EU helps Balkans to reduce unemployment

EU helps Balkans to reduce unemployment

The European Union is supporting local efforts, funding institutional development and supporting at-risk workers in order to increase employment in the Balkans.

The western Balkans is attempting to reduce its unemployment rate in co-operation with the European Union in an effort to improve the economy and improve regional countries' chances for EU accession.

With jobless rates as much as 44 percent in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and 45 percent in Kosovo, unemployment is one of the greatest challenges facing the western Balkans as countries attempt to solidify their relationships with the EU.

Such efforts are important in helping countries build strong economies, said Tibor Moldvai, head of the Belgrade-based Centre for Euro-Atlantic Studies.

"The EU funds for the reduction of unemployment are enabling structural and systemic changes in the economy because they are not used for filing in holes in a budget or to increase public spending, firstly because there are strict procedures for these funds," Moldvai told SETimes.

"A special focus of these funds is given to employment of youth, women, ethnic and vulnerable groups, which would enable social aid to unemployed persons. EU funds for reducing unemployment are important because they discourage support to the Eurosceptic and right-wing parties which got a significant number of votes in the previous election for the European Parliament and which are strengthening in the periods of social and economic crisis and which could have negative influence to the EU future," Moldvai said.

In Serbia, the EU and the labour ministry are finishing a joint project to improve the capacity of labour market institutions with the aim...