Restructuring in an enlarged Europe: challenges and experiences

Abstract

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.