Pregovaračko poglavlje 19 – socijalna politika i zapošljavanje
Authors: Reljanović Mario 
Published: February 2023

Negotiating Chapter 19 refers to the areas of employment, labour and social policy, that is, areas that are covered by the domestic labour and social law. These issues are resolved within the standard procedure of negotiations on the country's accession to the European Union, through initial screenings and providing criteria for opening chapters. As part of the negotiations on Chapter 19, the Republic of Serbia was asked to adopt an action plan that would cover in detail the harmonization with international standards and the acquis of the European Union. The research deals with issues that are important for the efforts made so far within the negotiations, as well as with the problems and challenges that are set before the Republic of Serbia in order to successfully close the Chapter 19. The relationship between the basic labour standards that have been set as a parameter to which the state formally tends, and the state of legislation and practice, is primarily analysed. Attention is also paid to the policies that appear within the framework of the realization of rights in the field of labour, social insurance and social protection, first of all investment, employment, social policy, redistributive policy and to some extent tax policy. The difficulties that lead to the inconsistency of these policies with the goals that must be achieved within the negotiations in Chapter 19 are observed, as well as the consequences that such differences in the perception of economic and social rights produce, in relation to (in)compliance with the legal acquis of the European Union. Attention is also devoted to the formal part of the negotiations, i.e., very slow progress of the Republic of Serbia in the process of opening the negotiation Chapter 19. The basic hypothesis is that fundamental changes in policies and legislation must be made, in order to achieve progress within the framework of achieving the desired standards that form the basis of Chapter 19. The work is divided into several segments, in the introductory parts the content of Chapter 19 and the links are presented these issues with other negotiating chapters. Then, the current course of negotiations and the Action Plan for Chapter 19 are analyzed, which for now is the most important and concrete achievement in preparation for the opening of Chapter 19. Finally, in the final parts of the paper, attention is devoted to a critical review of the efforts made in terms of achieving the set goals and the compatibility of the previous action within the implementation of the Action Plan with international standards of employment, labour and social protection. The conclusion contains several recommendations in which direction efforts should be directed in order to qualitatively change the position of the Republic of Serbia within the negotiations on Chapter 19. Normative and analytical method of critical review of the policies and regulations that make up the negotiations within Chapter 19 are represented before all, with the inevitable pointing to the basic international standards in the area of economic and social rights.