Six new Flash Reports prepared by the European Social Policy Network (ESPN) are now available and provide information on recent social policy developments in Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Lithuania and Turkey.

• During the 2016-2017 school year, more than 20,000 children dropped out of the educational system in Bulgaria. In the summer of 2017, the government decided to create an inter-institutional mechanism to get these children back to school. As a result of their combined forces, the educational, social, health and administrative units and municipalities reported the re-enrolling, or enrolling for the very first time, of nearly 17,000 children to pre-school and school education.
• As one of his first reform projects after entering into office in March 2018, the German Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs has presented a draft bill to ensure that workers do not get stuck in the “part-time trap”, but can return to their previous working hours.
• In Greece, a new reform of the family benefits scheme has been in place since January 2018. The new scheme replaces various family and child benefits with a single means-tested “Child Benefit”. As the new scheme focuses more on needs and on improving equity and fairness, it is likely to better support poor families with children.
• In Lithuania, various stakeholders are discussing the financing of the statutory funded private pension scheme because the current system, where a percentage of social insurance contributions is redirected to private funds, could put the fairness and sustainability of the overall pension system at risk. The government has promised to resolve the problem. 
• According to the state of emergency decree released on 24 December 2017, subcontracted workers in the public service of Turkey have been given the right to secure permanent staff positions. This is expected to affect the positions of some 900,000 public and municipal employees.
• Since 2017, several policies have been implemented in Turkey to encourage businesses to hire more employees. Thanks to employment subsidies and other policies, the unemployment rate has dropped by two percentage points. However, the use of unemployment insurance funds for purposes other than unemployment insurance and the sustainability of employment continue to be serious concerns.