DG EMPL hosted the first ever conference on labour market reforms in the Western Balkans and Turkey with its partners and interlocutors from the region in Budva, Montenegro on 2-3 October 2018.

Senior level government representatives, heads of employment services, representatives from employers and trade union confederations including EU Social Partners, the Regional Cooperation Council, ILO, OECD and Commission experts focussed on pertinent challenges the region is facing: undeclared work, skills development and inclusive labour markets, social rights and social dialogue. 

The conference showed that labour market and social policies are clearly gaining space on policy agendas in the region. Governments put a strong focus on the regulatory side (reforms of labour law, etc.), but need to develop more comprehensive policies for achieving the proclaimed policy objectives such as employment growth, gender equality, inclusion. Participants stressed that the transformation process was complex and not a business-as-usual task of amending just some specific areas. The dire state of social dialogue was highlighted in particular by the workers’ representatives, pointing to basic deficits such as obstruction of the right to freedom of association and to collective bargaining. Labour market experts pointed to emerging challenges in the region, which may – despite currently high unemployment – face labour shortages in the future, as a consequence of continued emigration.

In the debate on the governance of labour market reforms speakers from the region underlined that the broader political support from the EU for enlargement is crucial to ensure transformative power of the EU accession perspective, and the need for technical support fostering evidence-based policy making and designing multi-layered policy approaches