Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas, Head of Euroepan Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, will together with Ms Ljerka Maric, Director of the Directorate for Economic Planning, BiH Council of Ministers, open the “Seminar EU Social Protection and Social Inclusion Process”, which will take place onTuesday, 2 June 2009, at hotel “Hollywood”, Dr. Pintola 23 Ilidža at 09.00 hrs.

The objective of the Seminar is to inform civil servants from BiH public administration, representatives of national and local authorities, social security institutions, social service providers and NGOs about the EU Social protection and social inclusion process. Any potential candidate country needs to have compliance with EU rules and standards from the Acquis Communautaire, especially in the field of social policy. There are over 75 directives currently in force.

These are in the fields of: labour law, health and safety at work, equal treatment and equal opportunities for men and women in employment and social security. The acquis also covers provisions relating to freedom of movement for workers, and regulations ensuring social security co-ordination for migrant workers. In addition, the social dialogue at European level is enshrined in Community legislation. Seminar is organised by DG Enlargement, TAIEX(Technical Assistance and Information Exchange is an instrument of the Directorate-General Enlargement of the European Commission. TAIEX helps countries with regard to the approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation), DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and Directorate for Economic Planning, BiH Council of Ministers.

Seminar will gather many representatives of authorities, including relevant ministries of health and social protection, labour and social affairs, as well as representatives of the Institutes for public health and health protection. All media representatives are cordially invited to cover the beginning of the Seminar