News Archive
Bregu: This year marks one of the most impactful ones for the Western Balkans when it comes to regional cooperation
04 Jun 2023
Budva - "This year marks one of the most impactful ones for the Western Balkans, marking the long-awaited turning point towards commitments taken by the economies of the region, through the Common Regional Market (CRM). With integrity, collegiality and competence - three words of tradition ...
RCC Board approves organisation’s Annual Report 2022/23, and adopts Financial Report 2022
25 May 2023
Sarajevo – The participants of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Board approved the organisation’s Annual Report 2022/23 and adopted the Financial Report 2022 at their 49th meeting held in Sarajevo today. The Annual Report 2022/23 is expected to be endorsed at the RCC Annual ...
Moderate progress of the Western Balkan economies regarding the European Pillar of Social Rights
04 May 2023
(Sarajevo/Skopje) - The Employment and Social Affairs Platform 2 (ESAP 2) project of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) presented the 2022 edition of individual economy and regional overview reports on performance of the Western Balkan (WB) economies regarding the European Pillar of Social ...
Bregu: Continued all-inclusive regional cooperation remains key in strengthening economic resilience of Western Balkans
15 Mar 2023
Sarajevo – “External risks arising from the current geopolitical crisis and the rise in commodity prices reinforce the purpose of the Common Regional Market agenda. Continued all-inclusive regional cooperation remains the key towards strengthening economic resilience of the Western ...
RCC: Nominations for Western Balkans Women Entrepreneurs of the Year 2022 open
03 Feb 2023
Sarajevo – The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) is happy to announce that the nomination process for the Western Balkans Women Entrepreneurs of the Year 2022 has begun! The RCC launched this initiative last year in the framework of the Common Regional Market Action Plan 2021-2024 and ...
Looking at Social Ability to Provide Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities
24 Nov 2022
Sarajevo – In the Western Balkans economies “most of the progress was registered in the areas of inclusion of children with disabilities, especially in the process of deinstitutionalisation of children with disability, inclusive education and support services offered at the community ...
Bregu: Support of Western Balkan citizens to regional cooperation remains stable at 76%
24 Jun 2022
Brussels – “While many things change, our public and business perceptions surveys remain a truthful source of sentiments across the region. At times, the results surprise us, sometimes they serve as a wake-up call, while on other occasions they confirm that our efforts are not in ...
Bregu: As long as we continue to subscribe to dialogue, compromise and cooperation, we invest in long-term stability, security and prosperity
09 Jun 2022
Thessaloniki – “Under the political guidance of SEECP and in consultations with all relevant actors and stakeholders, RCC identified those gaps in which the region should invest with technical as well as political capital. These all fall under the category of sustainable development, ...
Champion of Regional Cooperation to round off 14th RCC Annual Meeting
08 Jun 2022
Sarajevo/Thessaloniki – Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) is to hold its 14th Annual Meeting on Thursday, 9 June in Thessaloniki. RCC Secretary General Majlinda Bregu will present the RCC Annual Report and major accomplishments and results of the organisation in the past year while putting ...
Bregu: With slowed growth & inflation, higher energy & food prices, Western Balkans will have to amp-up regional cooperation
18 May 2022
Sarajevo - It is very difficult to sugar-coat the severity of economic effects of the war on the Western Balkans. It is equally difficult to accurately predict the true and longer-term impact, or to identify the opportunities for the region along the way. Our realities today are drastically ...
Bregu: European perspective important for socio-economic progress, but also for security and stability
16 Mar 2022
Sarajevo/Tirana – “The times we are living in are not glamorous, on the contrary these are dark moments. We are all heartened and deeply saddened by the unjust war Ukrainian people are going through. The economic impact of the war stretches beyond Ukraine's borders. Concern ...
Bregu: Being Europeans is not written in DNA but what you believe and fight for
25 Nov 2021
“It’s not breaking news any longer that our youth is leaving the region. One out of 3 youngsters, age 18-24, in the Western Balkans confirms that they are ready to leave their homeland. We should understand the message – their choice of destination shows what’s missing ...
Youth-Tailored Solutions Require Youth Participation
26 Oct 2021
Sarajevo/Online – “Cooperation, innovative solutions, equality, participation - these are the things we need today more than ever, as we establish an environment in which youth and policy makers sit together to constructively explore the ways in which youth priorities and needs ...
RCC’s ESAP 2 project gathered its partners and beneficiaries at a 2-day hybrid event to discuss employment and social affairs
13 Oct 2021
Sarajevo/Tirana – Western Balkans’ Social Scoreboard, and individual and regional overview reports on performance of the Western Balkan economies regarding the European Pillar of Social Rights, prepared by Employment and Social Affairs Platform 2 (ESAP 2) project of the Regional ...
Bregu: Balkan Barometer reveals human uncertainty and vulnerability are main concerns followed by some goodish news on benefits of regional cooperation
24 Jun 2021
Tirana – “This, seventh in a row, Balkan Barometer shows human uncertainty and vulnerability are the main concerns followed by some goodish news which is the consciousness about the benefits of regional cooperation. For 49% of Western Balkan citizens, unemployment is the biggest ...
Bregu: With regional youth unemployment rate at 35.1% the need to act is clear, as youth is our most precious asset
31 May 2021
Sarajevo/Online – “Youth and jobs has not been a good combination in the Western Balkans for some time. The average regional youth unemployment rate in 2020 was 35.1%, which is more than double the European Union (EU) rate of 16.9%. Some of it can be blamed on the COVID 19 ...
Greater engagement of social partners in tackling undeclared work in the Western Balkans is much needed, authorities and social partners agree
19 Apr 2021
Sarajevo – “The Regional Cooperation Council’s (RCC) Employment and Social Affairs Platform 2 (ESAP 2) project aims to support regional cooperation among the Western Balkan (WB) economies in transforming undeclared work into declared work, pursuing a holistic integrated strategic ...
Balance between prevention and deterrence one of key elements for successful, structured approach to formalizing undeclared work
16 Apr 2021
Sarajevo – “COVID 19 pandemic introduced many new challenges to labour markets globally and in Western Balkans, as this region has low activity and employment rates on one hand and high rates of informal work on the other. Current times are very challenging and the pandemic is impacting ...
Addressing livelihood topics of social rights - jobs, wages, access to education, health care – more important than ever
19 Nov 2020
Sarajevo/Brussels/Tirana – “It is no longer news that Western Balkan societies fall short in many socio-economic aspects. We, together with our partners – governments in the region, European Union (EU) and many others, work to reduce this gap between the region and the EU. ...
25 Jun 2020
Tirana/Sarajevo/Prishtina – The two meetings have been held today within the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) - the meeting of the SEECP Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the RCC Annual Meeting, which RCC co-organised with the outgoing Kosovo SEECP Chairmanship-in-Office ...
23 Jun 2020
Sarajevo – The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) will present 2020 edition of Balkan Barometer on Wednesday 24 June 2020. This annual public and business opinion survey of the RCC examines the perception and expectations on life and work, prevalent socio-economic and political trends & ...
28 Jan 2020
Sarajevo – “More than 700 000 jobs have been added to the workforce during the past seven years and unemployment has moved for almost a quarter (23%) to around 16%, across the region. They say a tide lifts all boats, large and small. However, not everybody benefited from these economic and ...
15 Oct 2019
Sarajevo – “Informal employment is work that is legal in itself but not declared to the authorities for tax, social security and/or labour law purposes. As such, it plays an important role in all Western Balkan economies, as widespread informality deprives governments of potential tax revenue, ...
14 Jun 2019
Luxemburg – “Years in a row our opinion survey Balkan Barometer shows that unemployment is the biggest concern for 67% of the citizens in the Western Balkans (WB), and our alarms should have already gone off, triggering adequate reactions. This region has talent everywhere but their skills ...
12 Jul 2018
Pristina – Upon request of the representatives of the Albanian Public Employment Service (PES), the Regional Cooperation Council's (RCC) Employment and Social Affairs Platform (ESAP) project, within its technical assistance facility, took the Albanian PES on a study visit to their PES ...
03 Jul 2018
Brussels – The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) is to present the implementation results of the region’s growth strategy, South East Europe 2020 (SEE2020) on 5 July 2018 in Brussels, and day after, on 6 July also in Brussels, the RCC will reveal the results of its 4th edition of the public ...
20 Jun 2018
Brussels – Regional Cooperation Council' s (RCC) Employment and Social Affairs Platform (ESAP) Project presented in Brussels today employment and labour market trends and developments in the Western Balkans (WB). The policy discussion gathered representatives of WB Ministries of Labour and ...
31 May 2018
Herceg Novi – Representatives of the Ministries of Labour and Public Employment Services (PES) offices from the Western Balkan (WB) economies together with relevant regional and international experts in the field, shared experiences and discussed youth employment programmes at the regional peer-review ...
23 Apr 2018
Podgorica – The Regional Cooperation Council’s (RCC) Employment and Social Affairs Platform Project (ESAP)provided technical assistance to the Employment Agency of Montenegro in upgrading the Information Technology System in accordance with the European Employment Service (EURES) requirements.
20 Apr 2018
Belgrade – The Regional Workshop on Employment of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in the Western Balkans (WB), which was held in Belgrade on 19-20 April 2018, was organised jointly in the framework of two regional projects: Regional Cooperation Council’s (RCC) Employment and Social Affairs ...
12 Apr 2018
Prishtina – Representatives of Ministries of Labour and Public Employment Services (PES) from the Western Balkans discussed self-employment programmes at a two-day regional workshop within the framework of the Regional Cooperation Council’s (RCC) Employment and Social Affairs Platform ...
21 Feb 2018
Although the Western Balkans region suffered the dramatic employment fall in the period following the global economic crisis 2008-2011, “the situation recovered over the subsequent five years and by 2016 total employment had again reached 6.5 million, representing an increase of 8.9%”, ...
30 Jan 2018
Pristina – Regional Cooperation Council's (RCC) Employment and Social Affairs Platform Project (ESAP) project provided technical assistance to Vocational Training Centres in Kosovo* in analysing their current legal framework and the documents related to vocational training, and proposed ...
21 Jun 2017
Skopje – Labour market statistics officials from the Public Employment Services (PES) of the Western Balkan economies agreed upon a set of quantitative indicators that are to be collected for the PES benchmarking analysis, at the meeting in Skopje today, organized under auspices of joint ...
ILO and RCC launch project for better labour market governance in the Western Balkans
29 Jun 2016
Sarajevo – The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) will work together to further regional cooperation in order to achieve more effective labour market governance in the Western Balkans. The new joint project, funded by the European Union, ...
Three million euro for boosting jobs in the Western Balkans
01 Mar 2016
Brussels - The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) will jointly create a Western Balkans Platform on Employment and Social Affairs in the framework of a new European Commission funded project signed today in Brussels.