Seven new Flash Reports prepared by the European Social Policy Network (ESPN) are now available and provide information on recent social policy developments in Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovakia and Turkey.

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• At the end of June 2021, the Austrian parliament passed a reform extending the Corona Short-Time Work (CSTW) scheme until the end of June 2022. The reform, which came into force on 1 July, tightens access to the scheme and reduces its generosity. However, for companies that were hit exceptionally hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the previous more generous rules will continue to apply until the end of 2021.
• From January 2022 onwards, Hungary will exempt taxpayers aged 25 or younger from paying personal income tax to make them financially more independent and to boost their employment. Experts point out that the new measure  could in practice legalise previously informal labour arrangements rather than create new jobs.
• In recent years, the Dutch tax authorities unjustly stopped the childcare allowances of a large number of parents (mostly with dual nationality). Many of them incurred considerable debts as they had to repay often tens of thousands of euros. Moreover, because they were (wrongly) treated as fraudsters, they were not entitled to other forms of assistance either and therefore faced additional hardship. In May 2021, the government announced plans to compensate for the unjustly reclaimed allowances and to take over most of the related private debts.
• The Serbian Law on Financial Support for Families with Children (2017) imposed a number of restrictions on maternity, paternity and parental rights to cash benefits. Civil society organisations have challenged the legitimacy of these restrictions, and in December 2020 the Constitutional Court ruled that they are unconstitutional. On 30 June 2021, the parliament adopted the proposal for a new law that the government prepared following the Court’s decision.
• Slovakia will be one of the EU countries with the fastest ageing population. In July 2021, the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family published a proposal to amend the Act on social insurance in relation to the statutory pension scheme. The reforms proposed include a parental pension “bonus”, which aims to strengthen intergenerational solidarity. This bonus raises serious equity and financial sustainability concerns.
• In Slovakia, the closure of schools during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant gaps in access to (quality) education. Experts and policy-makers have agreed that continuity of education should be prioritised despite the risk of a third wave. In August 2021, the Ministry of Education launched the vaccination campaign Open schools to support vaccination and so avoid repeated school closures.
• The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted education in Turkey severely: from March 2020, education at all levels took largely place online. This seriously hampered access to (quality) education, especially for poorer households lacking IT equipment and/or internet connection.

The ESPN Flash Reports reflect the views only of the authors, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information they contain.