The European social partners of the railway sector, the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) and the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) initiated this project to support the social dialogue in the member states and candidate countries in the Western Balkan region. This project reinforced the impact and visibility of European social dialogue outcomes in the railway sector in the Western Balkan countries. The measures strengthened the capacity of social partners of the target countries to establish or foster a national social dialogue and to benefit from the European social dialogue.

The involved countries have been the new member state Croatia and the candidate countries Serbia, Montenegro and F.Y.R. of Macedonia. The methodological approach was to exchange information and experience in the project activities. Country visits and a seminar on experience and information exchange on the national and European social dialogue in the railway sector formed the main measures of this project.

A report on the situation of social dialogue in the four Western Balkan countries and the European social dialogue in the railway sector has been the main output of the project and has been published in form of a brochure in the languages Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, English and German. Other results are an improved capacity of the social partners of the candidate countries to contribute to the national and in the future to the European social dialogue, a better mutual knowledge of the social partners in the region, ideas for the participation in the European social dialogue and a list of needs of the social partners for their EU membership.

The brochure is available here