This country reports are part of the broader IOM study “Labour Mobility as a Factor of Development in South-Eastern Europe” conducted within a project funded by the IOM Development Fund and implemented by IOM in partnership with the governments in the region in 2014. The research team produced seven separate reports for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, UNSC resolution 1244-administered Kosovo, Serbia and one regional overview. The seven reports looked at the policies and regulative mechanisms which govern labour mobility, in terms of their approaches in facilitating movements of specific categories of migrant workers, consistency with evolving regional objectives and compliance with the EU acquis and standards. The regional overview presented an overall framework for regulating labour mobility from the perspective of existing international and regional norms and their relevance to the South-Eastern European (SEE) region. The regional overview explored the degree of harmonization of existing regulative frameworks within the SEE region and their coherence with the increasing labour market integration and overall socioeconomic development at national and regional levels. The IOM study was carried out in close coordination and partnership with the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), whose labour mobility study conducted in 2014 complements IOM’s legal assessment by looking at labour mobility from the socioeconomic perspective. It is the expectation that both IOM and RCC reports will help the governments in the region in operationalizing the South-East Europe 2020 Strategy adopted in 2013, which specifically foresees a common regional action on facilitating labour mobility as a tool towards stronger economic growth and closer integration with the EU. The initial consultations for such a common regional action took place in the SEE region in October 2014 within the framework of the RCC Working Group on Social Agenda, where representatives of various stakeholders expressed their views on possible topics and modalities of regional cooperation, including ministries of labour, education, interior, health, trade, chambers of commerce, business/employer association, trade unions, statistical offices, public employment services. The international partners and the governments in the region are committed to continuing the consultations to ensure that the proposed regional initiative addresses the needs in the region in the most effective, collaborative and realistic manner.

Disclaimer

The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the work do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries. The responsibility for the content, the views, interpretations and conditions expressed herein rests solely with the author, and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the IOM or its Member States and partners. The analysis was carried out based on the information available and legislation in action as of June 2014.