In their letter, civil society organizations state: “On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of members of the vulnerable groups and beneficiaries of the social protection system we directly represent through our work, and on behalf of the entire population of the Republic of Serbia as addressees of social rights guaranteed by ratified international instruments on the basis of the constitutional principle of social justice, we express our deep concerns over the text of the Draft Social Protection Strategy.
The letter signed by 93 civil society organizations states that the main omission of the proponents of this document is that the implementation of the Strategy does not require additional funds from the budget of the Republic of Serbia, in comparison with the funds already provided for the functioning of the social protection system, which is contrary to the identified needs of the population in the social protection system, as well as the latest estimates by the European Commission.
In addition, individual assessments of the situation in the field of social protection are incorrect, there is no analysis of the effects on society and the analysis of the financial effects is inadequate. The formulations of the vision and the overall objective emphasize the effectiveness and sustainability of the social protection system, rather than the guaranteed social rights and fairness as a universal principle, in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights.
The letter was sent to the Minister of Labor, Employment, Veterans' and Social Affairs, Head of the Negotiating Team for conducting the negotiations on the accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union, acting Director of the Republican Secretariat for Public Policy, acting Director of the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society and the Ambassador and Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia.
This letter of civil society organizations is available in Serbian on this link.