FOREWORD
The European Commission’s 2013 Enlargement package indicates a number of positive developments in the enlargement countries over the past year, but also recognises the challenges at hand. Like in the European Union, the impact of the economic crisis is being felt throughout the region, with the Western Balkans falling back into recession.
The protracted depression has most visibly aggravated the already difficult social conditions. Unemployment continued rising and is now on an average of 21% in the Western Balkans, but much higher in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo. Young people are particularly affected. More worrying still, favourable results in poverty reduction from the pre-crisis period are being reversed, leading to steadily growing inequalities – with social unrest lurking around the corner.
In this light, SOLIDAR shares the concerns outlined in the European Parliament’s report adopted in December 2012 on “Enlargement: policies, criteria and the EU’s strategic interests” drafted by Member of the European Parliament Maria Eleni Koppa (Greece) “the social dimension has been largely neglected in the enlargement process” and “invites the Commission to address this issue, especially in the framework of Chapter 19 (Social Policy and Employment), to foster positive social transformation in the future EU Member States and to pay due attention to social justice.”
Within that framework, SOLIDAR and partners propose in this briefing paper 5 benchmarks to strengthen the active inclusion angle within the EU enlargement approach. Based upon the contributions by Agenda Institute (Albania), Center for International Relations (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund South East Europe (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia), Lokalna Inicijativa Razvoja (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Organization for Civil Initiatives (Croatia), Foundation for European Progressive Studies (EU), Centre for Legal Aid and Regional Development (Kosovo), Progress Institute (Macedonia), SOS Telephone (Montenegro), SOLIDAR Suisse (Serbia), Educational Centre - Leskovac (Serbia) and IDC (Serbia), SOLIDAR developed a preliminary evaluation for the 2013 Enlargement progress reports.
In 2013, SOLIDAR will continue to work with civil society, think tanks and independent academics from the Western Balkans to refine the active inclusion benchmarks to monitor the accession process with the ambition of contributing to promoting progress and prosperity for all in the region.
Conny Reuter
SOLIDAR Secretary General