Introducing the Nordic model of cooperation would facilitate the regulation of the labour market and freedom of movement for workers, heard the round table organised by the Croatian parliament's committee on labour, pension system and social partnership.
The Nordic countries in 1952 established the Nordic Council as a joint body which in time became an open zone for labour movement. It is also a place for the harmonisation of some of the home policies.
"We are at the halfway stage of the project that refers to the application of the Nordic model in some areas of promoting cooperation between the parliaments of the four Dayton Agreement countries," project head Aleksandar Popov said, adding that a key area was freedom of movement for workers.
"We are talking about structural unemployment because there is a lack of certain professions in some of the countries. An expert group of the Igman Initiative has analysed the situation, given recommendations and one of them is to work on the conclusion of bilateral agreements to regulate that area and to form an inter-state body to be in charge of their implementation," Popov said, underlining the importance of involving employers and unions in the process.
The round table also heard that the recognition of diplomas was also a problem since each of the countries has its own education system.
The project coordinator for Croatia, Boris Knezevic, recalled that the four countries had signed agreements on social insurance, and, with the exception of Montenegro, agreements on the avoidance of double taxation, which is important for workers so that the salaries they earn in a third country are not taxed in their country of origin.
"There remain problems concerning the application of the European Social Charter in the part that concerns migrant workers' rights. Croatia has reservations in that regard and has not ratified an entire article, and there is no possibility of legal protection within class actions before the European Social Charter body that decides on class actions," said Knezevic.
The problems encountered by foreign workers in Croatia concern housing, family reunion and the right of access of children to education.
"Those issues are not regulated by any bilateral agreements and the European Social Charter sets strict criteria in that regard," said Knezevic.
Before the economic crisis, the number of work permits issued in Croatia annually was around 4,500, and those permits were issued mostly to workers in the shipbuilding industry, tourism and agriculture. In 2014, the number of work permits was 250.
"We have been trying, through cooperation between parliamentary committees on social policy, to agree on legal regulations that would not infringe on the countries' sovereignty but attempt to create a mini-space like the EU in this region, and Croatia's role in that is very important. I don't know if we will succeed, but it is a fact that there are around 600,000 job-seekers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that unemployment is high in Serbia and Montenegro as well, and we think that workers from those countries could have advantage simply for the reason that there is no language barrier," the co-chairman of the Igman Initiative from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vehid Sehic, said.
The co-chairman of the Igman Initiative for Croatia, Zoran Pusic, said that there was a growing trend of restricting the movement of workers among western Balkan countries.
He said this was due to two reasons. "Croatia is an EU member and the freedom of movement of workers is oriented towards the EU and not the first neighbours," he said, adding that the other reason was the strengthening of far-right nationalist political camps.