CEU Cooperation on preparing country profiles for some BB countries
As part of the Policy Lab, CEU students will support the Bridge Building work of the European Centre by preparing country profiles for Albania, Montenegro, Moldova and Georgia.
BB Peer Reviews and Trainings: Additional mutual learning events in 2023
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.
15/12/2022: Research Team Leader ‘Health&Care’
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 & ltc.
North Macedonia: barriers to accessing long-term care
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.
Job vacancy: Social Policy Analyst wanted
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.
How to benefit from Bridge Building?
Bridging Building connects the knowledge and policy evidence on social welfare of the EU Member States with the Bridging Building (BB) countries.
War in Ukraine and its economic, social and environmental impact
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.
Ukraine: Cohesion funding to support people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
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.
Ukraine: To build bridges we need peace!
Mutual exchange and dialogue – including those with Russian colleagues as in our recent BBinar.
5 years of EESPN: Milestones & how the network started
The EESPN is celebrating its 5 anniversary this year. The network started to connect research institutions, public authorities and other members in 2017.
New project: MIGREC
The Migration, Integration and Governance Research Centre (MIGREC) is a 3,5-year research capacity building project funded by the European Union Union’s Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation programme, which started in October 2019.
EU funding: Promotion of research & innovation in the WBs
EU funding has successfully promoted research & innovation (R&I) in the Western Balkans (WB).
POW-BRIDGE Newsletter 3
The latest news on the POW-BRIDGE project can be found in its third and final Newsletter.
POW-BRIDGE: Free videos with practical guides for posting companies
The POW-BRIDGE team produced video podcasts in the form of practical guides for posting companies in the eight project countries.
26/10/21 Extended deadline! – Vacancy: Researcher for ltc & health issues
The European Centre has a vacancy for a researcher to work on a range of issues on long-term care, and health focusing both on Austria and on international comparative perspectives.
05/11/21 Vacancy: Researcher in Labour Market Policy – apply now!
The European Centre has a vacancy for a researcher to work on issues on labour market, labour migration and social policy.
North Macedonia: sustainably improve home care by the Red Cross
The Red Cross of North Macedonia (RCNM) will focus on piloting an innovative community-based approach to care for dependent elderly.
InCARE newsletter: First issue out!
In this first InCARE newsletter, the team gathered a series of short articles illustrating the many developments since the project was kicked-off in November 2020.
Ukraine (CFS update): Digitisation of the social sphere
The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine aims to unite all departments into a single convenient and effective online system and make communication convenient and transparent.
Eastern Partnership: a renewed agenda for recovery, resilience & reform
The European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy outlined a proposal on how to take forward priorities for cooperation with our Eastern partners in the years to come. This agenda is based on the five long-term objectives, with resilience at its core, as defined for the future of the Eastern Partnership in March 2020.
New project: Updated review of Western Balkan economies regarding the EPSR
The European Centre is currently updating the six reviews of the Western Balkan countries regarding the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR).
New project: Bridge Building Peer Reviews and Trainings
The project builds on the need for mutual learning between countries of the Bridging (BB) Function. The European Centre offers Peer Reviews and Training dedicated to specific topics in social welfare.
New project: Situation Analysis of children & adolescents in Moldova
The European Centre team will support UNICEF Moldova in drafting the Situation Analysis of children and adolescents in Moldova. The Situation Analysis examines the degree of realization of children’s rights, investigates the unequal realization of rights across different areas/dimensions and identifies the drivers of unequal realization (UNICEF, 2019).
4 key principles for promoting social innovation in LTC
The recent Policy brief shows that local innovators should shift focus away from ‘best practice‘ initiatives and towards defining the ‘best fit for purpose‘ initiatives.
Bridge building: Continued cooperation with Azerbaijan
The European Centre continues its cooperation with Azerbaijan by signing the Letter of Intent (LoI).
EESPN survey: Look out for Bridge Building Survey!
The European Centre team will ask you to provide feedback on the EESPN and Bridge Building activities.
Open access research publishing platform
The European Commission has launched its own open access platform for publishing research funded through the Horizon Europe research programme and its predecessor Horizon 2020.
Survey 15/04/21: Share your mobility experience in Eastern Europe
The UniWelIS project, funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme, has launched a new survey to collect evidence and data on mobility experiences and support needs in the region of Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.
Survey: Cross-border obstacles between EU Member States and Enlargement Countries
The European Commission, DG REGIO has launched a study “Cross-border obstacles between EU Member States and Enlargement Countries”. Spatial Foresight, in cooperation with EureConsult and t33 perform this study.
Global survey: Homecare & Nursing home worker
UNICARE wants to hear from you about your experience working on the frontlines during COVID-19.
Findings of the Con3Post project
The findings of the Con3Post project indicated that immigration of third country national (TCN) workers is driven largely by economic discrepancies and wage disparities between the third countries and EU countries.
InCARE project launched
InCARE aims to develop a coherent and coordinated approach to the development of LTC policy and care services at local and regional level.
WB: Agenda on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth & Sport
The European Union has presented a long-term strategy for cooperation with the Western Balkan region entitled “Western Balkans Agenda on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport”.
New CAF knowledge platform
CAF is the European Common Assessment Framework for better Quality in Public Administration. The CAF improves public sector organisations through self-assessment and contributes to Good Governance.
Ukraine: Digitalization of the social sphere
Ukraine adopted the Concept of e-Government Development in 2017, which provides comprehensive development of e-services in accordance with European requirements.
EASPD Regional Provider Forum: Promoting community-based services for PwD
On 17th September the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) and the Republic Center for Support of persons with Intellectual Disability (PORAKA) hosted the first ever EASPD Regional Provider Forum.
European Research Area corona platform
The platform is a one-stop shop providing comprehensive information about funding opportunities in relation to Coronavirus at European Union and national level.
Coronavirus: Erasmus+ mobilised for a strong response to the pandemic
The Commission has adopted a revision of the Erasmus+ 2020 Annual Work Programme, providing an additional €200 million to boost digital education and training and promote skills development and inclusion through creativity and the arts.
Armenia: Government’s Response to COVID-19
Up-to date, the Government has introduced 22 socio-economic support programs aimed at addressing the needs and ensuring the proper social protection of the population mostly suffered as a result of the pandemic. These programs, in accordance with the defined criteria, inter alia, include provision of a financial support to families with children.
Parliamentary Elections in North Macedonia, 15 July 2020
On 15th July 2020, North Macedonians were called to vote for a new parliament.
North Macedonia: Government’s Response to COVID-19
Since declaring the existence of a state of emergency on 18 March 2020, the Government of North Macedonia has swiftly introduced a series of temporary measures to prevent and mitigate the negative economic and social consequence of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemics. Until now, in addition to the public health prevention measures, three packages of Governmental measures have been put in use…
New project: Feasibility study on reforming child care system
The Feasibility Study will provide a comprehensive analysis of the current child protection policies in Albania, Armenia, Belarus, North Macedonia and Ukraine and will evaluate to what extent a new SOS Children’s Villages Worldwide regional programme will contribute to the fulfilment of human rights of children in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe.
New project: Situation Analysis of children and adolescents in Croatia
The European Centre team will support UNICEF Croatia in drafting the Situation Analysis of children and adolescents in Croatia.
Western Balkans and Turkey: Joint conclusions of the economic and financial dialogue of 19 May 2020
Representatives of the EU Member States, the Western Balkans and Turkey, the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and representatives of the central banks of the Western Balkans and Turkey met for their annual economic policy dialogue. The dialogue aims at preparing the Western Balkans and Turkey for the future participation in the European Semester.
Ukrainia: Government’s response to COVID-19
Due to the spread of the coronavirus disease COVID-19, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine is constantly working on the development and improvement of anti-crisis measures aimed at strengthening the social protection. A number of initiatives have been taken in Ukraine to support socially vulnerable groups.
Ukraine: Major developments, new initiatives in the social sphere
The main focus in the field of social development in 2019 focused on the following tasks:
creating a supportive environment for persons with disabilities;
social support for families in difficult circumstances and other categories of population;
creation of conditions for providing a decent old age for the elderly, development of the pension insurance system;
ensuring the protection of children’s rights.
European Integration: Council greenlights opening accession talks for North Macedonia and Albania
On the 25 March 2020, the Council of the European Union adopted conclusions on the enlargement and stabilisation and association process for two candidate countries: Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia.
New project: Updated review of Western Balkan economies regarding the European Pillar of Social Rights
The European Centre is currently updating the existing reviews on issues relevant to the European Pillar of Social Rights in the Western Balkans.
COVID-19 emergency: We continue our research activities from home
Our staff are working from home and can be reached by e-mail or phone.
Kosovo: The European Centre signed the MoU with the Employment Agency of Kosovo (EARK)
K. Leichsenring from the European Centre sign the MoU with D. Haraqia from the Employment Agency of Kosovo.
New Project: Bridging the gap between legislation and practice in the posting of workers
The European Centre started the new POW-Bridge project on the gap between procedures and practices in posting of workers company regulation covering Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, and North Macedonia.
New information on the policy framework 2019 of Ukraine
The Serbian Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine informs on the policy framework 2019 and gives a good practise on Social protection of families with children.
Ministers of Health and Labour to jointly tackle long-term care in Macedonia
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.
Start of project on posting of third country nationals
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.
The Orbán welfare reform and its impact on the Hungarian living standards
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 activities of SOCIEUX+ AND THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP (EaP)
To date, SOCIEUX+ has worked in the following countries of the Eastern Parnership (EaP): Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Moldova, undertaking the following actions:
SOCIEUX+ in Armenia: Sharing good practices in disability assessment
Project ‘Peer reviews and other mutual learning processes in the fields of employment, social affairs and inclusion’
The European Centre together with its partners implement the project ‘Peer reviews and other mutual learning processes in the fields of employment, social affairs and inclusion.