The gap between Europe's richest and poorest regions remains stark. In Bulgaria, the monthly minimum wage stands at just €620, compared to €795 in Romania, €1,050 in Croatia and €2,343 in Germany.

Nearly three in ten Bulgarians (29%) were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2025, compared to an EU average of 20.9%. Meanwhile, Bulgaria's GDP per person remains at around one-third of the EU average. Rising prices are putting further pressure on workers and their families.
These inequalities are not limited to Bulgaria. Across Southeastern Europe, workers face the risk of being left behind as Europe reshapes its industrial economy.

Enough is enough: workers demand a fair industrial future

Friday's action comes at a critical moment for European industry. Europe has lost 2.19 million manufacturing jobs since 2007. At the same time, profits per worker in EU manufacturing have grown twice as fast as pay, while companies are distributing an increasing share of their earnings to shareholders.
Workers are not getting their fair share, and Europe's industrial regions need investment, not further decline.

Against this backdrop, Bulgarian trade unions are mobilising with concrete demands that reflect the challenges facing industrial workers across Europe. They are calling for:

1.    Fair wage increases that reflect the cost of living and bring Bulgarian wages closer to European levels.
2.    Stronger collective bargaining, including effective sectoral agreements and respect for trade union rights in public procurement.
3.    Binding social conditions on public support, ensuring that industrial investment delivers quality jobs and employment guarantees.
4.    Protection during industrial restructuring, with clear social and investment plans and meaningful trade union involvement.
5.    Safeguarding industrial production and quality jobs within European manufacturing value chains.

At the heart of these demands is a simple principle: industrial competitiveness cannot be built on low wages and insecure jobs. Workers must benefit from the industrial transformation, and the regions that have fallen behind must have the opportunity to catch up.

But there is another way forward.

A strong ‘Made in Europe’ industrial policy could bring significant benefits to Southeastern Europe. A European Parliament study shows that Bulgaria could record the fifth-largest increase in GDP and employment among EU Member States under an ambitious ‘Made in Europe’ approach.
The proposed Industrial Accelerator Act offers an opportunity to direct investment towards less-developed regions and those undergoing industrial change. But faster permits and new industrial projects alone are not enough.

Public support must come with clear social conditions: quality jobs, fair wages, collective bargaining and investment in local communities. Without these safeguards, Europe risks creating new low-wage industrial zones instead of closing the gap between regions.
Europe has already shown that economic convergence is possible. Countries that joined the EU in 2004 increased their GDP per person from around 52% of the EU average to nearly 80% by 2023.

The lesson is clear: industrial development must benefit all regions, not only those already ahead.

Through the ‘Enough is Enough’ campaign, industriAll Europe and its affiliates are demanding an industrial policy that puts workers first, strengthens Europe's manufacturing base and ensures that every region shares in Europe's industrial future.
Europe needs good industrial jobs everywhere. No worker and no region must be left behind.