The four case studies on Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and the Republic of North Macedonia focus on examining the existing legal and regulatory framework, governance indicators, human capacities as well as the institutional arrangement, inter-agency cooperation and stakeholder engagement with regard to the implementation of the Posting of Workers Directive (96/71/EC) in these candidate countries of Eastern Europe. Downloadable here
Read what has been done so far on the project of Posting of workers in Eastern Europe (EEPOW). Get an overview of the project activities in the newsletter 2: here
The first event of the project Posting of third country nationals: Mapping the trend in the construction sector was held in Ljubljana on March 28, 2019. The teams of the five partner organizations: Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts – ZRC SAZU (Slovenia), European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (Austria), Ca’Foscari University of Venice – UNIVE (Italy), University of Jyväskylä – JYU (Finland), and University of Warsaw – UW (Poland) got together to discuss the coordination and implementation of the project activities. In the afternoon, the lead partner, ZRC SAZU, also organized a methodological seminar on the use of foresights as an innovative method in migration research. Read more about the project
On the 28 February 2019, the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (European Centre) and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection (BMASGK) coorganized a peer review in the frame of the Posting of Workers in Eastern Europe (EEPOW) project. The focus of the peer review was on how authorities and organisations manage posting and exchange knowledge and information, as well as establish and/or strengthen cooperation between the different institutions across the countries. The event was greeted by Eva-Maria Fehringer, BMASGK, and by Federico Pancaldi, European Commission. Sonila Danaj (European Centre), Robert Murr (BMASGK) and Walter Gagawczuk (Arbeiterkammer) presented the Austrian experience, as the host country, in implementing the Enforcement Directive by focusing on access to information and transnational exchange and cooperation. While Cathleen Rabe-Rosendahl, Center for Social Research, Halle, Germany, and Sanja Cukut Krilić, ZRC SAZU, Slovenia, presented the experience of the peer countries, i.e. Germany and Slovenia respectively. Read more about the project.
Read the new publication from the the World Bank and the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) on on the Western Balkan labor market trends.
The Ministers of the FYROM, Venko Filipce, Minister of Health, Mila Carovska, Minister of Labour and Social Policy as well as Harald Fugger, the Austrian Attaché of Labour, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection addressed the need to develop integrated services for health and long-term care at the workshop in Skopje on 5 February 2019. Kai Leichsenring, Anette Scopetta and Rahel Kahlert from the European Centre showcased possible approaches and tools for technical assistance in long-term care interventions and labour market policy. Minister Filipce thanked the Austrian Ministry and the European Centre for the successful cooperation so far.
This Bridging Function is expected to continue in the future with the belief that the European Centre’s expert assistance will jointly help implement new projects and initiatives for integrated services in several sectors.
The Con3Post project is set up to explore the growing phenomenon of recruitment and posting of third country nationals (TCN), most notably from the Western Balkans, non-EU Eastern Europe and North African regions, to work as posted workers in the EU construction sector. Experts and key stakeholders from seven carefully selected EU Member States that represent a mix of TCN sending (Slovenia, Poland, Italy) and receiving countries (Austria, Finland, Belgium, Estonia) are brought together to establish transnational cooperation, share information and conduct empirical research to outline current challenges, future scenarios and possible strategic responses to the far-reaching yet largely unexplored consequences/implications of this persistent trend. Read more here
Key municipal and NGO stakeholders participated in 5 workshops across all regions in Kosovo to develop local action plans for improved social service delivery. This effort is part of the EU-funded project Support for better social services for the most vulnerable groups in Kosovo, which is led by Save the Children Kosovo in partnership with the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research. On December 19, 2018, the workshop in the North included stakeholders from both Serbian-majority North Mitrovica and Albanian-majority South Mitrovica.
The Hungarian social policy of the early 2010s focused on unemployment. The Orbán’s workfare reform aimed at expanding the Public Work Schemes, which mostly failed at integrating their participants into the primary labour market. This was the consequence of a policy centred only on the job places creation rather than addressing quality of work and social inclusion. The Public Work Schemes rendered mandatory for people receiving welfare benefits sectorial jobs with a low marketable profile despite the level of education, creating a low and segregated profile for public workers. So that, long-term unemployment issues such as family conflicts, health problems and social exclusion arose. Thus, the Orbán’s policy increased income equality by boosting the employment rate. Yet, it did not increase employability and, by not including public workers into the primary labour market, the workfare reform also increased the poverty gap and the stigmatisation of social exclusion. (Virginia Trulli, postgraduate)
Please find here the full capture.
The new report of the PAWCER project presents welfare attitudes in Russia and the European countries. It covers public support for changes in social protection systems as well as in current social policies. The vulnerable groups include: the poor and concern about income redistribution, the unemployed and unemployment benefits, the elderly and public pensions, working parents and childcare, as well as migrants and accessibility to social rights. See project here