Skopje, 4 March 2024 (MIA) — The country's social reform of 2019 has been ambitious, visionary and successful, improving the system for distributing welfare and providing higher welfare benefits to a higher number of people who need social assistance, according to research commissioned by the Sustainable Inclusive Growth Association with the support of Friedrich Ebert Foundation and presented Monday.

"This was a very bold and very advanced reform of the social protection system," said state university's Faculty of Law professor Vancho Uzunov, who coauthored the 'Analysis of the Effects and Sustainability of the Social Reform in 2019 in North Macedonia' with Paul Stubbs, senior research fellow at the Zagreb Institute of Economics.

Uzunov said the social reform continued despite the pandemic and rising inflation, succeeding in mitigating some of the consequences of the crisis for vulnerable categories of citizens.

Nonetheless, he stressed, the study showed that people living below the poverty line were now worse off than the rest of the population.

Uzunov said the social reform should continue so "we can have a real chance to create a solid social protection system that responds to our regional conditions." He added that it should be "number one on the agenda" of politicians in creating their election platforms.

According to Stubbs, the 2019 social reform in North Macedonia was one of the most ambitious and visionary reforms in the region.

"The reform was ambitious because it introduced benefits for the society's poorest, gave support to children and families, and reformed social protection," he said.

Stubbs added that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the economic crisis affected the social reform but they also showed how flexible the reform was.

According to the researcher, the country's social reform processes should continue, given that a large part of North Macedonia's population still lives below the poverty line. 

He said social policy should not be viewed as a burden but instead as an investment in society, adding that funding could and should always be found to help the most vulnerable.

SIGA president Dushan Tomshikj said the social reform had had a large scope and included making changes to social protection laws and child protection laws as well as introducing the right to guaranteed minimum assistance and universal child allowance. mr/