Supporting strategies to recover from the crisis in South Eastern Europe

Background

Since the effects of the crisis spread to South Eastern Europe, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia have been facing significant challenges to develop effective policy tools to mitigate its negative impact. Meanwhile, some new EU Member States have embarked on anti-crisis packages that - combined with core social stabilizers - have been successful in reducing the social and labour market impacts of the economic downturn. The objectives of such packages do not differ substantially from those implemented in Western Europe, but the financial constraints faced by Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries make these packages more replicable in other countries of the region.

Objectives

The project “Supporting strategies to recover from the crisis in South Eastern Europe (SEE)” aims at fostering implementation of the Global Jobs Pact in the South Eastern European region through the design of policy options in countries with serious constraints of public finance and with labour markets particularly vulnerable to external shocks. The project provides inputs for the design of recovery packages and strategies that respond to country-specific needs. Furthermore, the project assists selected South Eastern European countries, namely Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia:

• to better understand the country-specific challenges brought about by the crisis;
• to assess existing anti-crisis measures; and
• develop country-specific anti-crisis policy options, taking into account their feasibility and efficiency;
• to set forth a sustainable path for recovery with special attention to employment and decent job creation.
  

The project`s objective is to create a regional knowledge base on feasible and effective anti-crisis packages and recovery policy options for South Eastern European labour markets, which can be used by ILO constituents when adjusting socio-economic policies on the way to economic recovery. The support provided by the ILO is intended to be flexible and does not replace or delay any ongoing national efforts to respond to the crisis.
The first phase of this project includes the assessment of the target countries’ needs based on consultations with a broad range of relevant ministries and social partners to assess policy options for recovery response, to agree on a process, which can be country-tailored. Based on the first phase of the project, a National Assessment Report will be prepared in the three target countries. The second phase of the project constitutes a peer review process to discuss and share new, evidence-based policy options and strategies for recovery. The process will rely on crisis recovery experiences of two selected new EU member states, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Following the peer review process, a cross-country analysis will be prepared. A final conference will be held, providing a regional overview on crisis responses, good practices and recovery options. ILO constituents in the target countries will be direct beneficiaries of the project, whereas the selected two new EU members will be partners of this initiative.