Sociology

EU is moving target, says chief negotiator

BRUSSELS -- Frequent changes of the European regulations are hindering the EU integration process, says Tanja Miščević, chief negotiator for Serbia's EU accession talks.

BELGRADE - The Serbian government's team for social inclusion and poverty reduction, Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Policy and the Office for Cooperation with the Civil Society called on all interested organizations to submit comments on the draft of the first part of the Employment and Social Reform Program (ESRP) until March 26.

"Caretaker cabinet has no comment on EU sanctions"

BELGRADE -- Serbia did not take a stand on EU's sanctions imposed against officials of the ousted authorities in Ukraine "because the government is in a technical mandate."

The caretaker government "cannot comment on such situations," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Beta on Thursday.

Serbia beginning effort to reduce discrimination

A recent survey shows that discrimination is widespread, and even tolerated, in Serbia.

Protection for Equality Commissioner Nevena Petrusic (centre) holds a press conference on the survey results on February 28th. [Vesna Andic/RFE/RL]

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.

Russia accused the EU of taking an “extremely unconstructive stance” on the Ukrainian political crisis by freezing negotiations with Russia.

“Russia does not accept the language of sanctions and threats, but if they are imposed they will not remain unanswered,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, quoted by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Women's gross hourly earnings were on average 15 % below those of men in Bulgaria in 2012, according to Eurostat data.

The European Union will grant Bulgaria EUR 127M for the establishment of e-governance in the next EU programming period 2014-2020.

The funds will be provided under the new Good Governance operational program, Standard daily reports.

WASHINGTON - The World Bank (WB) has granted Serbia USD 40 million for a second project in the health care sector and USD 200 million for a project aimed at strengthening the financial and institutional capacity of the Deposit Insurance Agency.

BELGRADE - Minister without Portfolio in charge of EU integration Branko Ruzic announced on Tuesday that over the next seven years Serbia will participate in two transnational programs.