Crisis of neoliberal financialization at European semi-periphery: Labour market precarity in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Social transformations and the transition process from socialist/command into market economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), accompanied by war atrocities triggered a whole scale of different economic and social challenges: de-industrialization, high unemployment, dubious privatizations, pauperization, ethnic rivalries and the persistence of structural disparities accompanied by processes of financialization. The Western Balkan countries, under EU integration and financialization directives, had to follow and abide the large scale of regulations and conditionalities in order to achieve the EU membership. The Euro-zone crisis had a spill-over effect on the already economically weak Balkan countries, resulting in an even greater instability in markets, decrease of labour and living standards in the region, including BiH. The effects of crisis were most visible in February-March 2014 when workers' protests broke out (with larger citizens' support). he protests pointed to the increasing precocity of the labour market and the rising potential of new conflicts that are now shifting from those based on ethnic and religious grounds to classist and industrial ones. Financialization and European integration conditionality seem unable to address the issue of sustainable development, accompanied by full employment and a re-launch of welfare reforms. In 2014, the EU, IMF and WB jointly pushed for a new agenda of reforms in BiH through Compact for Growth and Jobssupported by the German-British Initiative. These reforms, for which a statement of commitment has been signed by BiH officials resulting in unlocking of BiH's road to EU, include labour market reforms while at the same time boosting and deepening the process of financialization. The proposed reforms inadequately addressed the issue of flexible and secure labour market, i.e. they only bring forth further insecurity and instability of the labour market visible through increase of part-time employment, temporary and atypical work engagements and contracts. Given the BiH is positioned as European semi-periphery dependent on relations with European Union Member States, the financialization and crisis of Euro-zone and European Union had a spill-over effect to BiH. All this has further brought to increase of precarious labour and workers' poverty