The rally brings together trade unionists from Hungary, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Germany. Their demands are backed by industriAll Europe’s new briefing, published today, which sets out why Europe needs an industrial policy that works for every region.
In many ways, cohesion policy, the EU funding that helps poorer regions catch up, has been a major EU success story. Since the 2004 enlargement, GDP per person in Member States that have joined has risen from roughly half the EU average to almost 80%. EU regional and cohesion funds raised EU employment by almost 1% from 2014 to 2020 and narrowed the gap between the richest and poorest regions. Yet the gap with Western Europe remains wide. Even after adjusting for prices, minimum wages in Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia are less than half of Germany’s and below the EU’s binding minimum wage thresholds. Collective bargaining is weak: in 2023, only 14.8% of workers in Hungary and 11.6% in Poland were covered by a collective agreement. Far below the EU’s target of 80%.
To make matters worse, Europe’s industrial policy remains largely the tool of its leading economies. Support under Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) is heavily concentrated in Europe’s core economies, and Germany, France and Italy have taken part in all but one of them. The same goes for fiscal firepower: Germany paid out crisis state aid worth 1.23% of GDP between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and June 2023. That is more than twice the EU average (0.58%) and five times as much as Bulgaria (0.24%).
Yet the potential for industrial policy to support regional convergence and social cohesion is huge. A European Parliament study found that the most ambitious Made in Europe scenario under the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act would bring the largest gains in GDP and jobs to Czechia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria.
But the next EU budget puts cohesion at risk
The Commission’s proposal for the 2028–2034 EU budget would merge cohesion funding into 27 national plans. According to the European Policies Research Centre, it would cut cohesion spending by around 12% in real terms. The coming months will decide whether the next budget keeps Europe’s promise to every region.
IndustriAll Europe has called for:
- ring-fenced cohesion funding that stays targeted at the regions, with a binding role for regions and trade unions;
- an Industrial Accelerator Act that targets less-developed and industrial-transition regions;
- binding social conditions on all public support, including under the Industrial Accelerator Act, so that regions do not compete for investment through a race to the bottom on wages and health and safety standards.
Speaking at the rally, industriAll Europe General Secretary Judith Kirton-Darling said:
“Our thoughts are with the people of Kraków, with the families who lost loved ones on Saturday and with everyone who was injured. We stand together in grief, and we stand together here today.
Workers here in Győr, and across Central and Eastern Europe, build the cars, make critical chemicals, components and machines that keep Europe’s industry running. Too often, they are offered low wages, weak bargaining rights and find themselves at the back of the queue for investment. Enough is enough. Europe’s next budget and its new industrial policy must reach every region, and every euro of public money must come with conditions that guarantee good, unionised jobs.”
From the factory gates in Győr, workers from six countries are sending one message to Brussels and national capitals: Europe’s industrial future must include their regions. Today’s rally also builds towards our European mobilisation at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 24 November.