Serbia mostly harmonized with EU labor, social policies

BELGRADE - The Serbian legislation has mostly been harmonized with the EU acquis, as shown by the first screenings concerning Chapters 2 and 19 which deal with the freedom of movement for workers, social policy and employment, with some fine adjustments pending, heads of the groups tasked with leading the negotiations on these chapters told reporters on Monday.

Serbia's chief negotiator Tanja Miscevic said at a media briefing that Serbia's problem in this field is not legislative activity, but rather implementation of the adopted regulations.

"Much has been done since 2004, but the implementation is a problem. Now no one will accept the excuse that you have no money to do something as that would mean that you have not calculated well what you should do and within what time frame," Miscevic said.

Zoran Martinovic, state secretary at the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Policy who heads the working group tasked with drafting a labor bill, explained that this is an umbrella law when it comes to certain domains.

The law will certainly go toward reducing certain rights of workers, but what is even more important- it will close loopholes and prevent misuses by an employer that are happening today, Martinovic said.

Chapter 2 in Serbia's negotiations with the EU should primarily ensure the compliance with the principles that all EU citizens are entitled to the freedom of movement, work, and other rights stemming from employment, and this implies the right to education and other rights for family members.

In that part, the Serbian legislation has been harmonized with the EU requirements to a great extent, as it does not have a discriminatory approach to the hiring of foreigners, but the introduction of...