Accession and Social Policy: The Case of the Czech Republic

Abstract

This paper assesses the place of EU accession among the determinants of the changes taking place in the Czech social policy after 1989. Compulsory social and health insurance were re-introduced in the early 1990s, along with a guaranteed subsistence minimum for all, and an institutionalized state employment policy. This paper argues that EU-derived policies have had only a limited impact on Czech social-policy reform, focusing mostly on institution building. This phenomenon can be attributed to the apparent discrepancy between Copenhagen criteria of accession (1993) and the Lisbon Strategy, which was accepted as a policy guideline in 2002. Thus, the main concept able to explain Czech social-policy development after 1989 is that of institutional and behavioural path dependency as the country exhibited resistance to change coupled with a strong adherence to the Bismarckian, corporatist, welfare state. This makes the Czech Republic a special case compared to the other Visegrad countries, where the pressure from neo-liberal public-policy concepts of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund found its expression in the introduction of more residual social policies.

The Europeanisation of Employment Policy in the Czech Republic

“…As an expert of the Czech Confederation of Trade Unions summarises these employment policy trends : »Between 1990. and Concerning the financial practice, the numbers really show a change in the general orientation of the Czech employment policy: Whereas the proportion of expenses for the active employment policy to total employment policy costs was only 14% in 1997., it grew up to 44% in 2002. (see Potůček, 2004.). This is a first sign that the programme's changes have not been just rhetoric.…”

“…PHARE projects) in the development of the instruments of labour-market policy, in the reform of social services, in the development of policies on human rights and equal opportunities, and in collaboration in the field of education (see Potůček, 2004.). Specifically designed projects were launched to assist the reform of public administration, regulatory reform, training of professionals (including civil servants), and implementation of new methods of public management and administration.…”

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“…Not surprisingly he faced resistance to his attacks on social welfare, and this certainly enabled the Social Democratic Party to muster support by mobilizing against Klaus’s attacks on welfare. The result was that the overall trends in welfare expenditure were surprisingly stable throughout this period (Potůček, 2004).…”

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