The traditional business breakfast of the SLO CRO Business club brought together 40 business persons and eminent guests from both Slovenia and Croatia. Besides – Dr. Anja Kopač Mrak, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Zagreb, Mrs. Božena Leš attended the event, and her counterpart Minister Plenipotentiary Mr. Jakob Štunf, MSc from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia. As the tradition dictates, the honorary consul of Republic of Slovenia in Croatia – Mr. Branko Roglić and the Croatian honorary consul in Slovenia –Mr. Božo Dimnik also joined the event.
As this was the first business breakfast of the SLO CRO Business Club in Ljubljana, we took advantage of the opportunity to establish contacts with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije), the employers’ association (the Slovenian Delegate Association – Združenje delodajalcev Slovenije ) and the Employment Service of Slovenia, whose representatives also attended the talks and subsequent networking.
Business breakfast was opened by the president of SLO CRO Business Club Dr. Saša Muminović with a presentation linking the concept of long duration (la longue duree) by historian Fernan Brodel – the most important slow rhythm of change in society, demography, economy, social psychology, customs, culture … with changes in the labour market.
“Businessmen often find themselves surprised by some new condition, change or its announcement. However, social scientists in general and sociologists in particular, seek and answer many of these questions in their work.
Today’s guest is Dr. Anja Kopač Mrak. We did not invite her only because she was the Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities in the Republic of Slovenia in the period 2013-2018, but as someone who knows the topic today. Namely, she an associate professor of sociology and a lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences, where he teaches European Social Policy. She is the author of numerous scientific papers in the field of social and employment policy, among others the book entitled “Activation – Conversion to Social Politics”.
Therefore, she is about a person is not only the theoretical expert in the field, but also knows the system from the inside: how it works, his mechanics and what are system’s most important limitations. ”
Dr. Kopač Mrak began her presentation with the concept of inclusive growth as a vision of the future of the labour market, emphasising the issues of the young and the elderly in the workplace, the precarious work and income inequality. Prerequisites for the welfare state is the future level of work activity. Here, European target is 75% by 2020 for the population of 20-64 years. After reviewing and interpreting current data on labour force activity, demographic projections and work activities of the elderly were also presented. These represent the great challenges of tomorrow. Prior to the conclusion, Dr Kopač Mrak also looked at the concept of decent work which is a precondition for quality and productive workplaces and also linked to the concept of minimum wage and income inequality. She also discussed the tax reform plans and its effects on taxation in Slovenia.
She has also rawn parallels in the review and the issues in Croatia, which according to statistical data processed in the lecture does not differ much from the same in Slovenia.
Dr Anja Kopač Mrak concluded her presentation with stating that the changes in this area must be holistic and socially acceptable. She also supported the greatest degree of social partners’ consensus. Individual changes, on the other hand, may only be acceptable if they are recognized as part of the path to a long-term vision.
After the official part, an interesting and in-depth discussion took place where the guest answered the question. The event concluded by breakfast and networking.
