Category: Activities

As part of an ongoing cooperation between the European Centre and the Central European University Vienna (CEU), four students from the Policy Lab support the Bridge Building work of the European Centre by preparing country profiles for Albania, Montenegro, Moldova and Georgia for the EESPN website. They will also give good practice examples of social policies in the respective BB countries summarised in the Country Fact Sheet (CFS) of the EESPN. The EESPN will publish these and include them in the EESPN newsletter. Follow the news and stay posted on the latest CFS updates.

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection enabled the European Centre to extend the BB Peer Reviews and Trainings project in the Bridge Building countries until March 2024. Following the successful implementation of mutual learning events in the 2021 and 2022, the European Centre can offer three Peer Reviews, two Trainings and one Hands-on pilot for the BB countries in 2023. Read more

The European Centre has a vacancy for a Research Team Leader to design, manage and carry out research and policy projects in the areas of health and long-term care in an international comparative perspective in the UNECE region.

Please send your CV and letter of motivation by 15 December 2022 at the latest. Read more

The InCARE project collected data on attitudes, experiences, and expectations on long-term care through an online survey between September 2021 – January 2022 across European countries, including North Macedonia. One part of the survey focused on barriers that individuals faced (or that their loved ones faced) in accessing long-term care services.

The survey found that affordability of care is a major challenge for respondents in North Macedonia (see Graph results above). About every 2 in 5 respondents stated cost as a barrier to residential and home care in the country, surpassing that reported at the EU-level, indicating the need for stronger financial support. Lower income respondents are particularly vulnerable to unaffordable care costs. These findings align with previous research in the country that indicates cost to be a preventative factor for many in using care (see Gjorgjev, 2021).

Availability of care services is also an issue: nearly 1 in every 4 for home care and 1 in every 5 for residential care reported availability barriers. Rural-dwelling individuals particularly face availability barriers for both home and residential care, emphasizing the need for increased investment in infrastructure outside of cities.

Full results for North Macedonia and other Eastern European countries will shortly be available. Check out the InCARE project page to keep up to date with the latest findings.

The European Centre has a vacancy for a researcher to work on topics related to social policy in an international comparative perspective in the UNECE region. These include social protection (benefits and services), poverty and inequalities (including gender, age), evaluation of public policies in these areas, policy analysis and consultancy.

The European Centre offers the possibility for researchers to develop and grow in a working environment that emphasises excellence, interdisciplinary co-operation between colleagues inside and outside the European Centre, independence and autonomy at work.

Application deadline: 25 June 2022  – read more

Bridging Building connects the knowledge and policy evidence of its partners in the EU Member States with those in the Bridging Building (BB) countries, namely Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, the Republic of North Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, and Ukraine.

The European Centre supports its partners in finding policy solutions through comparative research, policy analysis, evaluation and assessment, transfer of know-how and good practice, cooperation, and capacity building in the BB countries. Read more about the benefits of Bridge Building

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) strongly condemns the unilateral aggression against Ukraine ordered by the President of the Russian Federation and the involvement of the Belarusian regime; stresses that the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces violates international rules and agreements in force and threatens European and global security; the invasion also directly violates the EU’s primary aim “to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its people”; read more

On the 8^th of March 2022, the Commission adopted a proposal for Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) allowing Member States and regions to provide emergency support to people fleeing from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  CARE is introducing the necessary flexibility in the 2014-2020 Cohesion policy rules to allow a swift reallocation of available funding to such emergency support. On top, the 2022 envelope of €10 billion of the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (‘REACT-EU’) funds can also be used to address these new demands within the overall aim of post-pandemic recovery.

CARE will help Member States to provide emergency support covering the basic needs of people fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These needs include access to services such as temporary accommodation, food and water supplies or medical care. CARE may also enhance the administrative capacity of Member States to cater for the needs of refugees by supporting e.g. additional infrastructure equipment or staff necessary to cater for the needs of refugees. Read more  – ERA4Ukraine page

We are shocked and appalled by the unprecedented aggression against Ukraine as one of our key partners in on-going bridge-building activities. Bridges cannot be built if pillars are being destroyed. Mutual exchange and dialogue – including those with Russian colleagues as in our recent BBinar – must continue, and we will also continue to promote peaceful development, with social protection and social policies as cornerstones of citizens’ wellbeing. We stand in solidarity with Ukraine and its people, and with all members of the Eastern Partnership as important pillars for peaceful developments in the region – to facilitate welfare in Europe, warfare must stop! 

The EESPN is celebrating its 5th anniversary this year. The network started to connect research institutions, public authorities and other members in 2017. It’s mission, to link the BB countries with the UN European region, arose from participants of the BB Launch event in September 2016. From that moment, the team of the EESPN have been organising various activities to work in partnership across BB countries. More on EESPN activities