From 8-10 October 2025 took place in Sofia / Bulgaria a seminar about “Workers voice for decent jobs in the EU candidate countries – trade unions policies in transformative times”, organised by PODKREPA CL (Confederation of Labour PODKREPA), in cooperation with EZA and funded by the European Union. The seminar was organized in the framework of the EZA special project for workers' organisations in candidate countries. 40 representatives of workers' organisations from Bulgaria, Belgium, Austria, Poland, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Albania participated in the seminar.
The seminar’s objectives:
1. Provide opportunity for mutual learning and exchange of expertise between trade unions from the EU member-states and candidates countries on the possibility to foster social dialogue and strengthen social partnership.
2. Improve the knowledge and the capacity of trade union leaders and experts from the EU candidate countries for cooperation and negotiation with governments and employers.
3. Increase the possibilities for involvement of trade unions in the monitoring and implementation of the EU accession policies
Description of the seminar
The seminar’ program was structured in eighth panels, as follows:
Welcome & introduction panel, including:
-official addresses and messages;
-Keynote speech on what the most matters on the way to EU?
-Experts’ insights into the Advantages and challenges of the EU Membership
Second panel; EU membership is a strategic choice for stability and prosperity
-Introduction to the topic
-Experts’ insights on the positive impact of social dialogue – the role of mediation and arbitration for peaceful settlement of labour disputes.
Third and fourth panels with national interventions on the current state of social dialogue in the participating countries
Fifth panel:
-Keynote speech on the population ageing and flexible retirement pathways in Europe.
-Round table “Dialogue is the best way of solving problems.”
Sixth panel with a brainstorming session on the key factors for the quality of collective bargaining at national and sectorial level
Conclusive panel for summary and evaluation
Key ideas
The European union represents unique and very successful tool to address conflicts, building on its unparalleled unity when creating common and cohesive responses. In that sense, accession to the EU demands to not only to fulfill criteria for membership, but to endorse a particular set of public values, widely presented in the primary institutional practices of the EU as effective instrument to achieve social change. Thus, the adoption of EU values is a crucial precondition for EU membership, a turning point toward stability and social progress. Obviously, institutions are not on the workers’ side, and here is the role of trade unions – to stand firm in defending democracy at work, social justice, and equality. Thus, accession period is time for trade unions to activate and to reset their strategies, to demonstrate more capacity, strength, and solidarity.
In that context, commit to EU democratic values, means not only to embrace, but to apply effectively, namely to promote dialogue, partnership, collective negotiation, and protection. These are the main tools, which provide trade unions with the ability to defend democracy at work, to empower workers, to find the right balance of priorities on which to bargain and, where necessary, to undertake collective actions or reach compromises. In short - social dialogue is a commitment to democracy – through it working people are embedding democratic practice in their everyday life. By identifying what unites them in their diversity, and taking action to win concrete improvements, they gain a sense of agency and control over their lives.
Social dialogue in EU candidate countries is overlooked. Policymakers are not properly recognizing its value and specificity. National governments also are passive in institutionalizing, supporting, and encouraging social dialogue. In such situation, the adoption of legislative norms to guarantee the role of the trade unions and the right of collective protection/bargaining/ is not enough. This is because, in practice, structures at the national level for tripartite cooperation are established, but they remain deeply formal and only „for reproduction of the law“ purposes and results. Regarding the bipartite dialogue, it is weak, even not existing. Obviously, many efforts and commitments are needed to overcome the formality in trade unions activities and to gain the trust of working people. Only the combination of real enforcement of strong legal basis to institutionalize social dialogue and the active involvement of all parties, will guarantee to trade unions basic trust and influence in the society, thus – their meaningful inclusion in accession process.
It would be a mistake to consider the accession process only as a technical matter. This is because the successful integration requires changes in the way civil society is functioning, combined with tangible increase in living standards. Here, while listening to working people’s concerns and delivering on their needs, trade unions are the organizations, obliged to provide for the strengthening of democratic structures, imposing the principle of participatory democracy. In this regard, candidate countries should focus on developing the administrative and regulatory frameworks needed for participatory governance and inclusive policy-making to preserve the autonomy and independence of national social partners. The establishment of clear and transparent criteria for representativeness and of democratic structures for social dialogue will accelerate their integration into the European social model
The process of European integration needs the support of citizens. But, more than two decades after the start of the enlargement policy, very little progress was made. Thus, citizens in candidate countries become sceptics about the future and on the possibility of the process of European integration to reach political and economic consolidation and to ensure a clear improvement in prospects and quality of life. The most visible consequence of this situation is the ever-increasing percentages of the population which is looking to emigrate as an individual solution to their lack of political, social and economic prospects.
Conclusions and recommendations
The European Union is the most successful integration experiment in human history. Ultimately, EU enlargement is a precious opportunity for candidate countries, and last year it has gathered momentum, with primary focus on considerable geopolitical objectives. The focus on the political objectives is evident, but at the same time, important issues, such as effective social dialogue structures, procedures and partnerships remain still neglected. However, to stick to the merit-based enlargement policy model, candidate countries will have to bolster reforms and to provide tangible results in those areas. Otherwise, full membership will not become a reality.
EU integration and membership represent national interest and strategic commitment of candidate countries, so in the years to come the intensive involvement of trade unions in all phases of the EU accession at national level is to become an integral part of the process, especially in shaping labour market, employment, and social policies. Beyond the issues of economic and employment policies, the trade unions form candidate countries have to look to the future and especially to the future of labour, in the context of globalization, digitalization and modern technological changes. They must adapt the trade union activities to the new realities in the world of labour. In that sense, the cooperation with trade unions from EU members-states is extremely important and it will contribute to the success of the realization of their goals.
Keeping the focus on living and working conditions, trade unions from candidate countries must pay special attention to the situation of young workers. Young people in Candidate countries are paying a high price for years of inaction and lack of support by the national governments. As a result, they are joining the workforce under poor working conditions, with reduced access to apprenticeships, trapped in low paid, insecure, and poor-quality work. Their basic rights at work are not protected. This combination of factors needs urgent actions form trade unions to repair the damage done and to ensure that young people have access to high-quality, well-paid work and opportunities for training, progression, and development.
Efforts are required to continue with improving of trade unions bargaining and mobilizing capacity, especially at sector/branch level. To implement effective capacity-building/organizing strategy, first an analysis on strengths and weaknesses is needed, together with an evidence-based assessment of where is the greatest potential for growth. In such way, the already existing dialogue structures and the potential members will be properly mapped. In addition, as workers need to see that trade union is committed achieve fairness in the workplace, quality engagement and groundwork are the most important part of organizing. It is also important to ensure that workers – both members and non-members – are aware of what trade unions have achieved for them. In that sense, it is very important for trade union achievements and success stories to be widely publicized and communicated.
Trade unions are under pressure, faced with the various challenges in the changing world of work. These challenges stem from labour market transformation, technological progress, the greening of the economy, informality, and trade union rights violations. In that respect, trade unions need to develop targeted strategies to increase their membership - here the focus should be on two main activities - recruiting new members and increasing membership retention.
In response to the changing nature of work, trade unions will have to represent a more diverse workforce. To effectively advocate for those new workers, trade unions need to adapt to evolving labour landscape by:
-embracing innovative strategies to reach out to vulnerable workers who often face precarious employment conditions;
-providing support and representation to marginalized groups;
-starting represent workers from digital economy;
-improving communication channel to members and to the large public;
- formation of alliances, joint actions, sharing initiatives to strengthen the collective voice.