The OECD Council decided to open accession discussions with Bulgaria on 25 January 2022. On 10 June 2022, the Council adopted the Roadmap for the accession of Bulgaria to the OECD Convention [C/M(2022)22/FINAL] (the Roadmap) setting out the terms, conditions and process for accession to the OECD. The Roadmap provides that in order to allow the Council to take an informed decision on the accession of Bulgaria, Bulgaria will undergo in-depth reviews by the OECD technical committees listed in the Roadmap, including the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee.
The background report [DELSA/ELSA/ACS(2024)1/REV1] that follows was prepared by the OECD Secretariat to support the accession review discussion of the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee with Bulgaria. The report was prepared by Marius Lüske (project lead, Chapters 1, 2 and 3), Ana Damas de Matos (Chapters 1 and 4), and Sebastian Königs (Chapters 1 and 5n), with statistical support provided by Dana Blumin. Editorial assistance was provided by Natalie Corry and Hanna Varkki. Valuable comments were provided by Stefano Scarpetta, Mark Pearson, Jean-Christophe Dumont, Paul Yu and several other colleagues at the OECD.
The Secretariat is grateful for the insights and contributions provided by specialists from a wide range of institutions, including various national authorities, the social partners, non-governmental organisations and research institutions. The report benefitted from comments received from the Bulgarian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.
In accordance with paragraph 28 of the Roadmap and upon request of Bulgaria, the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee agreed to declassify this report and publish it under the authority of the Secretary-General, in order to allow a wider audience to become acquainted with its content. Publication of this document and the analysis and recommendations contained therein do not prejudge in any way the outcome of evaluations conducted as part of Bulgaria’s accession process to the OECD.