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Voices from Europe & Central Asia
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May 2016

Voices of youth: Give me hope and I’ll succeed

Gilles Cols's picture
Also available in: Русский | Français
Tajikistan is the youngest and fastest growing country in the Europe and Central Asia region, with those under 25 years old making up around 55 percent of the population. So, young people filled with enthusiasm and ambition - just like anywhere in the world - really are Tajikistan’s greatest asset.

Young women, Tajikistan

Can Moldova have a viable pension system … if retirement age is increased?

Yuliya Smolyar's picture
Also available in: Русский | Română
Pensioner in Moldova

In my first blog on Moldova’s pension system, I discussed challenges and reform options. My second one focused on the incentives to contribute into that pension system. Now, in this third blog, I am going to discuss Moldova’s retirement age: why it is important to raise it ... and why it is equally challenging to do so.
 
To better understand the issues faced by public pension systems today, it is important to remember that they are generally pay-as-you-go schemes. This means that those who work today pay the pensions of those who are retired.
 
This particular system was first introduced in Germany back in the 19th century, when the workforce was growing – a very different situation from what we have today. Rapidly ageing societies, longer life expectancy at retirement, lower fertility and migration are all adding pressures on pension systems in many European countries, including Moldova.

Securing Serbia’s farming future

Bekzod Shamsiev's picture
A farmer in pepper greenhouse, Central Serbia.
Photo: Jutta Benzenberg/World Bank
As Serbia moves to join the European Union, smallholder farmers like Goran Matic are concerned about the challenges of integrating with a highly competitive market of half-a-billion consumers. He is not alone. Many farmers throughout southeastern Europe are asking whether family farms can compete with commercial farms and agribusiness conglomerates and whether “farming heritage" as we know it can survive.
 
There are no simple answers.
 
The opportunities and challenges of EU accession
When economies integrate with foreign markets, trading opportunities, consumer choices and knowledge and technology exchanges increase. However, openness also exerts pressures on industries – including farming – to improve productivity in order to remain in business. Serbia finds itself at this very juncture. The decision to join the European Union (EU) and integrate with the EU’s highly competitive single market of 500 million consumers has raised the stakes for its economy overall, but especially agriculture.

From forgotten Yugos to new engines of growth: Reviving the car industry in South East Europe

John Mackedon's picture
The former Yugoslavia was mainly known for its not-so-successful and cheap cars, primarily the Yugo. In its review of the 50 worst cars of all time, Time magazine referred to the Yugo GV as the “Mona Lisa of bad cars.”

Nevertheless, the car industry played an important role in the economic development of the socialist Yugoslavia, representing a big employer across all former Yugoslav republics. The onset of war in the early 1990s dealt a significant blow to the car industry there, with most the production facilities closing down by the end of that decade.

And then, in the early 2000s, car companies began opening new facilities in the immediate neighborhood (Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia) and the region began producing world renowned brands such as Audi, Mercedes Benz, Renault, and Suzuki. This represented a new opportunity for manufacturers from the region to enter new supply chains - relying on skilled and experienced labor. On top of this, FIAT also opened a new factory in Serbia, further spurring demand for locally produced automotive parts.