Workers without borders? The rights of workers from the Balkans in the EU

Abstract

EU citizens and third country nationals are formally in very different situations when it comes to mobility and rights in the EU, a picture which looks more blurred when we examine workers from south-east Europe. The newest, poorest members of the EU and their neighbouring accession countries in the western Balkans are not only experiencing demographic decline, youth exodus and a ‘brain drain’; they are also effectively subsidising the economic growth and lifestyle of richer European countries through their investment in the training of workers who leave their countries of origin, and via the subsequent loss of social security contributions. Based on interviews with mobile workers themselves and a wider literature review, we argue that the EU, governments and trade unions need to enforce existing legislation better and prevent exploitation; empower workers to understand, access and advance their rights; and ultimately rethink the economic relationship between the EU and the region of south-east Europe based on establishing a more balanced, more sustainable and more socially just development.