Presently, the partnership involves

• the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law, Belgrade (Serbia)
• the University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Law, Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• the University Union Belgrade, Faculty of Law, Belgrade (Serbia)

and is supported by the foundation Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung (Berlin / Zagreb).

Co-operating institutions at the European level are providing expertise and data and support the dissemination of project results, e.g.,

• European Centre for Workers Questions (EZA);
• European Labour Law Network (ELLN);
• European Federation of Employee Share Ownership (EFES);
• International Association for Financial Participation (IAFP);
• International Labour Organisation, (ILO).

At the national level the partnership embraces such different organisations as, e.g.,

• Academy Avignon (UAEPME-Belgium), Belgium;
• Arbeitsgemeinschaft Partnerschaft in der Wirtschaft (AGP), Germany;
• Association of Employers of Slovenia (ZDS), Slovenia;
• Centre for Social and Economic Research (CASE), Poland;
• Confederation Empresarial de Sociedades Laborales (CONFESAL), Spain;
• Confederation of Hungarian Employers and Industrialists (MGYOSZ), Hungary;
• ESOP Association, UK;
• FONDACT, France;
• Instytut Allerhand, Poland;
• Mondragon University, Spain;
• SINDNOVA Research Institute, Italy;
• voestalpine Mitarbeiterbeteiligung Privatstiftung, Austria.

The conference is one of a total of nine national conferences organised by the national project partners in the framework of the project "Information and Communication Project – Promoting Employee Financial Participation in the EU-27" - VP/2010/013/0084 (abbreviated: Pro-EFP) funded by the European Commission. Organiser of the conference as a national project partner is the Kelso Professorship of Comparative Law, East European Business Law and European Legal Policy (Prof. Dr iur. Jens Lowitzsch) at the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Viadrina European University. The conference will take place under the auspices of Honorary Prof. Günter Verheugen, retired Vice-President of the European Commission, who will also deliver the keynote speech.

With regard to the EU-2020 Strategy, to the competitiveness of the European small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME), as well as to the European Social Model, the own-initiative opinion SOC 371 on Employee Financial Participation recently adopted by the European Economic and Social Committee on 21 October 2010 calls for the promotion of concepts of employee financial participation in particular for SMEs.

Also in Germany, with the adoption of the Law on Employee Share Ownership of 7 March 2009, the topic of Employee Financial Participation has emerged on the political agenda. The initiative of the German Federal legislator aiming in particular at the development of concepts for SMEs, has had only very limited success so far, though.

Against this background, the conference will formulate recommendations for the reform of the mentioned German law as well as for the further development of the European agena. In the context of the continuing European integration and on the basis of the mentioned initiatives, a German concept of Employee Share Ownership for SMEs will be presented. As for the development of a participation model, the recommendations for reform are based on the ESOP concept, which has been utmost successfully practiced in the U.S. and a number of European countries for more than 50 years.

Friday, 20 May 2011, 9.30 am until 4.30 pm
Law Faculty of the University of Split

Topic I (Morning session)

„Direct and Parliamentary Democracy in Europe – Germany, Coratia, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Eastern Europe (Russia and Ukraina)“
“Neposredna i parlamentarna demokracija u Europi – Njemačká, Hrvatska, Bosna i Hercegovina i istočna Europa (Rusija i Ukrajna)”
„Unmittelbare und parlamentarische Demokratie in Europa –Deutschland, Kroatien, Bosnien und Herzegowina und Osteuropa (Rußland und Ukraine)“

Topic II (Afternoon session)

„Development and Actual Problems in the Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yougoslavia – Joint Criminal enterprise and the Gotovina Case“
„Razvitak i aktualni problemi pravosuđa ICTYa u Haagu – Joint criminal enterprise i slučaj Gotovina“
„Entwicklung und aktuelle Probleme der Rechtsprechung des ICTY in Den Haag – Joint criminal enterprise und die Gotovina-Entscheidung“

Moderators: Prof. Dr Vesna Barić-Punda, Prof. Dr Dragan Bolanča, Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Herwig Roggemann

PEPPER IV Report und Italian language version of "Financial Participation for a New Social Europe" presented at the Conference at the National Council of Economy and Labour (CNEL) in Rome, Villa Lubin under the auspices of Mario Sepi, President of the European Economic and Social Committee.