Although these countries are not yet EU Member States it is important to monitor their achievements and reform efforts of social rights as candidate and potential candidate countries. This is particularly important given the challenges those countries face, including an aging population, challenges in the labour market, poverty, etc.
The European Centre was engaged as the international expert organization in the reviews prepared in 2018.
The aim of the updated reviews was the 2020 actualization of the existing reviews on issues relevant to the European Pillar of Social Rights in Western Balkan: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, & Serbia. From a policy perspective, it is important to monitor the level of progress of the candidate and potential candidate countries, in terms of identifying important progress, persistent gaps and challenges that need to be addressed in order to inform policy makers on potential areas of intervention, reform and upgrade and/or further improvements.
The updated reports are based on European-level, international and country data sets. This included data from Eurostat where available (e.g. on core labour market and social indicators) or relevant national data when Eurostat data were not available. Other relevant sources included data sets from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), OECD, WHO, the World Bank and regional platforms.
The European Centre team provided quality assurance to ensure that the country reviews are of high quality, consistent, clear, accurate and sourced, appropriate and in time for the 2020 EU-Western Balkans Ministerial meeting on Employment and Social Affairs.
Updated reviews of the existing reviews on issues relevant to the European Pillar of Social Rights in Western Balkan: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, & Serbia.