Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.3935/rsp.v11i3.34
Europeanisation of Social Policies: National Adaptations in South East Europe
Maja Gerovska Mitev
; Faculty of philosophy, Ss Cyril and Methodius University Skopje
Sažetak
The article looks at the process of Europeanisation and attempts to explore this phenomenon in correlation with social policy reforms in the South East European (SEE) countries. The focus of analyses is upon SEE countries with different EU status such as Slovenia (EU country), Bulgaria and Romania (candidate countries), as well as EU applicant countries i.e. Croatia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (henceforth Macedonia).After briefly exploring the theoretical concept of Europeanisation, the article processes with general assessment of the differences in stages of Europeanisation among these countries. Different institutional and legislative transformations are considered as a starting point of the region’s capacity and potential to democratise and adapt towards common EU standards. As it shows, the countries from the region can be divided into a “performance league” with Slovenia and (increasingly) Croatia being the leaders and Romania and Macedonia being the laggards of that process. Parallel with this, the level of institutional Europeanisation among the SEE countries is also compared.Further analysis focuses on the European Union (EU) instruments employed towards applicant and aspirant countries South East Europe. Analysed mechanisms within this range include: the pre-accession strategy, the regional approach, the Stability Pact, the Stabilisation and Association Process accompanied with the Stabilisation and Association Agreements, the CARDS program and finally, the social part of the acquis communautaire. These instruments outline the scarcity of direct social policy interventions in candidate and applicant countries, which only reflects Union’s limited internal social policy agenda, encompassing only domains which are directly or indirectly concerned with the functioning of the labour market. To explore the influence of these instruments in social policies of the SEE countries, a closer examination of Slovenian and Macedonian social policies is being carried out. The article finalises with a few recommendations for enhancement of the Union’s role in designating further social policy trajectory in the EU accession countries.
Ključne riječi
Europeanisation; pre-accession strategy; PHARE; Stabilisation and Association process (SAP); Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA); Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation (CARDS); social acquis; South East Europe (S
Hrčak ID:
30195
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.3.2004.
Posjeta: 2.630 *