Newsletter November/December 2019

Highlight

Institutional capacities for implementing the Posting of Workers Directive in the Western Balkans

The assessment of the institutional capacities and needs of the four candidate countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, to implement the Posting of Workers Directive (96/71/EC) was conducted in the context of the policy process cycle and in terms of six interdependent domains: legal framework, institutional arrangement, inter-agency cooperation, human resources, stakeholder engagement, and public governance. Findings indicate that

  • the Directive has been only partially transposed in the Western Balkan countries and the existing legislation does not include all the elements of the Directive and the Enforcement Directive,
  • other relevant mechanisms such as bilateral agreements on social security coordination and health care are incomplete,
  • institutions responsible for the implementation of the Directive are either partially or not established,
  • liaison offices for interagency cooperation and information dissemination have not been established,
  • more training and information on posting are needed by human resources,
  • trade unions, employer organizations, Chambers of Commerce and NGOs have not been actively involved in the process in the Western Balkan countries, except partial consultation.

To address the needs identified, candidate countries must complete the legal framework and establish protocols of intra-agency cooperation, mandate public authorities and build their capacities on posting, as well as include social partners more actively in the process. Read more here.

Bridge Building in the Spotlight

Brief resume of the International Workshop on SDGs: Better Partnerships for achieving the United Nations Agenda 2030

The international workshop SDGs Priorities & Challenges of Social Policy in the Eastern Partnership Countries was held to support the reforms and smooth transitions of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries in adapting national policies towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries face significant challenges regarding their social policy systems and strive to transform their social policy systems with the general aim of increasing their efficiency, sustainability and accessibility for all in need. The Workshop was intended to build bridges by identifying and discussing common challenges and proposing meaningful initiatives to help implementing the social pillar of the 2030 Agenda. Read more about the main findings of the Workshop and initiatives of the European Centre.

Projects

New project: Mapping promising social services and policy measures to support the independent living of older people

Following the deinstitutionalisation efforts in other sectors, there has been already some progress in long-term care to move from institutional-type of solutions towards integrated models, embedded in the community. However, unlike in other more

Events

Con3Post Research Seminar: Presenting findings from the Austrian case study

On 16 and 17 December, the partners of the Con3Post project participated in a research seminar where the data from one year of research work and the joint visit results were presented. Each partner organization has been mapping the trend of third more

Final Policy Workshop: Recommendations for improving integrated long-term care in Slovenia

The European Centre has consulted the Slovenian government in piloting the concept of single-entry points and integrated LTC delivery over a period of 18 months, in particular by providing methods and tools for monitoring and evaluation. In a more

German-Austrian exchange: Information and coordination in long-term care: Experiences and models in Austria and Germany

20 experts representing German and Austrian ministries and local administrations with responsibilities for long-term care, researchers and other relevant stakeholders exchanged experiences and models that are addressing challenges of more

5th LSEE Conference in Belgrade: Integrated Case Management challenges and opportunities in the Western Balkans

Our colleague Sonila Danaj presented research led by the Head of Work and Welfare Unit Anette Scoppeta on the integration of employment and social services in the Western Balkans at the 5th Conference organized by the LSEE Research Network on more

National Event: Discussing findings at the EEPOW National Conference in North Macedonia

The final EEPOW national event was held on 14 November 2019 in Bitola, North Macedonia. The event was organized as a panel discussion moderated by Aleksandra Iloska, PUBLIC, under the title Migration, Labour Mobility and Cross-Border more

Dialogue Forum Leaving no one behind: 3rd Multi Stakeholder Workshop

The third multi stakeholder workshop of the dialogue forum Leaving no one behind on the implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in different policy areas in Austria took place on November 6, 2019 in the Federal Ministry for more

High-level Meeting: Presenting research results to the EU Social Protection Committee

On 22 October 2019, Ricardo Rodrigues and Magdi Birtha were invited to the EU Social Protection Committee (SPC) to present the results of the project ‘Towards a rights-based approach in long-term more

Publications

New Publication: Implementing the Posting of Workers Directive in the Western Balkans: An Institutional Analysis

A new comparative working paper has been published in the frame of the EEPOW project by our colleagues Sonila Danaj and Eszter Zólyomi in collaboration with our colleagues Mojca Vah Jevšnik and Sanja Cukut Krilić at ZRC SAZU, more

New Publication: Posted Work in the European Union

Our colleague Sonila Danaj co-authored a book chapter on union responses to posted work in four European countries in the new Routledge book publication Posted Work in the European Union: The political economy of free movement edited by Jens more

New Publication: Eurohealth issue on review of evidence on LTC policies

Results and policy recommendations from the EU-funded project "CEQUA: European network on long-term care quality and cost effectiveness and dependency prevention" have just been published in the most recent volume of Eurohealth - the more

New publication: Demographic transition and demographic security in post-Soviet countries

The review-and-analytical article deals with the interrelation between demographic transition and national security. The focus is on the countries of the former Soviet Union. It proves that along with two traditional approaches of population policy, more

New publication: Improvement plans of 14 European integrated care sites

Integrated care programmes are increasingly being put in place to provide care to older people living at home. However, knowledge about further improving integrated care is limited. In fourteen integrated care sites in Europe, plans to improve more