Employment barriers
Barriers to employment in the region are falling. With 62 votes for, no against and no abstentions, the Assembly ratified the Open Balkans laws. This will mean the abolition of work permits and a free labor market for Macedonia, Serbia and Albania.
Those who want to work in a private company in one of these countries will be issued a special identification number. Citizens will be able to get it through the web portal for electronic services, and with that there will be practically no need to get a work permit, which until now had to wait up to 3 months, a bunch of other documents and administrative costs, the national coordinator for Open Balkans tells Sitel.
“By filling in some personal data and verifying your identity through that software, the e-services website will be able to retrieve your identification number. Then with that number you will register in the electronic services system of Serbia and after certain procedures of the company that employs you, that company will register you for pension and health and on that basis will pay you a salary based on the work done” – Marjan Zabrchanec, national coordinator for Open Balkans.
The new tools should be available on the site by the end of March. Zabrcanec says that there has already been interest from foreigners to work with us.
“I have information that larger companies that are located in cross-border areas, around Kumanovo or Struga, already have specific information about the employment of citizens from Serbia and Albania in domestic companies. Of course, there will be cases in the opposite direction as well.” – Marjan Zabrchanec, national coordinator for Open Balkans.
This measure was supposed to function last fall, but the implementation got stuck in the Parliament, where the committee discussion was postponed for months.
At today’s session, the agreement with Frontex signed between Macedonia and the EU in October last year was also ratified. This makes it possible, at the request of the country, to deploy Frontex police officers at critical points on the border, together with our police officers, and there will be an opportunity to use all Frontex equipment.