Acceptability ◽  
The West ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The Social ◽  
Participation Mechanisms ◽  
Capital Intensive ◽  
New Eu Member States

This article presents historical and aggregate data on restructuring in central and eastern Europe, and some examples from multinationals in Poland and Hungary. It shows how the violent structural readjustment process of the 1990s has left important social, political and psychological legacies which affect current approaches to restructuring. The new EU Member States, faced with relocations both to the west (in capital-intensive industries) and further east (in low-skill labour-intensive industries), therefore need employee participation mechanisms, cross-border information and western solidarity to ensure the social acceptability of change.

Europe's Growth Champion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Piatkowski
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
High Income ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The West ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Inclusive Society ◽  
First Time ◽  
Global Growth

The book is about one of the biggest economic success stories that one has hardly ever heard about. It is about a perennially backward, poor, and peripheral country, which over the last twenty-five years has unexpectedly become Europe’s and a global growth champion and joined the ranks of high-income countries during the life of just one generation. It is about the lessons learned from its remarkable experience for other countries in the world, the conditions that keep countries poor, and challenges that countries need face to grow and become high-income. It is also about a new growth model that this country—Poland—and its peers in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere need to adopt to continue to grow and catch up with the West for the first time ever. The book emphasizes the importance of the fundamental sources of growth—institutions, culture, ideas, and leaders—in economic development. It argues that a shift from an extractive society, where the few rule for the benefit of the few, to an inclusive society, where many rule for the benefit of many, was the key to Poland’s success. It asserts that a newly emerged inclusive society will support further convergence of Poland and Central and Eastern Europe with the West and help sustain the region’s Golden Age, but moving to the core of the European economy will require further reforms and changes in Poland’s developmental DNA.

scholarly journals Harmonising Private Enforcement of Competition Law in Central and Eastern Europe: The Effectiveness of Legal Transplants Through Consumer Collective Actions

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 33-59
Author(s):  
Katalin J. Cseres
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Private Enforcement ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Harmonization Process ◽  
Effective Remedy ◽  
Law Making

The aim of this paper is to critically analyze the manner of harmonizing private enforcement in the EU. The paper examines the legal rules and, more importantly, the actual enforcement practice of collective consumer actions in EU Member States situated in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Collective actions are the key method of getting compensation for consumers who have suffered harm as a result of an anti-competitive practice. Consumer compensation has always been the core justification for the European Commission’s policy of encouraging private enforcement of competition law. In those cases where collective redress is not available to consumers, or consumers cannot apply existing rules or are unwilling to do so, then both their right to an effective remedy and the public policy goal of private enforcement remain futile. Analyzing collective compensatory actions in CEE countries (CEECs) places the harmonization process in a broader governance framework, created during their EU accession, characterized by top-down law-making and strong EU conditionality. Analyzing collective consumer actions through this ‘Europeanization’ process, and the phenomenon of vertical legal transplants, raises major questions about the effectiveness of legal transplants vis-à-vis homegrown domestic law-making processes. It also poses the question how such legal rules may depend and interact with market, constitutional and institutional reforms.

scholarly journals Backwardness of Central and Eastern Europe as a Heritage of the Soviet Period

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (338) ◽  
pp. 61-66
Author(s):  
Sandris Ancans
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
European Region ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Planned Economy ◽  
Command Economy ◽  
Centrally Planned Economy ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe economy of Latvia lags behind economically developed nations approximately fourfold in terms of labour productivity in the tradable sector, which is the key constituent of a modern economy, thereby affecting future sustainable development in the entire country, including the rural areas. The economic backwardness is characteristic of the entire Central and Eastern Europe. This is the heritage of a communist regime that lasted for about half a century and the economic system termed a (centrally) planned economy or a command economy. However, such a term for the communist-period economy is not correct, as it does not represent the purpose it was created for. Accordingly, the paper aims to assess the effect of the communism period on the economic backwardness of the Central and Eastern European region of the EU. A planned economy that existed in all communist countries, with the exception of Yugoslavia, was not introduced to contribute to prosperity. It was intended for confrontation or even warfare by the communist countries under the guidance of the USSR against other countries where no communism regime existed, mostly Western world nations with their market economies. For this reason, it is not correct to term it a (centrally) planned economy or a command economy; the right term is a mobilised (war) economy. An extrapolation of a geometric progression for GDP revealed that during the half a century, Latvia as part of the USSR was forced to spend on confrontation with the West not less than EUR 17 bln. (2011 prices) or approximately one gross domestic product of 2011. The research aim of the paper is to assess the effect of the communism period on the economic backwardness of the Central and Eastern European region of the EU.

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