CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS OF MACEDONIA

European Law, Social Dimension and Accession to the EU

From July 4 to 8 in Berlin, Germany, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation hosted a Program for Trade Union Representatives titled: European Law, Social Dimension and Accession to the EU. The program targeted members of the technical working group for EU integration set up by the Cooperation platform “Solidarnost”. Participants in this study program involved representatives of trade unions from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. The program took place on premises of the FES seat in Berlin but included also visits to the German Trade Union Confederation DGB, the German Bundestag (involving a meeting with MP Josip Juratovic from the SPD - Social Democratic Party of Germany), etc. The main instructors through the week-long training were Prof. Dr Mathias Joop, Director of the Institute for European Politics in Berlin and Prof. Dr Siegfried Magiera from the German University of Administrative Sciences. Main topics covered primary and secondary law of the EU, EU institutions, decision-making and policies, the rules and procedures of the EU accession process, the social dimension in the EU law, etc. This training offered an excellent opportunity for participants to get acquainted with the procedure of EU accession and the social dimension thereof presented by many experts and experienced practitioners from the trade unions and academia.