Europeanization of Social Policies: National Adaptations in Southeastern Europe

The article looks at the process of Europeanization & attempts to explore this phenomenon in correlation with social policy reforms in the Southeast European (SEE) countries. The focus of analyses is on SEE countries with different EU status such as Slovenia (EU country), Bulgaria & Romania (candidate countries), as well as EU applicant countries, ie, Croatia & the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (henceforth Macedonia). After briefly exploring the theoretical concept of Europeanization, the article processes with general assessment of the differences in stages of Europeanization among these countries. Different institutional & legislative transformations are considered as a starting point of the region's capacity & potential to democratize & adapt toward common EU standards. As it shows, the countries from the region can be divided into a "performance league" with Slovenia & (increasingly) Croatia being the leaders & Romania & Macedonia being the laggards of that process. Parallel with this, the level of institutional Europeanization among the SEE countries is also compared. Further analysis focuses on the European Union (EU) instruments employed toward applicant & aspirant countries Southeastern Europe. Analyzed mechanisms within this range include: the pre-accession strategy, the regional approach, the Stability Pact, the Stabilisation & Association Process accompanied with the Stabilisation & Association Agreements, the CARDS program & finally, the social part of the acquis communautaire. These instruments outline the scarcity of direct social policy interventions in candidate & applicant countries, which only reflects Union's limited internal social policy agenda, encompassing only domains that are directly or indirectly concerned with the functioning of the labor market. To explore the influence of these instruments in social policies of the SEE countries, a closer examination of Slovenian & Macedonian social policies is being carried out. The article finalizes with a few recommendations for enhancement of the Union's role in designating further social policy trajectory in the EU accession countries. 4 Tables, 32 References. Adapted from the source document.