University of Amsterdam
Faculty of Law
Master European and International Labour Law, LLM
Class 2015-2016
30.07.2016
MASTER THESIS
LEGAL ASPECTS OF EU SOCIAL POLICY
ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT.
THE CASE OF AN ACCESSING COUNTRY, ALBANIA
Supervisor
: mw.mr.B.P Beryl ter Haar
Prepared by
:
Ilda Durri, Msc, LL.M. Candidate
Student no. 11097434
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT AND KEY WORDS---P.4
INTRODUCTION---P.5
PART I
EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
CHAPTER I NATURE, AIM (S) AND OBJECTIVES OF EU MEASURES AIMING YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
1.1. NATURE OF EU MEASURES IN THE FIELD OF YOUTH
EMPLOYMENT--- ----P.9
1.2. SOFT LAW MEASURES FROM 2000
ONWARDS---P.10
1.3. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS CONSIDERING THE
RESTRICTED LEGAL POWERS?-P.15
CHAPTER II ACTIVE LABOUR MARKET POLICIES AND YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
2.1. EU ACTIVE LABOUR MARKET POLICIES, MEANING & LEGAL BASE---P.15
2.2. ALMPS AND YOUTH---P.18
CHAPTER III LEGAL OBSTACLES IN EU LAW FOR YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
3.1.LEGAL BASE OF EU AGE DISCRIMINATION &LEGAL OBSTACLES---P.21
3.2.THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION BASED ON AGE---P.23
3.3.ECJ APPROACH ON YOUNG -AGE DISCRIMINATION---P.24
PART II
MEANING OF EUROPEAN YOUTH EMPLOYMENT POLICIES FOR AN ACCESSING COUNTRY, ALBANIA
CHAPTER IV YOUTH EMPLOYMENT POLICIES IN ALBANIA
4.1.A LEGISLATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR YOUTH EMPLOYMENT---P.26
4.2.CURRENT POLICY DEVELOPMENTS---P.27
4.3. ALMPS & ANTI-DISCRIMINATION MEASURES IN ALBANIA---P.28
4.4. PROPOSED SOLUTION BY THE ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT TO COMBAT YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT ----P.31
5.1. ALBANIA’S OBLIGATIONS IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE EUROPEAN’S INTEGRATION PROCESS ---P.31
5.2. REAL ACTIONS TO FULFIL THE OBLIGATIONS?---P.33
CHAPTER VI CONCLUSIONS---P.36
BIBLIOGRAPHY---P.38
Abstract
This master thesis represents a legal research on the legal aspects of European social policy on youth employment, focusing in the case study of an accessing country, Albania. As a result, the thesis is structured in two major parts, namely EU measures in the field of youth employment and European obligations for Albania in the framework of its integration process.
Two types of European measures constitute the focus of the first part, concretely employment and anti-discrimination ones. What is argued in the first chapters is that these measures appear to have a tension between them, as the last type can constitute legal obstacles for youth employment.
The second part is dedicated exclusively to Albania, endeavouring to give an answer to the Research Question lying in the heart of the master thesis: “What are the European obligations
for youth employment in Albania?”. In this framework, the obligations stemming from official
partnership documents EU-Albania are analyzed, with a focus on the country’s real action to comply with them. What is more, an identification of progress and problems on the country’s way to be in compliance with European standards is summarized.
KEYWORDS:
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT, SOFT LAW, ACTIVE LABOUR MARKET POLICIES, AGE DISCRIMINATION, NATIONAL ACTION PLAN ON YOUTH, EUROPEAN INTEGRATION PROCESS, STABILIZATION AND ASSOCIATION AGREEMENTIntroduction
“In order to become and remain the "most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion”, Europe should rely on tomorrow’s labour force and decision makers.”1
One of the main objectives of the European Union and its Member States in the field of social policy is promoting employment.2 In addition to, from what can be understood from the very first sentences of this introduction, the focus of the political agenda of the EU has been shifted to the promotion of the employment of a vulnerable group, that of young people as a priority for the EU. This group is not only facing a high level of unemployment in the context of the global economic crisis to which it is particularly vulnerable3, but even if part of an
employment relationship, youth employees appear to be stucked in precarious jobs, making in this way youth employment a crucial challenge for youth policy.
On the other side, EU does not have exclusive competences in this field as these competences belong exclusively to the Member States and as a result the powers of the Union are restricted only to supportive and complementary ones.4 In this frame, the success of measures in the field of youth employment is doubtful due to the restriction of legal powers of the Union.5 On the other hand, it is interesting that the political will of the european legislator doesn’t seem to care about the legal limits the Union faces and aims towards real changes in the social policies of Member States.6
As the problem of youth unemployment appears to be serious within the borders of the Member States which have a gap in this regard due to their economic situation,7 it is
1 European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies, The future orientation of EU Youth Policy,
Study, 2009, p.11 [online]
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2009/431584/IPOL-CULT_ET(2009)431584_EN.pdf
2 Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, article 151 3 Eurostat, accessed on july 2016
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&plugin=1&pcode=tesem140&language=en
4 Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, article 147, parag.1 5 Ibid, paragraph 1, sentence 2
6 EU has presented a wide range of initiatives aiming youth employment in the Member States. These
measures will be the subject of the first chapter.
7 The Statistics Portal, accessed on July 2016
complicated even more in countries which wish to join the EU.8 Accessing countries have to
fulfil a long list of obligations in order to be part of the european family and among them obligations in the field of employment, especially that of youth.9 The aspirant state has to accept the provisions of the treaties, decisions taken by the EU institutions pursuant to the treaties and also the case law of the European Court of Justice.10 As a result, at the heart of this thesis will lie this research question: “What are the european obligations for youth
employment in an accessing country, concretely Albania?”
As a result, this thesis will be written in a way to answer the abovementioned question through the combination of an analysis of the European social policy on youth employment, focusing in the case study of a country which aspires to join the EU, Albania. It would be interesting to find out what EU is concretely doing for its youth through two main types of measures, namely soft law measures aiming the employment of young people and discrimination ones. Such measures appear to have a tension between them as the anti-discrimination ones might constitute legal obstacles with respect to young people employment. Bringing as a case study youth employment policies of an accessing country will be interesting in the framework of its European integration obligations and the changes it should undertake to be in conformity with these duties.
As a starting point for my research, I estimate that giving a short historical background, in order to show what has been done until nowdays for this sensitive issue would be necessary.11
The historical overview will provide only a short description of initiatives until the year 2000, as those after this year are considered more recent and will be the focus of an entire section of this master thesis.
8 Instituti I Statistikave, Shkalla e Papunesise 2007-2015, accessed on July 2016
http://www.instat.gov.al/al/themes/tregu-i-pun%C3%ABs.aspx?tab=tabs-5
9 Association and Stabilization Agreement between EU and Albania, articles 70 & 77
http://www.integrimi.gov.al/files/documents_files/16-02-18-12-42-07MSA.pdf
10 Ilda Durri, Accession process of Albania in the European Union (SEE-LAW NET: Networking of Lawyers in
Advanced Teaching and Research of EU Law post-Lisbon, Outcome of the SEE Graduates EU Law Teaching and Research Academy 2013, Collection of Papers) p. 81
11 The historical background will have as a main reference the legal article of Paul Copeland&Beryl ter Haar, The
Open Methods of Coordination as Amplifier for EU Soft Law. The case of EU Youth Policy, Hungarian Journal of Legal Studies, 2015, issue 1
Youth related issues have been traced really early in Europe, at the genesis of the EU and as a consequence recognized in the upcoming treaties.12 However, youth employment was rather
seen as a national than a European matter in these crucial treaties for EU.
The limitation on legal powers in the field of social policy didn’t impede EU to look for other non-binding measures in order to drive changes at the national policies of Member States. In this framework, the White Papers of the European Commission played a crucial role, which were usually followed by action programmes and resolutions of the Council of the EU to address the specific area. As a starting point is the White Paper of 1993 entitled “Growth, Competitiveness and Employment”.13 In investigating the reason why this white paper was
necessary, the answer would be: “The one and only reason is unemployment. We are aware of
its scale, and of its consequences too. The difficult thing, as experience has taught us, is knowing how to tackle it.”14 In this paper, at the heart of the problem were identified three
types of unemployment and there was a target of 15 million jobs to be created until the end of the 21st century by the EU. Another white paper was that of 1994 “European Social Policy”, where emphasized as a top priority was the promotion of job creation instead of managing unemployment.15 This white paper considered as a special concern youth unemployment. Furthermore, with the introduction in the Treaty of Amsterdam of a chapter on employment which constituted the legal base for the European Employment Strategy (EES), employment was given priority in the EU’s agenda. However, it was only in the 1998 employment guidelines putting into practice the EES that it was made clear that the strategy also concerned youth policies.16 These guidelines imposed the obligation of transposition in the national
action plans of Member States within a specific deadline.17
From 2000 onwards, it was noticed even more activism in youth employment policies through the presentation by the european institutions of a wide range of soft law measures manifested
12 Treaty of Rome, article 50 and Treaty of Maastricht, article 126
13 European Commission (1993) White paper on Growth, Competitiveness, Employment: The Challenges and
Ways Forward in the 21st Century. Com (93) 700 Final 14 Ibid, page 9
15 European Commission (1994) European Social Policy- A way Forward for the Union: A White Paper. Com (94)
333 Final, page 9
16 Paul Copeland and Beryl ter Haar, The Open Methods of Coordination as Amplifier for EU Soft Law. The case
of EU Youth Policy (Hungarian Journal of Legal Studies 2015, issue 1) page 11
European Council (1998) Council Resolution of 15 December 1997 on the 1998 Employment Guidelines. OJ/1998/C30/1.
17 Council Resolution of 15 December 1997 on the 1998 Employment Guidelines, OFFICIAL JOURNAL C 030 ,
in the form of different resolutions, communications, action programmes and OMC-s. The last instrument was introduced in 2000 by the European Council of Lisbon as a means of spreading best practice and achieving greater convergence towards the main EU goals.18 In the framework of the measures adapted by EU, it is worth to be mentioned the 2009 Council Resolution on a Renewed Framework for European Cooperation in the Youth Field (2010-2018) which points out as a main action field the employment of young people. Recently, a lot of initiatives are taken to further promote the 2009 Framework Resolution and they consider of regulating the issue of youth employment even over the next decade.
Methodology
The methodology used in writing this master thesis is based on existing literature research, especially legal articles research. Youth employment policies and legislation are widely analyzed in correlation with the social and legal connotation of this thesis.
Moreover, official websites of European and national institutions are used as sources of information with regard to youth employment measures. Data from official institutes of statistics are used in order to compare youth unemployment rates in different countries.
In order to provide an answer to the research question, the official partnership documents between EU and Albania, stating European obligations of the country are used as a main reference.
Structure of the thesis
The master thesis information will be structured in two major parts:
I. The abovementioned recent European initiatives will be the focus of the first part of it. More specifically and as a first chapter, the nature, aims and objectives of these measures will be discussed. Moreover, an analysis will follow in the second chapter on the recent trend of active labour market policies and youth employment. The third chapter will provide an overview of the legal obstacles in EU law with regard to the employment of this vulnerable group, the EU age discrimination legislation and the principle of non-discrimination on
18 B.P.ter Haar(2012), Open Method of Coordination. An analysis of its meaning for the further development of a
ground of age. It would be interesting to find out what the approach of the European Court of Justice is with regard to young-age discrimination.
II. The second part of this master thesis will be dedicated explicitly to the accessing country that is made a case study of this thesis, Albania. In this part, an answer to the research question will endeavoured to be given. In the fourth chapter, soft law measures in the country will be analyzed, while the subject of the fifth chapter will be European obligations in the field of youth employment and Albania’s real action in this regard.
The thesis will be ended up with conclusions that are drawn from the research on european social policies on youth employment with the focus in an accessing country.
Part I
European social policy on youth employment
This first part of the master thesis, focusing in EU measures in the field of youth employment, will be composed of three main chapters. Two categories of measures will be analyzed, namely employment measures will be the focus of the two first chapters, while anti-discrimination measures will be in the center of chapter 3.
Chapter I- Nature, aim (s) and objectives of EU measures aiming youth employment 1.1 Nature of EU measures in the field of youth employment
EU competences can be classified in four main categories as defined by the TFEU in its articles 2-6. The classification starts from the strong integration competence, which is the exclusive one and goes on with the shared, coordinative and supportive competence.19 The competences formally define whether the Union may legislate in the area of employment law.20 In the area of social policy for the aspects defined in the TFEU, EU has shared competences with the MS and furthermore, the Union takes measures to ensure coordination
19 Beryl ter Haar, Introduction lecture in European Labour Law, Power Point version, slide 15
of MS employment policies, in particular by defining guidelines for these policies.21
Especially in the area of youth, the Union supports, coordinates and supplements the actions of the MS.22 In addition to, the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights (CHFR) contains a special provision on protection of young people at work.23
As a result of the legal base set out in the treaties, EU appears to be in disposal of limited legal powers to act in the field of employment policies, especially that of youth. Due to this limitation, the European Union can not act through its hard law in order to achieve its goals in the field of youth employment and thus oblige its Member States (MS) to act in accordance with EU law. In the conditions where hard law is impossible to be used, EU should look for alternative ways to achieve its aims in this field. Soft law measures can help in this regard.24 Due to their “soft” nature, they contain soft obligations and soft enforcement.25 What they
mostly do is encouraging the cooperation EU-MS and the exchange of best practices between MS.
In searching a legal framework for EU youth policy, the result will direct towards an inventory of EU Youth Policy acquis, with 101 instruments adopted between 1961-2010 including directives, action programmes, resolutions and OMC’s.26 The last instruments
appear to be the most popular ones nowdays in the field of youth policy and youth employment more specifically.
1.2. Soft law measures from 2000 onwards
As a short historical account was provided in the introduction part of this thesis, the focus of this first chapter will be on measures in the field of youth employment from 2000 onwards that are actual nowdays. These legally non-binding measures are manifested in different forms like Council’s Resolutions in response to the European Commission’s initiatives and in this frame the 2009 Framework Resolution27 represents the main one in the field of youth policies,
21 Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, articles 4 & 5, paragraph 2 22 Ibid, article 6, paragraph e
23 EU Charter on Fundamental rights, article 23
24 However, article 288 of the TFEU does not mention soft law as EU secondary legislation
25 Fabian Terpan, Soft law in the European Union, The changing nature of EU Law, European Law Journal, Wiley,
2014, p.25 [online]
26 Paul Copeland and Beryl ter Haar, The Open Methods of Coordination as Amplifier for EU Soft Law. The case
of EU Youth Policy, Hungarian Journal of Legal Studies 2015, issue 1, p. 15-16
27 The 2009 European Council Framework Resolution for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018)
having as an overall priority youth employment.28 Moreover, as it is provided in the body of
this resolution, it is implemented by means of an OMC. Constituting what is known as EU
Youth Strategy, it was further promoted in various initiatives in the subsequent years, which
helped in the strengthening of this field. In this framework, big projects like Europe 2020 29 (2010) and the Youth Employment Package 30(2012) lead to more policy activism towards youth employment. However, the european debate in the youth field was commenced by the
Commission’s White Paper “A new impetus for European Youth” in 2001 followed by the
adoption of a council resolution and the European Youth Pact (2005).
EU Youth Strategy sets a framework for cooperation with the MS covering the years 2010-2018. This strategy has two main sub-objectives deriving from the overarching objective “to enable all young women and men to make the best of their potential”, however directly linked to youth employment is the sub-objective of providing more and equal opportunities for young people in education and in the job market.31 This aim is being realized through specific youth initiatives in eight areas, including that of employment. In this framework, crucial initiatives are Youth on the Move (2010) 32 as a flagship initiative of Europe 2020 and the Youth Guarantee (2013) 33 as a component of the Youth Employment Package.
Additionally, to increase the chances for success of such European measures some other schemes come into play. As a result, the Youth Employment Initiative (2013) is one of the main EU financial resources to support the implementation of the Youth Guarantee schemes and so does Working together for Europe's young people (2013). On the other hand, the Youth on the Move initiative includes the Youth Opportunities Initiative and
Your First Eures Job.
For a better understanding of the measures EU has undertaken in the field of youth employment, a summary of the main measures and their aims and objectives is provided in the table below. As some of the measures may include actions in various youth-related fields,
28 Ibid, Annex II
29 Communication from the European Commission, Europe 2020, A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive
growth
30 The Youth Employment Package includes primarily the Youth Guarantee, a consultation of European Social
Partners on a quality framework for traineeships and a European alliance for Apprenticeships
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=1036&newsId=1731&furtherNews=yes
31 EU Youth Strategy
http://ec.europa.eu/youth/policy/youth_strategy/index_en.htm
32 Youth on the move official website
http://ec.europa.eu/youthonthemove/index_en.htm#theme_pos_3
the aims and objectives analyzed below will focus only in the employment of young people in the EU. Measures Aim(s) (WHAT is hoped to be achieved?) Objectives
(HOW can the aim be achieved?)
European Commission’s White Paper “A new impetus for European Youth” (2001) 34
-foster the integration and advancement of young people in the labour market
-improving employability
-developing an
entrepreneurial spirit& creating jobs
-encouraging firms and their employees to be adaptable
-strengthening equal opportunities for young men and women
European Youth Pact
(2005) 35
(as part of the revised Lisbon Strategy)
-inter alia, employability of young people
-sustaining integration in the labour market in the context of the mutual learning programme on employment
-endeavouring to increase employment of young people
-improving the situation of the most vulnerable young people, particularly those in poverty
34 EC White Paper “A new impetus for European youth”, Employment
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52001DC0681&from=EN
35 Communication from the Commisssion to the Council on European policies concerning youth, Addressing the
concerns of young people in Europe-implementing the European Youth Pact and promoting active citizenship,
2009Framework Resolution for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018) 36
(EU Youth Strategy)
-supporting young people’s integration into the labour market
-facilitating the transition to the labour market
-improving the reconcilation of working life with family life
-increasing & improving investments for those jobs in demand in the labour market37
-promoting cross-border professional opportunities
-developing career guidance & counseling services
-lowering barriers to the free movement of workers across the EU
-promoting quality internships and apprenticeships, etc
Youth on the Move (2010) 38
as a flagship initiative of Europe 2020
*In addition to, it includes the Youth Opportunities Initiative (2011)
-improving the employment situation of young people
-promoting entry into the labour market through apprenticeships, stages or other work experience, including the scheme Your first EURES job, favouring mobility across the EU
36 Council resolution of 27 november 2009 on a renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth
field (2010-2018), Annex I, Employment and Entrepreneurship
37 Ibid Annex I
38 Youth on the move official website
Youth Guarantee (2013)39 as a constituent of the Youth Employment Package *This scheme is implemented through: 1) the Youth Employment
Initiative (YEI)40
supporting particularily NEETS, in regions where youth unemployment was higher than 25% in 2012. 2) Working together for Europe’s young people-A call to action on youth unemployment
-ensuring that all young people up to age of 25 receive a quality offer of a job, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed
-reducing non-wage labour costs to boost recruitment prospects amongst young people
-using wage and recruitment subsidies to encourage employers in creating new opportunities for youth
-promoting labour mobility
-making available more start-up sstart-upport services
-enhancing mechanisms for reactivating young people who drop out from activation schemes and no longer access benefits
39 Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013 on establishing a Youth Guarantee, Recommendations for MS,
parag.1 and parag.16-20 (Labour market-related measures)
40 YEI
1.3. What are the chances for success considering the restricted legal powers?
From the abovementioned picture of policy actions in the field of youth focusing in the employment of this group, it is clearly shown EU commitment towards real actions for its youth. Even through the use of soft measures, EU institutions seem persistent in order MS take EU youth policy into account and this is reflected in the use of a wide range of governance mechanisms like:41
-financial support (in particular by the European Social Fund);
-exchange of good practices,
-challenged (by peer reviews and benchmarks),
-persuaded (by progress reports and evaluation, but also
by practical support by the Commission), and
-forced via judicial review (by directives).
However, as it is up to the Member States in following or not the European guidelines, which remain still not legally bind for them, the effectiveness of such measures can be regarded as doubtful in terms of influencing Member States’ policies.
As a conclusion, chances for success depend crucially in the level of awareness of each Member State in respecting them.
Chapter II-Active Labour Market Policies and Youth Employment
2.1. EU Active Labour Market Policies, meaning & legal base (EES)
Labour market policies (LMPs) are public interventions in labour market to reach efficient functioning of it and correcting existent disequilibria. One main component of these policies that will constitute the focus of this chapter is active labour market policies (ALMPs), aiming in increasing employment opportunities for jobseekers and improving the matching
41 Paul Copeland and Beryl ter Haar, The Open Methods of Coordination as Amplifier for EU Soft Law. The case
workers (unemployed).42A more complete definition of these policies is formulated by OECD
as: “programmes including all social expenditure aimed at the improvement of the
beneficiaries’prospect of finding gainful employment or to otherwise increase their earnings capacity.”43 This category includes spending on public employment services and administration, labour market training, special programmes for youth when in transition from school to work, labour market programmes to provide or promote employment for unemployed and other persons (excluding young and disabled persons) and special programmes for the disabled.”44
ALMPs differ from the other form of LMPs, the passive one (PLMPs), the main axis of which is to provide income support for unemployed (in the form of benefit payments or tax credits) instead of making real efforts in integrating them into the labour market. However, ALMPs are considered to complement PLMPs.45
In answering the question on which measures should be better used, a recent Joint Employment Report of 201646 suggested that transitions from unemployment to employment should in Member States be supported through ALMPs measures. These measures appear to be especially efficient in tackling long-term unemployment, to which young people are quite vulnerable mostly due to their lack of work experience. In this framework, European Labour Ministries gradually have understood the importance of these policies in achieving full employment and as a consequence have developed a wide range of instruments in this regard. The main types of instruments of ALMPs are:
o Labour Market Services ( Job-search assistance programme) o Training
o Employment Incentives
o Supported employment and direct jobs o Start-up incentives and
o Youth measures
42 European Commission document, European Semester Thematic Fiche “Active Labour Market Policies”, page
1, [online]
43 Ibid
44 OECD, Glossary of Statistical Terms, Active Labour Market Programmes [online]
https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=28
45 Working paper prepared for the European Training Foundation by Professor Jochen Kluve, ALMPs with a
focus on youth, page 10 [online]
46 European Commission, Draft Joint Employment Report, page 4
However, economic conditions in several Member States seem to constitute a barrier in supporting ALMPs, which announced spending reduction in the field of labour market support, including unemployment benefits and ALMPs.47
ALMPs find a legal base in the European Employment Strategy which dates back to 1997 with the Treaty of Amsterdam bringing changes to the Treaty of the European Community, through the introduction of an employment chapter under title VI. The treaty was considered a strengthening of EU policy-making in the areas of employment and social policy.48 However, it made “a high level of employment” an explicit priority of EU (certain Member States would have preferred “a full employment” objective) and a question of common concern.49
EES has inter alia as a main pillar, employability and this includes combating youth unemployment. Moreover, to reach the abovementioned aim, the strategy is based on soft law measures such as benchmarking, learning, monitoring rather than legislation.50 The strategy’s cornerstone are the Employment Guidelines dedicating a central attention to tackling youth unemployment and ALMPs, when stating the necessary transition from passive to active measures.51
Aiming the enhancement of it, EES has been subject to various changes over time. In 2005, it was relaunched as part of Lisbon Strategy 52, while in 2010 there was a revision of labour
strategies through the launch of Europe 2020 strategy. Now, the new EES is part of Europe 2020 which is implemented throughout the European Semester.53 This initiative includes four
steps: a) employment guidelines b) joint employment reports c) national regulation program d) country reports e) specific recommendations and in comparison to the old one it appears to include fewer guidelines.
47 European Commission, ALMPs for Europe 2020 strategy, ways to move forward, page 1 48eurofound.europa.eu
49 Janine Goetschy, European Employment Strategy, genesis and development, European Journal of Industrial
Relations, 1999, Volume 5, Number 2, pp 117-137, p.129
50 EUR-Lex, Access to European Union law, European Employment Strategy
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/european_employment_strategy.html
51 Council Resolution of 15 December 1997 on the 1998 Employment Guidelines, OFFICIAL JOURNAL C 030 ,
28/01/1998 P. 0001 – 0005, ANNEX I
52 European Parliament Final Report, The Lisbon Strategy 2000-2010, an analysis and evaluation of methods
used and results achieved, 2010, p. 12 [online]
53 European Employment Strategy
In guideline 7, Enhancing the functioning of labour markets, it is stated that 54 “MS should
strengthen ALMPs by increasing their effectiveness, targeting, outreach, coverage and interplay with passive measures, accompanied by rights and responsibilities for the unemployed to actively seek work. These policies should aim at improving labour market matching and support sustainable transitions”.
2.2. ALMPs & youth
“Member States will ensure that every unemployed young person is offered a new start before reaching six months of unemployment, in the form of training, retraining, work practice, a job or other employability measure.”55
&
“Youth unemployment and the high number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs), should be comprehensively addressed through a structural improvement in the school-to-work transition, including through the full implementation of the Youth Guarantee.”56
As can be clearly understood by citing employment guidelines through the years, the correlation between EU ALMPs and youth finds its genesis since 1998, in the introduction of these forms of support targeting youth unemployment.
In this framework, different forms of ALMPs come in help by smoothing the school-to-work transition process, preventing extended spells of unemployment or the complete withdrawal from the labour market and promoting entry into stable employment relationships.57
These policies are divided in four main categories like: a) labour market training, b) job search assistance and monitoring, c) wage subsidies and d) public sector work programs, differing in the effects they produce for youth employment.
54 Council Decision (EU) 2015/1848 on the guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States for
2015, Official Journal of the European Union, 15.10.2015, L268/28, Guideline 7, Paragraph 3
55 Council Resolution of 15 December 1997 on the 1998 Employment Guidelines, OFFICIAL JOURNAL C 030 ,
28/01/1998 P. 0001 – 0005, ANNEX I
56 Council Decision (EU) 2015/1848 on the guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States for
2015, Official Journal of the European Union, 15.10.2015, L268/28, Guideline 6, Paragraph 3
57 Caliendo and Schmidl, Youth unemployment and ALMPs in Europe, IZA Journal of Labor Policy, 2016, page 2
A)Labour market trainings are considered to be one of the most used measures of ALMPs,
labelled as the “classic” policy. The training content can be very heterogenous, ranging from purely classroom-based training to purely on-the-job training within firms, with varying duration from a couple of weeks to over one year.58 The last form of training presents advantages attaching young people closer to the labour market by creating a general insight of it and that appears to be useful especially for those who are new to the labour market.
B)Job search assistance comprises counseling and mentoring activities by caseworkers of the
public employment services or external providers, including the provision of vacancy information as well as short-term training or coaching programs assisting youth in their application process.59 This kind of assistance can be combined with monitoring procedures. On the other side, the providers of the job assistance can be either private or public, however the private ones can have even higher monetary incentives to place the unemployed in stable employment.
C)Another prominent measure of ALMPs is wage subsidies, coming within the category of private sector incentive programmes represents a form of financial support to employers to overcome different costs linked to youth workers. Usually, these wage subsidies are paid for a limited period of time and after the expiry it is expected that youth are ready to be hired regularly without the need of such assistance. It is obvious that these kind of measures are costly considering their nature and as a result not applicable very often, or sometimes they are applicable in a selective way. The level of subsidy varies per country.
D)Public sector work programs are state-funded temporary employment opportunities in the
public sector intended to familiarize inexperienced, disadvantaged youth with a routine work environment.60 Participants receive a low level of remuneration. A disadvantage can consist in reducing efforts for a “real” job and furthermore the programs don’t offer a direct way into the labour market. In addition to, they impose extra costs to governments and have only a short-run effect.
These various instruments within the concept of ALMPs can not have a linear effect, but represent different advantages and disadvantages in the youth employment context. Evaluating their effectiveness would require a profound research on all Member States
58 Ibid, page 9 59 Ibid, page 10 60 Ibid, page 13
situation with regard to the use of such measures and as a consequence, this thesis will be concentrated only in a general overview of ALMPs for youth.
In a summarized way, the correlation between ALMPs & youth employment will be provided in the table below:
Measures
Main features
Labour market trainings -the classic policy61
-ranging from purely classroom-based to on-the-job training within firms (more
practically oriented), additionally job skills and life skills training
Job search assistance -counseling & mentoring activities (vacancy information, short-term training or coaching programs assisting in the application process) -combined with monitoring procedures
Wage subsidies -financial support to employers with regard to
young employeses
-for a limited period of time
Public sector work programmes -state-funded temporary employment opportunities within the public sector -low level of remuneration
Chapter III - Legal obstacles in EU Law for youth employment 3.1.Legal base of EU age discrimination & legal obstacles
The EU anti-discrimination legislation finds its legal basis in the TFEU, firstly with a general recognition in article 8 and then more explicitly article 10 mentions combating discrimination based on age in all EU policies and activities. Moreover, article 47 TFEU refers specifically to
61 Working paper prepared for the European Training Foundation by Professor Jochen Kluve, ALMPs with a
young workers, where requiring Member States to encourage the exchange of them in the framework of a joint programme. In addition to, article 165 TFEU extends the obligation to encouraging youth participation in the democratic life in Europe.
In addition to these treaty provisions, another important treaty, which has the same legal value as TFEU from the Lisbon Treaty62 is the European Charter on Fundamental Rights, EU
CHFR. Article 21 of the Charter refers explicitly to the fight of age discrimination inter alia of
other grounds of discrimination. Both these major instruments emphasize as a primary goal fighting against discrimination in some explicit grounds and among them age, which constitutes the subject of this chapter.
These EU treaties provide a strong legal basis for the prohibition of age discrimination, however the legal basis to adopt policy measures specifically addressing younger or older workers and persons is weak to non-existent.63
However, the most specific legal instrument in this regard was adopted in 2000, namely the
Employment Equality Directive or the Framework Directive.64 Since in its preamble, paragraph 25, it is emphasized that age is the ground that can find even more justification than the other ones and therefore it is necessary to distinguish between prohibited and allowed age discrimination. In its very first article, the directive proclaims combating discrimination in employment and occupation based on four exhaustive grounds, inter alia age.
However, the key article in this directive is article 6 which is dedicated exclusively to the justification of age discrimination on grounds of public interest. Article 6 seems to lead to some legal obstacles concerning youth access to employment and moreover conditions of employment, by providing to Member States a large margin of justification for age discrimination. The provision has been subject of criticism because it seems that age is treated less seriously than other grounds and as a result young and old people can be discriminated easily. The issue is sensitive because everyone is subject of aging. Whereas whites never become black, and only rarely do males become female, the young do become old.65
62 Article 6 TEU
63 Beryl ter Haar and Mia Ronmar, Intergenerational Bargaining, EU Age Discrimination law and EU Policies-an
integrated analysis, page 24
64 Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment
in employment and occupation , OFFICIAL JOURNAL L 303 , 02/12/2000 P. 0016 - 0022
65 Riach and Rich, An experimental investigation of age discrimination in the English labor market, IZA
As a consequence, there is a volume of literature in this issue. Both direct and indirect age discrimination find justification under article 6. In this framework, there is a risk for legal obstacles concerning youth employment, aspects of access to employment and even discrimination in pay, in case young people are already employed.
This article introduces the concept of “legal” age discrimination, putting age in this way at the bottom of the hierarchy of the grounds protected explicitly by the directive.66 Many Member States have taken advantage of the possibilities created by this article and it was argued that some age discrimination was necessary because of certain economic benefits.67 It doesn’t provide an exhaustive list of justifications, mentioning as legitimate aims, namely legitimate employment policy, labour market and vocational training objectives and requiring that means for achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.68 Furthermore, a non-exhaustive list of justifications are specified in the second paragraph of article 6.
As a result, a question that may come up in this regard is how have Member States
implemented this directive? Article 6 gives them space to introduce age-based limitations in
relation to employment. In this case, it is the role of the national courts to test these measures against article 6 and where there are uncertainities in this respect, the measures are reviewed by ECJ.
As a conclusion, article 6 of the Employment Directive by giving more freedom to Member States to allow such justifications can be seen as a legal obstacle to youth employment concerning the abovementioned aspects of access to and conditions of employment. However, the court review can give the final word in this regard and it will be interesting to have a deeper look of the criteria it applies in such cases where discrimination of young people in employment is proclaimed. This issue will be in the center of section 3 of this chapter.
Nowdays, there is a proposal for a directive combating age discrimination beyond employment, also in areas such social security and health care, education and access to and supply of goods and services which are commercially available to the public, including housing.69
66 Malcolm Sargeant, The law on age discrimination in EU, page 19 67 Ibid, page 6
68 Article 6, parag.1 of the Employment Directive 69 The EC Commission proposal on the 2nd july 2008
3.2. The principle of non-discrimination based on age
On the other hand, the ECJ in 2005 introduced a principle of non-discrimination on grounds of age for the first time in its Mangold case.70 The Kucukdeveci case71 was a follow-up of it, reaffirming the decision and the existence of such principle in 2010.
The principle of non-dicrimination based on age could be directly invoked by individuals and found its legal base in various international instruments and constitutional traditions common to Member States.72 Consequently, this principle didn’t stem from the directive, where the role of this last instrument is to provide a general framework for giving effect to the principle. As a result, the establishment of equal treatment irrespective of age as a general principle of EU law was one of the most daring developments in Mangold case.73 In Kucukdeveci case, things became more clear because of an additional legal base, namely article 21 of the EU CHFR, which had gained at that time the same legal value as the treaties.
The existence of such a general principle of EU law represents a strong weapon in the hand of young people, who can directly invoke it and assume they are being discriminated based on their age. As a consequence, the freedom that article 6 gives to Member States can be counterbalanced by the provision of such a principle which can be invoked by individuals in claiming their rights not to be discriminated. Moreover, ECJ approach appears to be protective as well towards young people in cases of allegation of age discrimination.
3.3. ECJ approach on young-age discrimination
There are not a lot of cases so far in the EU where young-age discrimination was made subject, in contrast to the large number of cases in which the allegation of old-age discrimination took place. ECJ seems to apply different standards of judgment with respect to the two group of cases of age discrimination.
70 Case -144/04 Werner Mangold v.Rudiger Helm [2005] 71 Case -555/07 Seda Kucukdeveci v.Swedex GMBH&CO[2010] 72 Mangold parag.74 & Kucukdeveci parag.22
73 Dagmar Schiek, Constitutional Principles and Horizontal Effect: Kucukdeveci Revisited, European Labour Law
The landmark case concerning young-age discrimination is the Kucukdeveci case, in which the seniority before the age of 25 was not considered for the purpose of notice period for dismissal. Despite the importance it helds in reaffirming the existence of the principle of non-discrimination based on age, in this case the ECJ concluded that the non-consideration of the seniority period before 25 constituted direct age discrimination, which did not satisfy the proportionality test. The national rule affected not only young workers unequally, but also those who long past the age of 25.
The same was concluded in another case, Hutter 74 where the court once again found out a case of young-age discrimination. The professional experience acquired before the age of 18 was excluded when determing the pay for public servants in Austria. Once again the proportionality test was not satisfied by these measures against article 6 of the Employment Directive. Despite the legitimate aim of encouraging employment after the age of 18in order to stay in secondary education, the ECJ found out that the preconditions for higher education could be acquired at any age.
In both of the abovementioned cases, the national legislation according to which seniority accrued before a certain minimum age leading to the failure to convey specific employment rights was considered discriminatory by the ECJ.
As a result, it is noticed that ECJ applies a strict standard when it comes to presumed young-age discrimination cases and this is contrary to the approach it takes concerning old-young-age discrimination cases, where the standard it applies is a lenient one.75 Regarding the first phase
of the life-cycle, at stake in the cases Kucukdeveci and Hutter, the Court appears to show more determination to effectively ban age discrimination.76 The conclusion represents a positive aspect with respect to youth employment, as young people are not allowed to be discriminated by measures adopted by Member States and the different treatment was unacceptable in such cases.
In the wake of the economic crisis, several Member States have introduced specific labour law reforms aimed at combating youth unemployment through the “leveling-down” of
74 Case -88/08 David Hutter v.Technische Universitat Graz [2009] 75 Case – 411/05 Palacios de la Villa [2007], Case-229/08 Wolf [2010], etc
76 Dagmar Schiek , Age discrimination before the ECJ-conceptual and theoretical issues, Common Market Law
employment rights for younger workers. So far, these reforms have not been tried by the ECJ against the ban on age discrimination.77
As a conclusion, such anti-discriminatory measures can be regarded as legal obstacles for youth employment, referring to article 6 of the Employment Equality Directive. However, having in consideration the existence of a general principle of Prohibition of Age Discrimination and moreover the ECJ approach in presumed young-age discrimination cases, the legal obstacle can be counterbalanced and not represent a disadvantage for young people.
Part II
Meaning of European Youth Employment Policies for an accessing country,
Albania
This part of the master thesis will focus on giving an answer to the Research Question “What
are the European obligations for youth employment in Albania ? ”
Such an answer will endeavour to be given firstly through the presentation of a general picture of youth employment legislative and policy framework in the country. Such a mission will be realized in the same way as the in the first part of this thesis, thus through analyzing employment and anti-discrimination measures in the field of youth employment.
77 J.Julen Votinius, Young employees-Securities, Risk Distribution and Fundamental Social Rights, European
Secondly, European obligations in the field of youth employment, stemming from official partnership documents EU-Albania will be identified, comprising the identification of progress and problems on the way to complying with the abovementioned obligations.
Chapter IV-Youth employment policies in Albania
4.1. A legislative and institutional framework for youth employment
Albanian youth constitutes one of the age groups which appears to have a high level of unemployment according to the data provided by the Statistical Institute of the country.78 In this regard, in the first three months of 2016, the level of youth unemployment in the country (young people aged 15-29 years old) was 30.4%, which in comparison with the year 2014 has experienced a growth. The issue of youth employment appears especially complex for a country in development and which still needs to access the European Union.
In the center of the legislative framework dealing with employment policies in Albania is the
Law for Employment Incentive.79 At the heart of it are found active labour market policies. These policies include inter alia programs for the guarantee of youth, the implementation of which is ensured by the National Agency of Employment and Skills. Furthermore, the Council of Ministers has issued a decision which contains detailed information on the programs for the encouragement of employment of unemployed young people looking for a
job.80
In addition to the legislative framework, an institutional framework is provided, where the leader institution dealing with youth issues in Albania is the Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth (MSWY). This institution in presenting its main priorities, challenges and obligations has paid a central attention to the youth matter, concretely mentioning the creation of youth structures at the local level, sustaining of youth projects, internship programs in order young people can have an insight on how public administration works.81
78 Instituti I Statistikave, Shkalla e Papunesise T1 2012- T1 2016, accessed on july 2016
http://www.instat.gov.al/al/themes/tregu-i-pun%C3%ABs.aspx?tab=tabs-5
79 Law for Employment Incentive, 2015
http://www.sociale.gov.al/files/userfiles/Ligji_i_nxitjes_se_punesimit_-_27.03.2015.pdf
80 Vendim nr. 199, datë 11.1.2012 “Për masën e financimit, kriteret dhe procedurat e zbatimit të programit të
nxitjes së punësimit të punëkërkuesve të papunë që hyjnë për herë të parë në punë”
81http://www.sociale.gov.al/files/news_files/Prezantimi_i_Prioriteteve_Sfidave_dhe_Angazhimeve_te_MMSR.p
4.2. Current policy developments
The main general employment strategy adopted by the MSWY is the National Strategy
2014-2020 for Employment and Skills. The vision of this strategy is inspired by the general
objective of Europe 2020 for a speedy, steady and comprehensive growth, while the main objective of it is the creation of qualitative opportunities for jobs for all people.82 Among the four priorities of this initiative is the encouragement of youth employment, especially by strengthening professional education and qualification of young people in the framework of the needs of labour market.
Departing from the general picture of employment policies in Albania, the focus will certainly be the level of development of youth employment policies in the country. A principal action in this respect is the National Action Plan for Youth 2015-2020, for an adequate implementation of which the Ministry has presented a detailed structure. This structure includes the identification of some core strategic objectives for the completion of which are provided some other specific sub-objectives altogether with the budget at disposal, sustaining activities and other indicators.83 This initiative was introduced in 2013 after the National Strategy for Youth 2007-2013’s mandate was terminated and substituted by it. In 2015, the Council of Ministers issued a decision for the approval of the abovementioned action plan which will govern the situation of youth until 2020.
Among the strategic objectives contained therein is the promotion of youth employment through effective labour market policies. In the framework of this objective, it aims also the enhancement of the legal framework, support towards start-up programmes with the focus on youth enterprises, recognition by the albanian institutions of internships, diplomas and professional experience acquired abroad, with an overall of six specific objectives complementing the strategic one.
In preparing and giving life to such an action plan, the MSWY is considering some guidance given by the ILO in this respect, which specifies the necessary steps to be followed in order to increase the chances for its success. Despite the recommendation for creation of adequate
82 Strategjia kombetare per Punesim dhe Aftesi 2014-2020
http://www.sociale.gov.al/files/documents_files/Strategjia_per_Punesim_dhe_Aftesim_2014-2020.pdf
83 Plani Kombetar i Veprimit per Rinine 2015-2020
structures to deal with the project, part of the guidance is the analysis of the current situation of youth in the country, focusing in improvements of existing legislation and policies operating in this field. However, the identification of priority policies and their proper enforcement constitutes the heart of ILO’s guidelines.84 Moreover, coordinating mechanisms
and different models of documents to which the plan can refer are provided by the ILO document in sustaining a national plan for the employment of Albania’s youth.
On the basis of the previously mentioned Council of Ministers decision, there was approved a
program for promotion of employment of the unemployed looking for jobs for the first time. In
the framework of this program, employers who employ for the first time young people from 16-25 years old, who have no previous employment experience, can obtain a monthly reimbursement equal to 100% of obligatory social and medical insurance, of the part of contribution of the employer, with the condition that the employment contract shouldn’t be shorter than six months. A special place in the program was dedicated to the employment of youth coming from the periferic areas of Albania.
4.3. ALMPs & Anti-discrimination measures in Albania 85
There are some datas available on ALMPs in Albania until 2010, while the genesis for the usage of such measures can be traced in 1999.86 As already mentioned in the previous chapter,
at the heart of the law regulating employment policies in Albania stand ALMPs, which are manifested in three main forms like87:
Employment services
Programmes for employment incentives and Programmes for professional qualifications
Employment services offered by the employment offices include information services on the
situation of the labour market, mediation for employment, matching jobs with qualifications and counseling and orientation for jobs.
84 Udhezues per pergatitjen e Planit Kombetar te Aksionit per Punesimin e te Rinjve
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/instructionalmaterial/wcms_140786.pdf
85 The measures are summarized at the end of this part in a table format, following the same logic as for the
European measures
86 ETF Working Together Learning for Life, ALMPs with a focus on youth, page 30
http://www.etf.europa.eu/webatt.nsf/0/4AA8C1C2FC72E77BC1257D69002AE631/$file/ALMPs_youth.pdf
On the other side, the programmes for employment incentives involve different costs subsidies, professional practices, programmes for youth guarantee and other programmes which are implemented by the National Agency for Employment and Skills altogether with other bodies.88
Lastly, programmes for professional qualifications include different courses for unemployed and can be offered by the National Agency for Employment and Skills. In this last case, participants can be rewarded financially for their participation.
However, looking at the whole picture in the country, the situation does not seem to be too promising considering two elements: unemployed involved in such measures in 2009 represent a low percentage of 1.5% and in addition to, expenditures in this direction were found to be 0.02% of GDP, which is insignificant in order they can produce efficiency for the unemployed.
With regard to anti-discrimination measures in the country, there is a main law for the protection against discrimination, which mentions among the protected grounds also age.89 In contrast to European acts which pay separate attention to different grounds, this act is a general one protecting against a wide range of discrimination grounds, without paying a specific attention to age. Moreover, the protection of this law goes beyond the employment field, but it also includes protection as regards education, goods and services.90
What represents a prominent difference of this law in comparison to the Employment Equality directive is that there is no specific justification for age discrimination. In article 6 of the national law there is a general justification for different treatment on the stated grounds, but not a specific one related to the age one. As a consequence, it seems that anti-discrimination measures in Albania don’t allow any specific justification for young people’s different treatment.
Employment measures
Law for Employment Incentive
Anti-discrimination measures
Law for Protection against Discrimination
2014-2020 National Jobs and Skills Strategy Article 1- Protected grounds, inter alia age
88 Article 11, point 3 of the Law for Employment Incentive
89 Ligji nr.10221, date 04.02.2010, “Per mbrojtjen nga diskriminimi”, article 1 90 Chapters III & IV of the law
A main priority-encouragement of youth employment
2015-2020 National Action Plan on Youth
A strategic objective-promotion of youth employment through effective labour market policies
Article 6- Justification of different treatment
(not specifically age)
Program for promotion of employment of the unemployed looking for jobs for the first time
Three main forms of ALMPs: -employment services
-programmes for employment incentives
-programmes for professional
qualifications
4.4. Proposed solution by the Albanian government to combat youth unemployment
Recently, a special attention in dealing with youth employment policies in Albania was paid to the orientation of albanian youth towards professional education because the labour market appears in a high need for such jobs. This kind of education was proclaimed by albanian political leaders as the main solution to the problem of youth unemployment. In addition to, they go even further by stating that professional education is a guarantee for a secure job by sustaining it with statistical data that only 15% of people with a professional education background are unemployed.91 Professional education finds its legal base in a specific Law for
Professional Education and moreover a specific portal is available in this regard. “Skills for
91 Declaration of the Prime Minister of Albania, accessed on march 2016
jobs” is the new project of the MSWY in promoting professional education, sustained by the intensive campaign “I choose professional education”.92
Chapter V- European obligations for Albania
5.1. Albania’s obligations in the framework of the European’s integration process
“The last enlargement of the European Union represented a real challenge for European people. But, the enlargement is not finished because EU has invited also the Western Balkan countries to join the family. This is the only objective and long term solution.”93
This meaningful quote from a former president of the EU Commission reminds the fact that the European integration process can not be considered completed without the participation of the Western Balkan countries, including Albania. In order to become a Member State, Albania has to fulfil the fundamental criteria laid down in the accession provisions, namely articles 49 and 2 of the TEU.
However, the new Member States have to accomplish not only the criteria provided by the treaty, but also the so called “enlargement precedent law”, composed of criteria and extra procedures which were developed by the European Councils94. The most famous in this
regard are those developed by the Copenhagen Council in 1993.95 This council required the
accomplishment of three main criteria from the aspirant state, namely political stability and respect for democratic principles, rule of law, human rights and protection of minorities; functional market economy; ability to take with responsibility the obligations of the Union; ability of the EU to accept new States. Moreover, the European Council of Madrid emphasized the need for gradual and harmonic integration of candidate States.96
In addition to, aspirant countries to join the Union have to pass a set of rules and procedures known as conditionality. Conditionality is also known as the policy of the “stick and carrot”
92 “Skills for Jobs”, the new project by the MSWY to empower the professional education
http://www.sociale.gov.al/al/newsroom/lajme/aftesi-per-pune-projekti-i-ri-per-fuqizimin-e-arsimit-profesional
93 Romano Prodi’s speech in the Governmental Assembly, Skopje, 1/10/2004
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-04-434_en.htm.
94 Fjoralba Caka, The accession process of Balkan countries in the EU: A short comparative overview of
enlargement criteria of SEE and Western Balkan Countries, Politikja 3, 2012, page 60
95 Conclusions of the Presidency, European Council in Copenhagen, 21-22/6/1993
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/summits/copenhagen/co_en.pdf
because it is composed of two main elements: “the carrot”, which is the award for accomplishing the EU criteria and the “stick”, which are the sanctions in case these criteria aren’t accomplished.97
The main achievement in the framework of EU-Albania cooperation is the signature of the
Stabilization and Association Agreement, SAA98, as one of the main contracting instruments in the history of Albania, entering into force in 2009. The signature of this agreement came as a result of the involvement of Western Balkan countries in the Stabilization and Association process, SAP in 1999. One crucial objective of SAA includes the approximation of the national legislation with acquis communautaire.99 In the framework of this major obligation, Albania needs to adopt its employment legislation and policies, including youth employment instruments, with the acquis.
The country is from june 2014 a candidate country to the EU 100, which is a political acknowledgement of a closer relationship with EU and an indicator of its way to accession. However, that doesn’t guarantee the opening of accession negotiations, which represents the next step in approaching the european family. In order to become a Member State of the Union, there are required extra efforts from Albania. The challenge that the country faces makes the subject of youth employment particularly interesting because the final goal of accession to the EU can not be reached without making progress in the field of employment legislation and policies as well, specifically youth employment. The pro european spirit of albanians can not realize the dream of joining the EU without fulfilling european standards in every field, inter alia the employment field. It would be interesting to find out what Albania is doing in enhancing this aspect and if it has undertaken proper changes in line with EU requirements. These issues will be the focus of the last part of this master thesis.
5.2. Real actions to fulfil the obligations?
After the fall of the communist regime in Albania, there was a drastic change in the structure of the labour market in the country. The need for its enhancement came as a natural
97 Fjoralba Caka, The accession process of Balkan countries in the EU, page 55 98 Marreveshja e Stabilizim Asociimit [online]
http://www.integrimi.gov.al/al/dokumenta/dokumente-strategjike/marreveshja-e-stabilizim-asociimit&page=2
99 EURALIUS, An overview of the SAA, Tirana: EURALIUS Publishing, 2007, page 5-6 100 EC, European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Albania
