In the past years the social policy systems in the broader sense (pension and health insurance, employment and unemployment protection as well as social care), together with expenditures for education, have been putting extremely high pressure on the expenditure side of national budgets in many current and future EU member states, with Croatia not being an exception. At the same time, a significant part of the population is exposed to an increased risk of poverty and/or unsatisfying approach to the quality of public services. The project dealt with the current condition, similarities and differences of social policy in the EU and Croatia. Special attention was given to the condition and difficulties, advantages and disadvantages of some solutions as well as possibilities of implementing good practices. Despite many differences and national specificities, general preconditions of economic development and efficient social policy are similar in the EU and in Croatia - insufficient number of work posts, relatively high unemployment, aging population and hence high expenditures for pension and health system with retained or reduced number of insured persons. Croatia provides relatively high amounts for various rights in the social system, which leads to insufficient funds left for economic development programs. Expenditures for social needs in Croatia are high, even compared to other transitional countries and only recently have more serious activities been taken to reduce them. The reduction has been followed by increased participation of the private sector in the provision of services. Although the social system as a whole can be considered relatively efficient and well directed, there is still room for its improvement. The project took account of the state of affairs and suggested measures for improvement in the Croatian social policy system. Based on that research goal, the following research hypothesis has been set: Constant improvements of social policy measures enhance its efficiency without negatively affecting long-term financial sustainability of the system as a whole. The results of the research brought about new scientific findings on key determinants of efficient and financially sustainable social policy. Through the project, we learned about the level of convergence or divergence of Croatia’s social policy with the EU systems. Also, the EU demands constant analyses and strategic documents which make the findings of this project useful for creating and following up those documents.
Details of the project are available in the Croatian Research Information System and a list of published articles in the Croatian scientific bibliography.