SEER Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe

The cyclical crises of the global capitalist system have begun to occur more fre­ quently. In these times of crisis, while real income is decreasing or disappearing for many individuals and families, the cost of the goods and services necessary for...

This study investigates the motivations underpinning support for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Türkiye’s 2023 presidential elections (14 and 28 May) and explores voter perceptions of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, put up in that election as the candidate of...

The minimum wage serves as a fundamental aspect of labour rights aimed at safeguarding workers from exploitation and ensuring a basic standard of living. In recent years, the European Union has taken significant steps to harmonise minimum wage...

Over the past three years, the cumulative Consumer Price Index in Bulgaria has reached nearly 35%, while inflation in the small consumer basket rose even more. Low and middle-income earners spend an ever-increasing proportion of their income on...

This article explores the criteria for minimum wage setting as set out in Article 5 of the European Minimum Wage Directive. Bulgaria must transpose the Directive and, as a result, some processes have already been initiated. However, tripartite...

It has become clear that economic growth is not the only way of expressing a country’s development and progress. Recently, development has also come to incorporate the components of environmental protection and social equity within a broader...

New municipalism as a political-strategic approach is a reaction to the authoritarian management of the deep and multiple crises of capitalism after 2008. From their base in Spain, municipalist platforms have extended elsewhere across the globe,...

In most EU countries there were significant increases in minimum wages on 1 January 2024. Despite persistently high inflation rates in the majority of member states, these were sufficient to maintain or even expand the purchasing power of the...

This article analyses the relationship between corruption and income inequality in western Balkan countries in the period from 2012 to 2023. The International Labour Organization, Transparency International and World Development Indicators are the...

Five of the six non-EU countries in the western Balkans region have signed the Council of Europe’s European Charter of Local Self-Government, the exception being the Republic of Kosovo which is not yet a formal member of the Council of Europe....

This article examines the decision by the Serbian government to approve the highly controversial Jadar project to mine lithium at a site in the western part of Serbia. Lithium is a critical raw material with a variety of applications including, most...

For decades, migrant workers with temporary and service contract work in the German meat industry have rarely been recruited by trade unions. The Arbeitsschutzkontrollgesetz (Occupational Safety and Health Inspection Act) law, implemented in 2021,...

The Constitution of the Republic of Albania sets down that the members of parliament must number 140, elected from multi-nominal electoral districts corresponding to the administrative division of the country and according to a proportional regional...

This article examines the Office of the National Ombudsman as a possible channel for the exercise of citizen’s participation in democratic life in Bulgaria. Evidence in this direction is derived from the legally established possibilities and...

This review article looks at Attila Àgh’s Awaking Europe in the triple global crisis, published in 2021. Àgh cites the triple crisis facing Europe – the socioeconomic crisis, the climate crisis and the Covid-19 crisis – to which Christophe...

The purpose of this article is to provide an evaluation of the progress made in Albania to achieve gender balance in two main areas – political decision-making and the labour market – in terms of the degree of alignment with the requirements of...

This study examines poverty through the lens of a set of approaches mostly used by economists that identifies poverty in terms of a monetary indicator and which derives an ‘objective’ poverty line. All indicators of poverty, regardless of...

Tens of thousands of Romanian migrants work in the German construction sector. Their work is often characterised by unpaid wages, long working days and the withholding of sick or holiday pay. The risky and exploitative nature of the conditions under...

This article is a report of the Civil Society Forum organised by the European Economic and Social Committee and held in Thessaloniki, Greece, in October 2023. The conference took place on the basis of three panels held on implementation of the green...

The workings of Romanian migration networks across western Europe are well documented. Yet, transnational relations have rarely been examined outside of these networks, namely in their potential for value extraction in broader accumulation...