Serbia. No country specific provisions. Slovakia No country specific provisions. Slovenia No country specific provisions.
Serbia. After more than 10 years of advocacy, a modern and stimulating Law on Social Entrepreneurship was adopted in Serbia in February 2022. While waiting for the legal framework the practices of social economy, the concept and its positive effects have been recognised in the civil sector and among the public experts, especially when it comes to WISEs. There are certain legal forms that the legal system in Serbia traditionally recognises and that play an important role in the development of social entrepreneurial initiatives. These are companies for professional rehabilitation and work integration of persons with disabilities and cooperatives. The adult education providers in Serbia in forms of social enterprises fully or approximately correspond to the WISE concept, meaning that their main goal is focused on work integration of disadvantaged people, that play an important role in the economic system and develop a strong pedagogical dimension based on the acquisition of professional skills. These are associations of citizens, cooperatives, enterprises for work integration and professional rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, spin-off enterprises (most frequently in the form of a company with limited liability and a joint-stock company), foundations, business incubators and development agencies. Thus, these organisational forms, more or less guided by the employment model, open opportunities for employment and professional training for people with employment difficulties, such as people with disabilities, women, Roma, youth, migrants, the homeless, ex-offenders, etc.
Serbia. The Law on Adult Education recognises adult education as part of the unique educational system of the Republic of Serbia, which provides adults with the lifelong acquisition of competencies and qualifications necessary for personal and professional development, work and employment, as well as socially responsible behaviour. Adult education is implemented as formal, non-formal education and informal learning. Non-formal adult education, in terms of this law, is organised adult learning processes based on special programmes, to acquire knowledge, values, attitudes, abilities, and skills aimed at the personal development of adults, work and employment, and social activities. On the other side, informal adult learning, in the sense of this law, is a process of independent acquisition of skills mentioned above. Lifelong learning is recognised as a basic principle of the adult learning process and it refers to respecting the needs and opportunities of adults for learning and development throughout life in all its areas. The next law that recognises lifelong learning as an important principle is the Law on the National Qualifications Framework, which is based on the same principles as the Law on Adult Education plus it recognises non-formal education programmes like those that are: • achieving the standard of professional competencies, in part or in full, by the qualification standard; • improving knowledge, skills, and abilities, for personal and professional development and socially responsible behaviour, improving the quality of life, general education and culture (foreign language programmes, computer programmes, programmes for improving “soft skills", improving media literacy, programmes for the development of entrepreneurial and leadership skills, improvement and protection of life skills, etc.); • providing career guidance and counselling services.
Serbia. Social entrepreneurship is an important element of the process of European integration of Serbia into the EU, because it is one of the key tools for the development of human capital and the transformation of social policy in Serbia. In the context of European integration, the Employment and Social Policy Reform Program (ESPRP) and the Economic Reform Program (ERP) appear as the two main strategic documents. These documents recognise the importance of WISEs as one of the potential solutions to social inequality - the main challenge to inclusive economic growth and overall social progress. The ERP specifically defines structural reforms related to labour market, employment and social protection policies and social inclusion, as well as the circular economy. Numerous challenges facing employment policy in Serbia are related to the high general inactivity rate and low employment rate, the exclusion of vulnerable groups from the formal labour market, the need to strengthen the role of employment policy, segmented labour market, structural unemployment, high inactivity and youth unemployment. The Economic and Financial Affairs Council recommendations of the EU within the ERP are especially focused on the problem of the high share of informal unemployment in various sectors, especially in agriculture. It has been shown that the ESRP in the process of EU integration is inadequate implementation, so providing adequate financial and institutional resources for employment and social policy development should be a priority. In addition to WISEs, what is also important is that the EU has positioned education as a primary instrument in pursuing development and strategic objectives. Therefore, adult education systems must adapt to the requirements of socio-economic development and offer education and learning that are adapted to different groups of adults and their specific needs for knowledge and skills. This highlights adult education and learning organizations, which are becoming the basis for lifelong learning and efforts to implement various socio- economic and educational policies.
Serbia. When it comes to the institutional framework and lifelong learning public policies, the only public body at the central level that directly deals with social enterprises is the working group of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs. The Ministry worked on the Draft law but did not directly contribute to the development of social entrepreneurship through the support system. However, since the previous legal forms are mostly inadequate and unstimulating for social enterprises, most of them have been established in the form of associations. Another reason is that most of the initiatives come from the non-profit sector. Therefore, the adoption of specific legislation that will directly relate to the recognition of WISEs is considered necessary and beneficial in every sense. This process should begin with the amendment of existing laws in order to expand the space for the development of social entrepreneurship in general and enable its sustainability. When this is thoroughly worked on, XXXXx will have a strong foundation to work favourably on strengthening the economy and employment policy. Since there are already indications in some laws that refer to the development of the sector, these laws should be amended to further develop these already defined forms.
Serbia. Although the concept of lifelong learning, together with the development of WISEs, is an area to be developed in Serbia, they appear particularly constrained by a lack of political will as well as strategic management and public administration capacity. • The advocacy process for the adoption of the Law on Social Entrepreneurship and using the proposal developed by civil society in late 2019, as well as expanding the WISE support network through the cooperation of all relevant actors, would be more effective and realistic, if appropriate methods are developed to measure the social impact they achieve. In addition, it is necessary to identify and implement certain practical solutions after the adoption of the law, such as the development of support systems to achieve economic sustainability, as well as for the needs of support, coordination, monitoring and management of social entrepreneurship. Establishing an institutional mechanism for sector development would also contribute to increasing social cohesion and general trust between the private, public and civil sectors. In that regard there is a need to restart public dialogue. The Law provides the basis for creating development programmes and support measures and open up space to include new actors in the WISEs ecosystem. The newly adopted Law on social entrepreneurship is a solid basis for further efforts to identify and establish the basis for the development of the sector. It was created after a long consultation process, relying on good practices of the EU and the region, and approaches social enterprises through the prism of European standards, taking into account local circumstances. WISEs sector in Serbia is small yet heterogeneous, so it takes different forms with different areas of social influence, mostly economic empowerment and employment. However, they have common traits that are manifested in their social mission represented with a quick adaptation of the business operation to the needs of the community; strong customers and beneficiaries community; and their primary motivation – not to lose any jobs. Adult education, recognised as an important element in the development of WISEs, plays a significant role in achieving the mission, but since the role played by XXXXx is still not recognised in its full capacity from the side of decision-makers, one can say that development dynamics in the sphere of adult education is facing many limitations. • The governance of adult education service provider...
Serbia. The Institution for the Supervision of Insurance (IVASS), Italy on the one hand, and the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Serbia on the other hand, have reached the following understanding:
Serbia. The Serbian authorities' policy response to the slowing growth and falling inflation in 2011 was according to the IMF broadly appropriate. Amid faltering euro area economic activity, Serbia's GDP is projected to grow by 0.5% this year, with high and rising unemployment being a key concern. The GDP projection is in line with the National Bank of Serbia ("NBS") forecast. On the positive side, inflation has been slowing down and is expected to return within the NBS's tolerance band in early 2012. Performance against the end-2011 targets was broadly in line with the IMF stand-by-arrangement ("SBA") with Serbia, although the target on the general government deficit was missed by a small amount, as additional spending restraint did not fully compensate for revenue shortfalls. Completion of the first review under the SBA has been postponed as the 2012 budget deviated from the agreed fiscal program, in particular with regard to higher planned issuance of public debt (including government guarantees) and domestically- financed projects. If the Serbian government fails to implement appropriate measures to decrease unemployment and/or inflation this could materially negatively affect the Group's revenues in Serbia due to low consumer spending.
Serbia. No. Name of Agreement and Number of Articles Place and Date of Signing Agreement Term Subject
Serbia. In so far as required by Applicable Laws, the relevant Governmental Authority in Serbia having cleared or being deemed to have cleared the Proposed Transaction under applicable anti-trust or merger control rules on or before the Long Stop Date. Part B
