Generation of a Special State Concern

2013–2014

ERSTE Foundation Fellowship for Social Research Labour Market and Employment in Central and Eastern Europe

Generation of a Special State Concern: Portraying educational and job search experiences of youth in Vukovar-Syrmium County Asja Korbar

Nansen Dialogue Center Osijek, 2014

RESEARCH REPORT GENERATION OF A SPECIAL STATE CONCERN: Portraying educational and job search experiences of youth in VukovarSyrmium County

Author: Asja Korbar asjakor@yahoo.it Assistants: Vanja Đurić-Bjelanović Srđan Antić

This research project was developed with the support of ERSTE Foundation

1. Introduction After more than ten years of promoting intercultural education in Vukovar-Syrmium County in Eastern Croatia, Nansen Dialogue Center Osijek decided to explore what is happening with the young people in this County once they exit the education system and enter the labor market.

Thinking about this task in the context of the recent history of the County and ethnically divided categories in which the everyday life sphere functions, portraying the educational and job search experiences of young people become complex. In a situation where, within the education system, there is little space (in temporal, spatial and symbolic sense) provided for joint learning and growing up, we posed broader questions - what is the interaction between schooling in Serbian language and the employment possibilities of Serbian minority youth in Vukovar-Syrmium County?; what are job search experiences of Serbian minority youth educated in Serbian language program in comparison to their peers educated in Croatian language program?; and what are the important factors for getting employment that are identified by the young people in Vukovar-Syrmium?

In order to explore the answers to this question, we have decided to conduct a small-scale qualitative research - using the methods of literature review, interviews with experts and practitioners and, finally, and interviews with young individuals who have entered the labor market, but who have different educational experiences in terms of language of schooling. The research resulted in a broad portray of the County seen through the eyes of those on whom the community one day will depend on - youth. On the other hand, within the County, this research is mainly focused on the town of Vukovar due to the significant number of members of Serbian minority and interethnic divide And despite of the political, societal and historical factors of divide, it seems that young people in Vukovar share some similar views on the context and dynamics of relations in which they live, as well as the vision of the future and the interests.

This research has certain limitations. The topic itself is very specific, but at the same time it connects questions from many areas such as human rights, education, and economy. This is why in many aspects; this research is lacking a deep analysis about specificities of the questions related to each of these areas. However, it was not our intention to have the final word on the topic, but to open the question for policy making and further research. It may also be relevant for initiating the innovative, joint projects directed towards the joint interest of the members of that community - positive change in the employment possibilities, as well as working conditions.

In more than one way, Vukovar dynamics are embodied in the building of the closed Hotel Dunav (Danube) situated on the one of the most beautiful locations in town, on the promenade close to the Danube River. It was constructed during the 1980ties, with yellowish bricks of the facade and dark roof, that remind us of the insouciance (false or true) of the period. The hotel can be seen from many 1

points in the town center - and as such it has been etched in the images and archived in the memories of the town’s history - the good ones and those bad ones. It was a property of Vupik, one of the biggest factories for agricultural production at the times - this type of activity, together with other types of industries, has helped Vukovar to become the second richest town in ex-Yugoslavia.

The main part of these activities was ruined during the war and the post-war period.

So, just like the town of Vukovar, hotel Dunav was strongly connected to the big manufacturing plants. And just like the rest of the town of Vukovar, it has been shelled, but unlike the rest of the town, it was not devastated completely. It was, for the wartime conditions, actually quite preserved.

After the war, this enabled its functioning, and after the peaceful reintegration process, people of different nationalities (including Croatians and Serbs) have worked there. According to the story that one of the people included in this research has told - this hotel, in that uncertain and fractured postwar, has represented a sort of a safe place, where you could organize a meeting with all parties, where you could drink your beer with people of all nationalities (and the nationality did not play the role in who serves you your beer, either). It was kinds of small sign of the possibility of the joint future life, even though that this life would not be without marks and scratches of the previous period.

Marks and scratches of this period were still present on the hotel building itself - in the form of bullet holes and grenade hits, which the new management of the hotel has decided to leave as a reminder, and as an attraction - which was proven to be a cunning idea - since probably many of the peacemakers, activists, funders and other visiting tourists possess a photo from their ‘bullet holed’ accommodation in some of their drawers or scanned on their PCs and tablets. From the source close to the ex-management, which we do not feel obliged to reveal in this introductory note, the hotel was doing a good business at the time. But, after a while, the story of the hotel, its building and the land it is on, came into a complicated relationship with another building, another land and a couple of other interests. A few hundred meters away, there was a ruined building (constructed in the same style as the hotel1) of the famous department store Nama in those times present in many parts of Croatia. This building, as well as the land, was a State property and it was allegedly sold to one of the Croatian tycoons in the painful period of privatization for the value of 1 Croatian Kuna (or about 0,13 Euro, according to 2014 currency rates). Željko Kerum, a private businessman, has promised to construct a multipurpose building ‘worthy of the Hero City’. This, of course, did not happen and after a few years, Mr. Kerum has sold his property, only this time for 130.000 EUR to the construction work business firm from the County EURCO. At the same time, the AGROKOR concern (the biggest 1

The style is described in the text of a significan title Reconstruction and extension of the Nama building in Vukovar: From the town's shame to the Cinestar Cinema (Građevinar Magazine /Časopis Građevinar 6/2013)

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private company in Croatia), who owned the VUPIK plant from the beginning of the story, as well as all its property (including the hotel), announced that the hotel “within the VUPIK does not represent the ‘core business’. Indeed, Agrokor explained its request for the earlier selling also by stating the information that the hotel Dunav is producing negative balance to VUPIK, whose part it is, and on the other hand it represents the burden on investments to which Agrokor has committed in its plans for VUPIK, which in the forefront consist of the basic, agricultural activity of this plant.” 2 Finally, the hotel building and the land were sold to EURCO, and the new buyer should have assumed all obligations from the previous contract - promised by Agrokor to Croatian Privatization Fund, including keeping the level of the existing employment and the same level of the employment rights (which would be fulfilled by Agrokor, if the new buyer would not be able to fulfil it3). At the time of writing this report, on the place of the former Nama department store, there is a big shopping mall owned by the ex-proprietor of the hotel Agrokor. On a contrary, on a place of a former Hotel Dunav (State - Agrokor - EURCO), there is still Hotel Dunav, out of order and without people - workers or guests. 4

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As reported in the business magazine Poslovni.hr (29/7/2010) available at http://www.poslovni.hr/hrvatska/todoric-trazi-10-mil-kn-zahotel-dunav-u-vukovaru-154163# 3 Poslovni.hr (29/7/2010) 4 Interestingly, during the summer of 2014, the public in Croatia was informed that the hotel will reopen in 2016 and that 48 new jobs are expected be opened. The hotel reconstuction will be partly financed by the State incentives, and partly by money from the EU funds.

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Part 2 - Methodology of the research Research team

The research team consisted of project leader and two local researchers. The entire process was administrated by the civil society organization Nansen Dialogue Center Osijek, who provided great help with their experience from practice with their suggestions and contacts. Also, it is important to mention the experts from the ERSTE Foundation, who had the advisory role during the conduction of this project and who commented and reviewed the process and its results in all of its phases.

Main questions

Even though that the research did not include a large sample and it was primarily focused on the dynamics at the micro level of the community, it provides an overview of what are the possible interactions of education, labor market and interethnic segregation, by presenting the job search experiences of young people after they have finished their education. This research in many ways describes the experiences of job search which are shared by young Croats and Serbs, Ruthenians, Hungarians or other ethnicities living in Vukovar-Syrmium County. Within the issue of youth in the labor market of Vukovar, the main focus is on youth belonging to Serbian national minority, in comparison to youth belonging to the majority group, young people from the so-called mixed backgrounds, or belonging to other nationalities in Vukovar-Syrmium County, as well as to young people of Serbian nationality from the neighboring Osijek-Baranja County.

The research tried to explore the following questions: (1) What is the interaction between schooling in Serbian language and script and the employment possibilities of Serbian minority youth in Vukovar-Syrmium County?

The research wanted to assess, using the available data, any interaction between the model (language) of schooling and employment possibilities of a young person in his or her future.

(2) What are job search experiences of Serbian minority youth educated in the Serbian language program5 in comparison to their peers educated in the Croatian language program?

One of the aims of the research was to explore if these experiences were similar or different - what are the factors that young people in ethnically divided context of Vukovar take into account when planning their future, what obstacles do they encounter when they finish their education and start

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The research focused on the Model A of minority schooling system in Croatia, where classes are conducted almost entirely in language and script of the national minority, in this case in Serbian. For more information on the models, see the official website of the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports http://public.mzos.hr/Default.aspx?sec=3194

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looking for a job; and, specifically, what are the experiences of young people belonging to Serbian minority in Vukovar-Syrmium County related to it.

(3) What important factors for getting employment are identified by the young people in VukovarSyrmium?

This question is related to the issue of what do young people perceive as decisive or limiting factors in finding employment and what their assessment on how much do professional qualifications matter for finding an employment. This part of the research also focuses on the perception of the presence of nepotism and corruption in the labor market, more specifically on the perceived role of organized groups in influencing the employment possibilities in Vukovar-Syrmium County.

Data collection and analysis

This qualitative research was organized in 3 phases or parts of data collection.

The first phase was the phase of the desk review, which provided data presented mostly in the introductory part of this report (Part 3). The analysis focuses on few aspects - legal framework of minority education; policy documents and reports; available statistical and demographic data from the National Bureau of Statistics; and other research on youth unemployment, minority rights, and education in Vukovar-Syrmium.

A second phase was the phase of structured interviews with experts (N=10) from the local and national government; representatives of Serbian minority organizations in Vukovar-Syrmium County; representatives of the key institutions in the community, including civil society representatives and employers from the private sector in Vukovar. All interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Most of the data collected through this method are presented in the introductory part of the research (Part 3).

The third phase included semi-structured interviews with the members of the target groups The research team has done 21 interviews with the members of the target groups, because the goal of the project was to cover as much as possible of different situations.

Within this research, we were focused on one large group - youth in the age from 20 to 30 in Vukovar - Syrmium and Osijek- Baranja counties. Therefore, the target groups were finally divided into: 1. Youth in the age of 20-30 educated in Serbian language and script in Vukovar-Syrmium County (N=12)

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2. Youth in the age of 20-30 educated in Croatian language and script in Vukovar-Syrmium County (N=3) 3. Youth in the age of 20-30 that changed the model/language of schooling in Croatia in Vukovar-Syrmium County (N=3) 4. Youth in the age of 20-30 educated in Croatian language and script in Osijek-Baranja County (N=3), including 2 interviewees who have changed the model of schooling. 6 5. Youth in the age of 20-30, belonging to the returnee population in Vukovar-Syrmium County, educated in Croatian language and script (N=1) We must emphasize that these 5 groups of cases represented in our sample also include the personal and professional histories of members of ethnic groups other than Serbs and Croats, as well as those of young people with 'mixed' ethnic backgrounds, and those that do not declare themselves as members of any group. This is because it was our specific intention to describe as much as possible of different experiences related to schooling, ethnic division and job search of young people in the2 counties, with a special focus on the town of Vukovar. Therefore, when choosing the interviewees, we paid attention to the following criteria: •

Age

•

Gender;

•

Employment status;

•

Type of employment (e.g. Contract for a determinate/ indeterminate period, part time job

etc.); •

Sector (public, civil, private, informal)

•

Type of school finished (gym / VET);

•

Level of education/degree

•

Type of settlement (urban / rural area);

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These two cases were not analyzed as a part of the group 3. However, it would be interesting to explore the interethnic relations and the situation with the minority rights protection in this County as well.

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•

Place of living, i.e. migration

All interviewees were guaranteed the anonymity. Within this report, their initials have been changed, and some elements that could indicate the identity of the person (e.g. their birthplace, type or name of the institutions where they worked etc.), in particular cases has been moved. The questions in the interviews covered 6 areas - 1) personal history, 2) education history, 3) employment history, 4) experience of and attitude towards various aspects of discrimination, 5) perception of other peoples' experiences (e.g. their family, friends and acquaintances) and 6) their plans and visions of the future. All interviews were transcribed and coded according to the coding matrix developed by the research team. The coding was done by the main researcher and one of the local researchers. After that, the results of the interviews were interpreted and drafted in this report.

The draft report was reviewed by the experts from the ERSTE Foundation team and the final version was prepared by the author of the report based on the review.

Limitations of the research

It is important to stress the limitations of this research, which should be kept in mind while reading and/or using the findings presented in this report.

First of all, the topic of the research is very specific, and in its specificity it connects many areas education, minority rights, and labor market, as well as history and interethnic relations. For a smallscale research like this one it was very difficult to conduct an in- depth analysis of each of these aspects and to cover the width of the topic in a proper way.

Secondly, the research has been done in a moment of the global economic crisis, which affected very negatively the labor market Croatia and caused the loss of workplaces for many people, similar to other countries. This factor has made more difficult finding a clear answer to the question on the employment opportunities of members of national minorities.

This research does not provide the answer to the question - what is the effect of education in Serbian language for youth belonging to Serbian minority in Vukovar-Syrmium County, isolated from the factors such as the poor job market situation caused by economic crisis, lack of demand of a certain profession, discrimination based on the ethnicity, etc. However, it can describe the experiences that young people have in their job search in Vukovar-Syrmium County after they have finished their schooling and count the factors that were found decisive in this process.

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Furthermore, some of the public institutions that the research team finds to be important for this topic or its specific aspects were unavailable for the interview. Some of the institutions asked for the interview questions to be shown to them in advance, and then they replied that they do not possess the information needed for the research - for example, that they do not know how to comment labor market situation if they were an institution in the sector of education. In this way, some data, or better to say, some of the quality first-hand data remained unavailable to the researchers.

Also, since we are dealing here with a rather small community, the principle of protection of anonymity of the interviewees is extremely important, especially because they were asked and ready to respond about their experiences and views on corruption, nepotism and discrimination at the local labor market. This is why the research team did their best to protect their anonymity, also by excluding some elements that would potentially reveal the either the identity of the interviewee, either the institution at issue. All these factors might contribute to the lesser clarity of the findings presented.

Finally, it must be emphasized here that this research was never envisaged to be a final say on the issue, but the description of experiences and of possible interactions within the community/ies which influence significantly young people’s lives. In this context, we find it to be relevant as a description of experiences and different perspective on the issues related to young people in Vukovar-Syrmium County, educational issues, labor market situation, corruption and governance, as well as to social reconstruction.

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3. Vukovar-Syrmium - overview of the main issues 3. 1. Geopolitical and historical context Demography

According to the Census in 2011, Croatia has 4.284,889 inhabitants, and out of that people in the age from 15 to 29 make 18,6%.7 According to the World Bank data presented in the report on the Long Term Care Policies for Older Populations in New EU Member States and Croatia: Challenges and Opportunities(2010) 8, Croatia is following the demographic trends of other European countries with the population aged 65 and over, whose share has been growing since the 1990ties, counts for more than 17 % of the total population9. According to the case study on Croatia within the same report „The demographic trend in Croatia resembles the overall pattern in other European countries: the share of the elderly is becoming increasingly larger while the share of the working population is declining.“ (2010).

Vukovar-Syrmium County is one of the administrative units - counties, in the East of Croatia, at the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and therefore it has a significant geopolitical position. In terms of age structure of the population, this County is inhabited by 179. 521 persons, while the population in the age from 15 to 29 make about 19,4% of the entire population. The County has 5 urban centers/towns - Ilok (6.767 inhabitants), Otok (6.343 inhabitants), Vinkovci (35.312 inhabitants), Vukovar (27.683 inhabitants) and Županja (12.090 inhabitants).

Regarding the migration of population of the Republic of Croatia, the data presented by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics for 2012 have shown that Croatia in that year has had the negative net migration and that the „out of the total number of emigrants from the Republic of Croatia, 31.0% of persons migrated to Serbia and 25.0% of persons migrated to Bosnia and Herzegovina.” 10 When it comes to internal migration, in 2012 Vukovar-Syrmium County was the county with the largest negative net migration. It is perhaps important to know that, regarding the internal migration, in the same year, the largest number of migrated population within the Republic of Croatia was aged 20 - 39 (46.0%)11. It is also important to add that, in the town of Vukovar, which is our main focus, according to the information presented on the website of the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Town of Vukovar, founded by the Government of the Republic

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According to the data published by Croatian Bureau of Statistics, available at http://www.dzs.hr/default_e.htm http://web.worldbank.org 9 Case Study: Croatia, available at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ECAEXT/Resources/Croatia_LTC.pdf 10 MIGRATION OF POPULATION OF REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, 2012, available at http://www.dzs.hr/Hrv_Eng/publication/2013/07-0102_01_2013.htm 11 MIGRATION OF POPULATION OF REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, 2012 8

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of Croatia in 2002, around 70% of highly educated students studying outside of the town does not come back. 12 Ethnic structure

Just like in other surrounding countries, historical circumstances, geographical position and other factors have influenced the divergent ethnic structure of Croatia - out of the 4,284,889 total inhabitants in Croatia, there were 328.738 persons or 7,67%13 of total belonging to 22 national minorities with the recognized legal status of minority in the Republic of Croatia.

Out of 22 national minorities, Serbian national minority is the largest one in Croatia with 186,633 members or 4.36% of the population (2011). Still, the number reported by the census in 1991 (before the breakup of Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia - in the following text SFRY), when the Serbs made up 12.2 % of the population in Croatia, the number drastically decreased, primarily because the war in Croatia 1991-1995, but also by other, mostly post-war dynamics such as difficult process of return of the displaced persons14 related to the issues of housing and occupancy/tenancy rights of the former rights' holders.

Members of Serbian minority live mostly in the North-eastern part Croatia, which includes both Vukovar-Syrmium County and Osijek-Baranja County. Also, Vukovar-Syrmium County is the County with the largest percentage of Serbs - 15.50 %. More precisely, Serbian minority is not evenly distributed throughout the County, but it is mainly concentrated in some of the municipalities/parts where it makes up much more than 15 % - town of Vukovar (34,87%) and municipalities of Borovo (89,73%), Markušica (90,10%), Negoslavci (96, 86%) and Trpinja (89,75%).15 Apart from the Serbian national minority, the County is populated by other ethnic groups - Albanians, Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Montegrinians, Czechs, Hungarians, Hebrews, Macedonians, Germans, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Russians, Ruthenians, Russians, Slovaks, Slovenians, Italians, Turks, Ukrainians and others. However, the number of each of this national minority groups does not exceed 1% at the County level.

The multiculturalism of the Vukovar-Syrmium County, before the last war, was

reflected in the fact that many people have a 'mixed' ethnic background, where in most cases for a very long period of time category of ethnicity did not play a significant role in their everyday life.

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http://fond-vukovar.hr/vukovar According to the information published at the official website of the Government Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities of the Republic of Croatia http://www.uljppnm.vlada.hr/ 14 For more information see the UNHCR publication Minority Return to Croatia - Study of an Open Process (Mesić M. and Bagić D., February 2012).

15 2011 Census data, Croatian Bureau of Statistics 13

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History

The end of 1980ies and 1990ties are marked by significant historical overturns in Croatia such as the breakup of SFRY and the proclamation of the independence of the Republic of Croatia in 1991.

History of Vukovar-Syrmium is marked by destructive 1991 attacks by the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) and locally organized Serb forces, and occupation which ended in 1995 with the Erdut Agreement signed by the representatives of both sides - it meant the beginning of the process Peaceful Reintegration of the Danube Region, implemented by the special UN Transitional Authority in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES), established by the UN Security Council. During the 1991-1995 period, the territory which included most of the Vukovar-Syrmium and a part of Osijek-Baranja County was under the administration of „Republic of Srpska Krajina“(in the following text „RSK“). In 1991, most of Croatian and other non-Serbian population was forcibly displaced and sought refuge in other parts of Croatia or in other countries.

The period of „RSK“ is not very explored in the history of Croatia and there are not many reliable sources and analysis' related to it - those sources which are available are mostly personal histories collected by individual researchers or civil society organizations. For example, internet forums, as rather alternative and open spaces where people discuss, often anonymously, the issues that are excluded from the dominant discourse, are among the possible sources that may provide interesting testimonies and perspectives on that period. However, these insights must be approached critically and must be combined with other sources, due to their questionable reliability. From the available histories this period was characterized by weak governance, general atmosphere of insecurity and the sort of the temporality of such a state.

Of all parts of Croatia, Vukovar-Syrmium County and, especially the town of Vukovar, were struck the most by the war. The consequences can still be felt in the interethnic tensions in the community, but also in the context of a weak local economy and lack of jobs. They can be seen on the unrenovated facades of the buildings, devastated industrial buildings which used to be places of production, fences between the kindergartens, or in the graffiti containing symbols and messages filled with interethnic hatred. In some way, they can be also noticed in the emptiness of the streets and squares on Saturday nights. But perhaps these consequences are most visible in the way that the elements of public life seem always to be analyzed and put in the context of war and post-war - even the aspects such as education (children) and employment (youth).

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Minority rights and interethnic relations in Vukovar-Syrmium County

Republic of Croatia inherited part of its legislative regulating the protection of minority rights from the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), which guaranteed the rights of some of the national minorities (Czech, Hungarian, Ruthenian, Slovakian, Italian and Ukrainian). With the breakup of SFRY, all nationalities that lived within the Croatian territory and had a status of constitutional nations in SFRY (Bosniaks, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenians), at the beginning of the 1990ies got the status of national minorities.

Minority rights protection has an important place in the legislation of the Republic of Croatia - for example, Croatian Constitution, in its preamble, mentions all 22 national minorities and it guarantees them the “equality with citizens of Croatian nationality and the exercise of their national rights in compliance with the democratic norms of the United Nations and the countries of the free world”.

Furthermore, Article 15 of the Constitution explicitly refers to the equal rights of minorities.16 Also, The Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia (in the following text CANM, 2002/2010), is in accordance with many international legal documents17 and it regulates, among other things - minority voting right; free expression of belonging to the minority, as well as expressing the minority identity and it defines a set of positive measures/rights, which the members of minority can exercise individually or jointly.

In the context of this research it is important to mention that these rights include the right to education in the language and script of national minorities (Article 7 and 11, CANM) 18, as well as the representation in representative bodies at the national and local levels, and in administrative and judicial bodies, depending on the percentage of minority members in the regional/local selfgovernment unit (county), which should be minimum 15% (Article 7, 20 and 22 of CANM).

The latter therefore directly refers to the job positions in the state sector, and the possibility of realization of this right depends on the number of minority members in a county, town or municipality according to the last census. An interesting analysis of this law, as well as on its implementation in Croatia, was offered by the non-governmental organization Serbian Democratic Forum (SDF) in the research report Exercising the right to employment of national minorities in public services and ensuring gender equality in 2012. 19 This report, which has been done before the 2011 16

Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (consolidated text), National Gazette no. 85/2010 from 09.07.2010, Croatian Parliament official website http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?art=2406 17 Charter of the UN, Universal Declaration on Human Rights, CoE Convention for the Protection of Human Rights; UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic Religious and Linguistic Minorities; the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the European Charter of Local SelfGovernment, CEI Instrument for the Protection of Minority Rights, and the Lund Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities.

18 The isssues regarding the education will be presented in the last section of this chapter.

19 Gjenero D., 2012, SDF, available in English at http://www.sdf.hr/publikacije/analiza_zaposljavanja_manjina_2012_engl.pdf

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Census data were available finds that only in one county, which is Vukovar-Syrmium, “the Serbian minority makes up more than 15% of the population (15.45%) and thus is entitled to proportional representation in the representative body of the regional government.” 20 and that “(...) the situation in Podunavlje region21 is different than in other parts of the Croatia and that, despite the ghettoization of the Serbian minority in areas where minority rights was realized on the basis of Erdut agreement, and not based on Constitutional Act, a proportionality of representation of minorities in public services was achieved.”22 The same research report assesses that the “Introduction of positive discrimination in employment in the public sector, no matter how acceptable and good idea is, has a huge flaw, which is further intensified by etatistic tradition.

Specifically, in the Croatian system of additional mechanisms of protection are otherwise overemphasized statistic element - excessive reliance on the state in a broader sense.” 23 As described before, parts of Vukovar-Syrmium and Osijek Baranja County were not returned to Croatia by military actions, but where peacefully reintegrated into the process implemented by the UN forces. This process began by signing the document called the Erdut agreement24, and the Letter of Intent of the Republic of Croatia on the completion of the peaceful reintegration (Article 4 in particular) 25.

How do the consequences of war and the entire process of reintegration, often characterized as the ‘most successful project conducted by UN’ by civil society organizations, representatives of the State institutions and by the UN, reflect on the community? The description of the situation offered in the study of Perceived Parental Communication and Propensity towards Reconciliation among Youth in Vukovar (2012) is summarizing them in the following way: “Since the end of the conflict in Croatia in 1995, the challenge of building sustainable coexistence between Croats and Serbs in Vukovar has proven hard to achieve. Negative emotions of anger, bitterness and hatred among the groups are still difficult to overcome. There has been a polarization along ethnic lines in all institutions, including schools, local radio stations, sports clubs and cultural associations, and people from Croatian and Serbian ethnic groups hardly communicate with each other.” 26

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SDF, 2012 21 Croatian Danube region or Eastern Croatia (it includes Vukovar-Syrmium and Osijek Baranja County) 22 SDF, 2012 23 SDF, 2012 24 Available in Croatian at http://www.snv.hr/pdf/erdutski_sporazum.pdf 25 Available in Croatian at http://www.zvo.hr/sto%20je%20zvo.htm 26 A. Kosić and S. Livi, A Study of Perceived Parental Communication and Propensity towards Reconciliation among Youth in Vukovar (Croatia) , 2012, in Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe ,Vol 11, No 4, 2012, 51-80

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This is also how Charles Tauber, activist from Vukovar based CSO Coalition for Work With Psychotrauma and Peace sees the process of Peaceful Reintegration and the situation regarding trauma in the Vukovar community today: “(...) the UNTAES period was difficult period for everybody, a UN claimed that was most effective UN mission in history, I think it was absolutely disastrous, I said it publicly before and I will continue saying it, I think that was little done... (...) First of all, nothing was done about reconciliation, zero (…) they changed the currency, they changed license plates, they did those practical things, but they didn’t involve people, the end. (...) This area demographically is very highly mixed, I think I didn’t meet a person who has not had at least one second degree relative of another ethnicity, so there were a lot of family problems (...) That part didn’t change much, that is still a big problem, people still repressing their emotions, people still repressing traumas not dealing at all with a trauma and negative narratives of the war period.“ Therefore, the community of the Vukovar-Syrmium County, and the population of the town of Vukovar in particular, bears the legacy of trauma and losses that its population has experienced during the war and the processes of finding the missing persons are still ongoing.

On the other hand, minority rights protection is a serious issue in that community, which is not evident only in regards of housing rights of the Serbian returnees. It is also evident in the example of protests against introducing the official bilingualism, especially against signs in Cyrillic script, the introduction is which is guaranteed by the CANM, based on the fact that Serbs make up more than 30% of the population there, which escalated for the first time in April 2013 and for the second time in November 2013.

Political parties in Vukovar27

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is center-right party and one of the largest parties in Croatia in general. At the level of state governance, it was in power from 1990 to 2000, and again, as a leader of a coalition, from 2003 to the last Parliamentary elections in 2011. It is also in power at the level of Vukovar-Syrmium County, where the party has won every local election. At the level of the town of Vukovar it has been in power in the Town Council since the end of the 1990ies until 2009, when the elections were won by the Social Democratic Party of Croatia.

Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) is one of the largest parties in Croatia, together with HDZ, usually perceived as center-left, and since the last parliamentary elections in 2011, it is in governing position together with other member parties of the so called Kukuriku Coalition. At the level of

27

All information regarding the status of the described political parties refer to the period of collecting data and report writing (beginning of 2014).

14

Vukovar-Syrmium County, where the leading parties are the right wing parties, this party has a lesser number of representatives in the County assembly, about 30%. At the same time, since the last elections in May 2013, at the level of the town Council, this party, however, does not have a majority of mandates, because the majority is won by a right-wing coalition led by HDZ. Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) is the strongest and the most visible political party of Serbian minority with the representatives in the Parliament. At the national level, they were in power as members of the coalition led by HDZ from 2003 to 2007. At the level of the County, it is in the opposition with 3 mandates, as well as in the town Council of Vukovar.

The activity and effects of the political parties at the level of Vukovar in general is perceived by many of the interviewees in the research as negative, contributing to the instability and not working in the best interests of the citizens. They were often mentioned in the context of deepening the divisions in the community, trade and non-transparent actions.

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3.2. Economy and labor market According to the data by the Croatian Employment Service and State Office for Statistics for April 2013, with population of 4.284,889, the unemployment rate in Croatia was 21, 9% and it is constantly growing. Croatia28 is at the top of the EU countries (right behind Spain and Greece) regarding high youth unemployment rate (population 15 - 24) which is 36, 1%29. This is how the unemployment in Croatia is described in the A Statistical portrait of Croatia in the European Union document (July, 2013) of the Croatian Bureau for the Statistics - “The general business cycle has a significant impact on unemployment levels, and the impact of the financial, economic and public debt crisis can be seen in the recent developments of unemployment statistics in most EU Member States. The unemployment rate in Croatia rose from a pre-crisis low of 8.4 % in 2008 to 15.9 % by 2012, while in the EU‑27 it rose from 7.1 % to 10.5 % over the same period. The 2012 unemployment rate in Croatia was considerably lower than in Spain or Greece, the same as in Portugal, and higher than in all other EU‑28 Member States. The long-term unemployment rate - the rate of those unemployed for one year or longer - in Croatia was 10.3 %, more than double the EU27 averages of 4.6 %.”30 Youth unemployment is an especially significant issue in Croatia, perhaps more than most of the EU countries. Research conducted by Croatian Youth Network (Who’s afraid of the big bad crisis?

Structured Dialogue on Youth Unemployment, Buković N., 2012), has explored young people’s narratives and perception of unemployment. This research shows that, what young people perceive as relevant factors are employers, or rather employers’ unwillingness to employ young people.

However, a significant part of the participants see favoritism as a relevant factor, which is one of the findings of our research as well: “This distribution of answers indicates that young people perceive employers and the education system as relevant factors for the problem of unemployment. (...)It is disconcerting that 56.48% of participants see favoritism as an important factor in landing a job in Croatia, while relevant work experience follows at 37.85%, as well as skills and competences necessary for performing job-related tasks (34.87%).” At the time, young people identify the national government (73.10%), employers (34.68%) and local governments (31.99%) as the most responsible actors for the high unemployment rate in Croatia. 31 Regarding Vukovar-Syrmium County (population 179. 521), the unemployment rate is higher than the national average - 37, 6% (April 2013), while the biggest group of unemployed is youth in the age of 15 to 29 which make up 36,8 % of the total registered unemployed people.

28

Croatia is a member of the European Union since the July 2013.

Eurostat, 2011 30 Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2013 31 Buković N., Croatian Youth Network, 2012 29

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At the period of collecting data Vukovar-Syrmium was 4th county in Croatia ranked by unemployment rate. It has to be mentioned that Croatian Employment Service does not collect the data according to ethnicity, so within this research, we cannot assess the eventual differences among the ethnic groups in Vukovar-Syrmium labor market. However, three biggest groups of registered unemployed persons in the County are qualified, skilled workers (29, 4 %), workers with secondary school education (27, 6 %) and workers with primary school education 25, 7 %).32 In 2002, Government of Croatia founded Vukovar Reconstruction and Development Fund in the town of Vukovar, funded from the state budget, liable to the Parliament and to the Government, and primarily in charge of “activities related to the granting of loans and their investment in the reconstruction and development of the economy and utility infrastructure” and “expert information and advice investors, assistance in preparing business documentation and evaluation of investment ventures” in the town of Vukovar.

33

The Fund identifies the following weaknesses of Vukovar

economy:  Difficult conditions of the big pre-war industries / companies - “The biggest problem is a difficult economic situation of the companies that were carriers of the pre-war development of Vukovar. Former giants such as Borovo, Vupik, Vuteks and other Vukovar companies, some of which employed twenty thousand people, cannot be restored, nor do we need to think about rebuilding Vukovar economy only in that direction. Most of these companies are currently either bankrupt or in the process of privatization, as well as being burdened with debts, redundant employees, outdated technology, major damage to buildings, loss of markets, lack of highly educated professionals, etc. (...) The government has cancelled a significant part of the debts of some of the companies, with the purpose of disburdening their businesses, after which they managed to carve out and to get back on their feet, continuing with the business.”  Lack of the entrepreneurship tradition - “On the other hand, there is a lack of entrepreneurial tradition in Vukovar because these orientations pre-war Vukovar economies.”  Lack of human resources - “(...) one should bear in mind that it was mainly the older generation that returned to Vukovar and that 70 % of students studying outside our county

32

According to the Labour Market Indicators of the Croatian Employment service – for more information see: http://trzisterada.hzz.hr/Counties/UnemploymentEducationGender/16?rend=3 33 Vukovar Reconstruction and Development Fund website www.fond-vukovar.hr

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does not come back. Due to this significant outflow of skilled human resources, it is very difficult to find a highly skilled person with the required experience.” 34 In addition, some of the threats identified in the SWOT analysis of the Human Resources Development Strategy and Employment in Vukovar-Srijem [Syrmium] County document is related to brain drain; immobility of the labor force and depopulation (especially of the rural areas). At the same time, among a the threatening factors (9 altogether), the County Strategy (valid until 2013) has also included the factors such as - inflow of cheap labor force from other countries; adjusting the Croatian legislation to European and disintegration of the family and inflow of cheap labor force from neighboring countries. 35 Mr. Tomislav Panenić, Mayor of the Municipality of Tompojevci, rural area in the Eastern part of the County and a president of the Local Action Group (LAG) mentions the issue of depopulation and the lack of qualified workforce as primary concerns of Vukovar economy. According to his experience, lack of strategic planning and prioritization of investments and developments is also one of the causes of the poor state of the County’s economy reflecting itself in the labor market.

3.3. Educational system in Croatia and education for national minorities

Formal education in Croatia is mostly public and it is organized in the following way:  Preschool education is implemented mainly through kindergartens, most of which are public, where children can get enrolled from the age of 1. Also, 1 year of preschool is obligatory for all children.  Primary education lasts for 8 years and children start their schooling at the age of 6 or 7. It is compulsory and free for all children between the ages of 6 and 15.  Secondary education is organized either as a gymnasium program (4 years) or as a vocational program (3 or 4 years).  Higher education is organized either through polytechnics (institutions of higher education, with a shorter length of studies), either through universities. Croatia has joined the Bologna process in 2001, and the first generation of students enrolled according to the adapted programs was the one in the academic year 2005/2006. 36 Within the formal education system, Republic of Croatia guarantees the right to all national minorities with the recognized status to be educated in their own language and script from the

34

Vukovar Reconstruction and Development Fund website Human Resources Development Strategy and Employment in Vukovar-Srijem County, 2005, pp 5 36 Official website of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports (in the following text MoE) www.mzos.hr 35

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preschool level to the highest level of education. This right is regulated within the legal framework by the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, Constitutional Act on the rights of national minorities (2002) and Law on education in the language and script of national minorities (2000), as well as by the general laws and other regulating documents on education - Law on pre-school education, Law on Primary Education and Law on Secondary Education, Law on institutions Organization of education for national minorities and State pedagogical standard. 37 Education for national minorities is organized in one of the 3 possible models. These models are based on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, ratified by the Republic of Croatia. 38  MODEL A - classes in the language and script of the national minority, where all subjects are taught in the language of a national minority, with the exception of the Croatian language, which is a compulsory subject to be taught in the same amount of hours as the mother tongue subject.  MODEL B - bilingual classes, i.e. scientific group of subjects is taught in Croatian and according to the general curriculum, while the social group of subjects is taught in the language of the minority, presumably for the students that are members of that minority.  MODEL C - nurturing language and culture, where the content on the minority is taught in minority language as extra, additional classes in duration of 2 to 5 school hours per week. 39 Model A, which is in the focus of this research on, can be implemented either in separate schools or in separate class departments - the latter is also sometimes called two schools under one roof, and it is present in other countries as well - for example, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As defined by the Constitutional Act on National Minorities, students of national minorities are taught according to the same national education curriculum, however, this curriculum should be supplemented with special contents at the level of subject curricula should contain the elements within the subjects which are specifically minority related (mother tongue, literature, history, geography and cultural tradition). According to the Law on the Education in the Language and Script of the National Minorities, these specific minorities-related syllabi should have been published 6 months after this Law came into force (2000), however, until now most of these syllabi (apart for the mother tongue) are not made publicly available and it is not clear if they have been created or not.

37

National Gazette no. 63/2008 and 90/2010 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Mission in Croatia, Field Centre Vukovar: Minority Education in the Republic of Croatia: A Case Study in Vukovar-Sirmium County, August 2003 – this research offers a thorough analysis of the legal framework and models of minority schooling.

39 Living together, learning together, Network of Education Policy Centers, Golubeva M. and Korbar A., 2013 38

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What is also deeply problematic is that the contents related to the role and positive contributions of national minorities are not sufficiently represented at the level of subject curricula for all, and not only for the students educated in minority programs.

It has to be mentioned that most of the schools who implement model A - e.g. Hungarian, Italian, or Czech schools have a legal status of minority schools, since they were established as such from their beginning. On the other hand, schools in Vukovar-Syrmium County with a program in Serbian language do not have this status40, even though that they have repeatedly requested it, in (mostly rural) areas/municipalities which are ethnically almost homogeneous - such as Markušica or Trpinja.

In the mixed communities, such as the town of Vukovar, the schools did not request this kind of status, and they implement the Model A in Serbian language in separated classes or shifts. The schools’ request to be registered as Serbian minority schools was refused at the County level - one of the reasons for this decision was their origin, i.e. the fact that they were not established as such, as well as the unclear status of the students belonging to other ethnical groups. As confirmed in the interview by Mr. Slobodan Živković from Joint Council of Municipalities, this kind of status is important for these schools, since it can guarantee them sustainability of their existence (e.g. their existence would not depend on the minimum number of students) 41, as well as access to some additional funding. The current Government has mentioned in its program that it will enable their registration, but this was not fulfilled until present. 42 According to the list of schools with classes in minority languages for the year 2011/2012 by the MoE43, in Vukovar-Syrmium County there were 12 and 3 secondary elementary schools, implementing the Model A, which was at the same time the only model being implemented in Serbian language in the County. In Osijek-Baranja County 5 elementary and 2 secondary schools also implement the Model A, while only 1 elementary school implements model B. At the level of higher education in Vukovar-Syrmium County, as confirmed by the Dean of the Polytechnic “Lavoslav Ružička Vukovar”, Ms. Gordana Bujušić, the students from both of these programs (majority and minority) attend the lectures together in Croatian language. According to the estimations of Joint Council of Municipalities44, that facilitates the process of enrollment of students educated in Serbian language at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia, based on the 40

As confirmed in the interview with Mr. Slobodan Živković, Head of the Education Department of the Joint Council of Municipalities in Vukovar 41 See also OSCE report analysis (2003) 42 Programme of the Government of Croatia in the mandate 2011-2015 43 Available at public.mzos.hr/fgs.axd?id=18610.

44 Joint Council of Municipalities is the body founded on the basis of Erdut agreement and the Letter of the Croatian Government on the completion of the peaceful reintegration, which has the advisory role and gives proposals to governing institutions, and “monitors and analyzes the overall issues in the sphere of consistent implementation of educational and cultural autonomy , and protecting the human, civil and minority rights Serbian ethnic community in accordance with the Croatian Constitution” See more at www.zvo.hr

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agreement between this body and the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, about 60% of these students decide to finish their higher education in Novi Sad. In the interview with Mr. Mirko Marković, the ex-Head of the Directorate for National Minorities, which existed within the MoE until the 2011, it was confirmed that, according to the estimations, during the process of the peaceful reintegration almost 100% of young people educated in Serbian language who decided to continue their studies were opting for the higher education institutions in Serbia. However, he says that „ (...) they were leaving for the reason of studies, but definitely the students have been coming back, in a great number, even now every year, and this trend will be even stronger with the Croation accession to the EU.“ Still, he confirms that there is no systematic monitoring of this dynamic.

The schooling in Vukovar-Syrmium County and especially in the town of Vukovar is the topic of discussion of politicians, CSOs, as well as many researchers. The main issue of the discussion is the effect of this kind of schooling to interethnic relations in the community and social cohesion. In the focus of the research related to education, is the existence of space for intercultural learning and building connections between the new generations belonging to the two sides which continue to oppose each other. In this context, in 2005, Nansen Dialogue Center Osijek has undertaken a research which included the 14,6 % of the parents of elementary school children in Vukovar - 71,4 % of participants is unsatisfied with the separation of children in the education system in Vukovar.

One of the most important research was a longitudinal study (2001 - 2011) focused on the students’ and parents’ attitudes about schooling in Vukovar (Čorkalo Biruški D. and Ajduković D., 2011) in Vukovar. This research shows that during the 10-year period, systematic positive changes concerning most attitudes can be noticed. However, these changes are small - and in the last period of the study (2007-2011) even smaller or non-existing. According to this research the attitude towards the social integration remains positive or it becomes more positive. 45 Regarding the process of social change, the authors remind us of the importance of participation of all actors in the community: “School is the context in which children and youth can establish contacts in the easiest way, in which this contact has the best chances to be successful, because it can develop in optimal conditions. However, we should keep in mind that school replicates the relations present in the wider community, so it is difficult to expect to find the rules of close interethnic relations that cannot be found elsewhere. Even if this would be the case, there is a little chance that children will

45

D. Čorkalo Biruški and D. Ajduković: Škola kao prostor socijalne integracije djece i mladih u Vukovaru/School as a space of social integration of the children and youth in Vukovar, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Zagreb, 2012

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integrate these school experiences into their universal behavior. Rather, there will be parallel systems of behavior (one in school and one outside of school environment), which means the mutually incoherent elements of social life.” 46

46

D. Čorkalo Biruški and D. Ajduković, 2012

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Part 4 - From school to work - experiences of transition The following chapter contains an overview and analysis of the experiences of interviewees in the research, young people in the age from 20 to 30 from Vukovar-Syrmium and Osijek-Baranja counties.

Since the issue of separate educational and community divide is most prominently present in the town of Vukovar, the primary focus is related to this community. Since it was our specific intention to describe as much as possible of different experiences related to schooling, ethnic division and job search of young people in these 2 counties, the interviewees differ according to their age; gender; employment status, type and sector of employment; type of school they finished, academic degree and profession; type of settlement where they come from and/or where they live; and the experience of migration.

The interviewees were asked about their personal and professional histories in order to find out more about their experiences during their education and job search. The interviewees were asked about their personal, professional histories, as well as on experiences of discrimination in the process of job search, and their plans and visions of the future.

The following overview shows that the experiences of young people in Vukovar-Syrmium and OsijekBaranja County, differ - which is not surprising taken into account that the interviewees were chosen with the purpose of portraying as much as possible of divergent experiences. At the same time, there are also some similar features of their experiences of education and job search, especially regarding the perception of determining factors in finding employment.

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4.1. Education - choices and experiences In order to properly describe educational experiences of young people that this research is focused on, it is important to keep in mind that they differ first of all depending on their age. For young people that initiated their schooling at the beginning of the war, their educational experience is determined by deep historical and social changes which influenced their everyday reality in terms of forced displacement, losses and peaceful reintegration process of the Danube region. For example, some of the interviewees had the experience of being refugees, which diminished their choice of type or language of schooling, making their education process fragmented.

“N: I really moved a lot, I was attending the school in [Name of a part of the town of Vukovar], which was Croatian, in my first year of elementary school. (…) The second and third year I was in [Name of the town in Serbia] in exile, where I attended the classes in Serbian. After that, the second part of primary school, I was in [Name of the town in Croatia], in Croatian. Then I came back during the period of Krajina, it was 8th grade, and I was educated in Serbian language.” (N, 29) On the other hand, part of the interviewees educated at the time when the models were introduced, during and after the reintegration process, point out that in the earliest period the choice of schooling was made by their parents, while in the following phases (secondary and post-secondary education) they made the decision themselves: “Well, I think that I did not have much of a choice, at least when it comes to elementary school. When I started, I was still not aware of separation and of different models. Later in high school, I became aware of it, I think. And in high school, I had a support of my parents; if I had chosen some other model, I would also have their support. If I have chosen not to be educated in Serbian language, I would also have had their support, but this is a part of me, so I have chosen it.” (L, 22) The choice to be educated in the language of national minorities is mostly related to the wish to be educated in mother tongue and wish to exercise guaranteed rights as a minority: „It was because Serbian is my mother tongue and we considered that we have the right, just like everybody else, to have the schools in our mother tongue. “ (E, 30) In some of the situations, interviewees saw their decision as a result of their own choice based on the motives such as wish to be educated in their own tongue, but also based on the conditions of post-war interethnic hostility. For example, one of the interviewees, after finishing her primary education in Serbian language, decided to finish her secondary education in Serbia, due to the tense interethnic relations present at the time of her transfer from elementary to secondary school:

24

“More or less, nobody in my village decided to stay there, and I would not have anybody with whom I would continue high school. That period was a bit problematic and all kinds of situations were happening.” (J, 26) In some cases, interviewees pointed out that their choice was simply a result of their previous experience of being educated in Serbian language, so that the continuation of secondary schooling in the same way was automatic and related to family bonds and social environment. Another reason for this choice is the closeness of the educational institution where educational program was in Serbian.

However, this kind of automatic continuation was not a strict ‘rule’ at the period of reintegration, nor afterwards. Some of the interviewees have chosen to continue their education in the language other than the one of their primary schooling. However, within this research we managed to identify situations where person changed the language of education from Serbian to Croatian, but not vice versa. For example, one of the interviewees decided to continue his education in Croatian and not in Serbian because the program for the profession he desired was available only in Croatian. Another interviewee described his parents’ choice as based on the estimation that the degree in Croatian language will enable him to have better chances for success and integration into Croatian society: “Firstly, I guess, after 15-years distance, it was because my parents were not very wealthy. At the time they were fighting for their lives, for our bare existence. And they were very wise, visionaries who thought that I have nothing to do in Sombor, Novi Sad, Subotica or some other place in the Republic of Serbia, but that our existence belongs to this place, that is, to Croatian state.” (B, 29) Continuation of studies - higher education

Geographically, the closest universities to Vukovar-Syrmium County are Osijek in Croatia and Novi Sad in Serbia. Other bigger universities are the ones in Belgrade and Zagreb. In 2007 the town of Vukovar the Polytechnic Lavoslav Ružička Vukovar with 3 departments - physiotherapy, trade and administrative studies - was founded, and today it counts around 1100 students. According to the information provided by the Dean of Polytechnic, the idea for having such an institution in Vukovar was to keep the young people in the County.

This research includes 12 interviewees who were educated in Serbian language according to the model A - while some of these interviewees (born after 1988) were educated completely in this model; a larger part went through different ways of organization of education, due to previously described historical and social conditions. 2 interviewees have finished vocational secondary school and 10 interviewees continued their education at university level. Out of 10 interviewees, 8 of them

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have continued their higher education in Serbia - mostly in Novi Sad and Belgrade. At the same time, interviewees from 3 other groups (those who finished their studies in Croatian language in Vukovar-Syrmium County; those who changed their model of schooling during the education process in Vukovar-Syrmium County, and those who finished their studies in Osijek-Baranja County in Croatian language) have chosen universities in Croatia, prevalently University of Osijek. This university was also the preferred choice of the remaining 2 cases of interviewees that have finished their secondary education in Serbian language, but who have chosen to continue their studies in Croatia.

This indicates that most of young people decide to continue their higher education either in Croatia (Osijek and Zagreb), either in Serbia (Novi Sad and Belgrade). Our research shows that both students educated in Croatian and in Serbian language choose to study at institutions of higher education in Croatia, while the universities in Serbia are regarded as an option almost exclusively by students educated in the Serbian language model. This means that the choice of place of study at the level of higher education differs between young people educated in majority schools, and those educated in minority model. One of the factors that facilitate the choice of University in Novi Sad might be the agreement between the Joint Council of Municipalities in Vukovar and the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, which provides the possibility of preferential admission and free study at the University of Novi Sad, financed from the funds of the Serbian Government.

Some of the interviewees, who continued their studies in Serbia, pointed out that their choice was primarily between the universities in Osijek and Novi Sad. Most of the interviewees have mentioned the following reasons for the choice of studying in Serbia: -

Geographical closeness (regarding the University of Novi Sad)

-

Family bonds and/or social bonds

-

Wish to continue education in one’s mother tongue (Serbian)

-

Economic reasons (affordability)

-

Preferred type of study (i.e. preferred study does or did not exist at other possible universities)

-

Quality or organization of studies

One of the interviewees also saw easier enrollment as one of the reasons for enrollment to the University of Novi Sad, while one of the interviewees mentioned tense interethnic relations and perception that they would not have equal chances as the members of the majority.

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2 interviewees who were educated in model A in Serbian language in Vukovar-Syrmium County, but have chosen Osijek as their place of study, also mentioned geographical closeness, affordability, and quality of the university as the main reasons for such choice: “I have chosen Osijek because of my financial situation at the time when I started my studies, it’s the closest one and it offers the best possibility, the study itself is excellent.” (N, 29) At the same time, almost all interviewees educated in Croatian language, both from VukovarSyrmium and Osijek-Baranja County, including those who have changed the model (language) of their schooling, considered only the universities in Croatia when they were making their choice. One of the interviewees, who changed the language of schooling in the Vukovar - Syrmium County from Serbian to Croatian, also emphasized the possibility of better chances for future career and life.

“Well, I didn’t see myself there [in Belgrade or Novi Sad], and the other thing was the lack of possibility, some things just did not let me do it, and I have studied in Osijek. Osijek is 35 kilometers away from Vukovar, I travelled to my classes and I didn’t have to pay for the rent.” (D, 30) Experiences of the interviewees suggest that choice of universities in terms of place of study differs between the students educated in different models of schooling (i.e. in majority and minority programs). In other words, students from Vukovar-Syrmium County educated in Serbian language more often choose to study at the institutions of higher education in Serbia, in comparison to students educated in Croatian language. This could also mean that students’ previous experience related to models of education plays a significant role regarding the choice of university, especially when it is combined with other factors such as family bonds.

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4.2. To Whom It May Concern: job search in Vukovar-Syrmium County

In the analysis of the experiences related to job search and employment in Vukovar-Syrmium and Osijek-Baranja County, we focused on the following aspects:  Length of job searches;  Interviewees’ perception of the major obstacles to finding a job  Interviewees’ perception of working conditions at their previous or current position  Interviewees’ experience of job competitions procedures.

This part of the report will therefore portray the similarities and differences of different experiences of formally and informally employed, as well as unemployed young people; of those educated in Croatian language and those educated in Serbian language; of those who obtained their degree in Croatia and those who obtained it in Serbia; those with university qualifications and those with vocational training qualifications. Even though that these experiences vary in many ways, there is a strong agreement among the participants - regardless of their ethnic or educational background related to assessment of the most important factors for employment in Vukovar-Syrmium County and experiences of nepotism and corruption during a job search.

All interviewees in the research reported that they were either employed, or unemployed, but actively searching for a job. None of the interviewees belonged to the inactive group. Out of 21 interviewees:  6 of them were employed in the public sector (2 with a contract for an indefinite period; 2 with a contract for a definite period and 2 users of vocational training without employment measure introduced by the Government); 

9 of them were employed in the private sector (4 with a contract for an indefinite period; 1 self-employed; 2 with a contract for a definite period and 2 with student contracts)

 2 of them belonged to the informal sector (1 with a vocational qualification and 1 with both vocational qualification and a higher education degree).  4 of them were unemployed (3 with a university degree and 1 with vocational qualification) All interviewees from the last 2 groups (unemployed and working in the informal sector) are actively looking for a formal job and they register at the local Employment Service office, some of them even for a period as long as 10 years.

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Painful job search and poor working conditions

Most of the interviewees from all groups have described their job search process as difficult and long - many of them have the experience of a long-term unemployment; insecurity caused either by often changing of jobs not by their own choice, either by unfavorable and short-term contracts; working at the position outside and under their qualifications.

“It was in the private sector, in a shop - for about 2 years, and after that I worked in [Name of a company] for the first time. I got fired, and then again [I was employed] by the same company.” (Z, 29, educated in Serbian language, vocational qualification, Vukovar-Syrmium County) Lack of employment opportunities was identified as one of the most important factors, which is in accordance with the national and county statistics in both public and private sectors. Because of this fact, many young workers from Vukovar-Syrmium County have worked, usually for a short-term period, in other parts of Croatia. 8 out of 21 interviewees have mentioned that they have applied for the job positions either in other parts of Croatia, either in other countries, prevalently in Serbia, which refers to the interviewees educated in Serbian language. Also, many young people from the County, regardless of their ethnicity, language, schooling or degree, have the experience of seasonal work at the Croatian coast in tourism.

Part of the interviewees, which includes workers with higher academic degrees and workers with vocational qualification, has had the experience of low-wage working and payment delays. Some of them have the experience of work having a false contract in a formal job position in the private sector.

“It lasted for 3 months and the boss, that is - the employer, did not have the conditions to pay his regular workers, and not just me. So I decided that it is better to live with my parents, than to prolong this agony (…)” (B, 29, educated in Croatian language, university degree, Vukovar-Syrmium County) Most of the interviewees share the same experience of non-transparent tenders for jobs and job recruitment processes in Vukovar-Syrmium County. This intransparency was characterized either by lack of feedback information to the candidate (both in private and public sector), either by the situations when it was evident that the job competition was only a formality, i.e. the results of which were set in advance: “I called about the job advertisement and they told me in school - we already have somebody who works here, but we had to put that ad.” (S, 27, educated in Serbian language, university degree, Vukovar-Syrmium County) 29

Regarding the perceived relevant factors in the process of job search, the interviewees identified political party affiliation, other types of nepotism (e.g. based on family relationships or acquaintance), as well as discriminatory practices based on nationality, language or place of schooling.

Other decisive factors that were mentioned as decisive in getting an employment were the outdated profession (regardless of the language of education), age and related lack of work experience. On the other hand, in cases where the interviewees had the skills demanded in the regional labor market - for example, related to professions such as medical care or experts in pharmaceutical industry - qualification played a significant role.

Political party belonging as a perceived relevant factor in the job search

Almost all interviewees have specified political party affiliation as one of the determining factors for getting. Again, regardless of nationality and educational background, the interviewees agree that the political parties in Vukovar-Syrmium are the agents with the most influence on employment possibilities of an individual. Furthermore, all three most powerful parties in Vukovar-Syrmium County were mentioned in this context by the interviewees. Some of them even estimate that certain positions or sectors are divided among political parties. Even though that it is rather difficult to assess with certainty the dynamics of employing practices in Vukovar, this research shows that young people perceive the political parties as agents which determine their chances for employment. It seems that the interviewees see them as traders of jobs in a separate labor market, the rules of which are not publicly available.

“Yes, I did hear about it in my profession and outside of it, there are more and more people who talk openly about it.” (S, 27, educated in Serbian language, Vukovar-Syrmium County) Some of the interviewees based their attitude on their personal experience during their job search, while some of them have a member of their close environment (i.e. family member, close friend etc.) who has had such experience. Part of the interviewees who were educated in Serbian language considers this factor to be more important than nationality, language or place of schooling.

“I think that [the conditions and chances for getting an employment] are not equal for everybody, but it doesn’t refer to nationality - it refers to whether you have a connection or not.” (M, 30, educated in Serbian language, university degree, Vukovar-Syrmium County) Some of the interviewees, regardless of their ethnic or educational background, understand this kind of practice as a form of discrimination which divides people into those without connections, and 30

therefore without power - who are a majority, and those with connections, who are a minority.

Nepotism as an element of the employment practices in Vukovar seems to be perceived by most of the interviewees as a normal way of functioning of the community - as a morally and legally wrong, but necessary dynamics of the job search process.

“The ones with the privileges are those people who in some way hold the position or they have somebody who will guarantee for them, who will be a sort of their back-up, a lobbyist. (…) I have a friend who got a job contract for an indefinite period (…) He succeeded, but I remember when we talked, he said - All right, but now I’ll go to [Name of the political party], to see if they can do anything. I told him - Just go, do that to get the job. Unfortunately, that’s how it went.” (I, 26, educated in Croatian language and script, Vukovar-Syrmium County) Nationality and educational background as a relevant factor in job search

Other factors identified by the interviewees as relevant for limiting or expanding individual employment possibilities are related to nationality, as well as language and place of education of a candidate. The interviewees educated in Croatian language and in Serbian perceive that nationality can play a significant role in getting a job ad in some of the cases it was mentioned that the members of the majority population (Croatian) have better chances for getting an employment. At the same time, the interviewees educated in Serbian language, especially those who obtained a degree in Serbia have experienced situations during their job search where this fact was in a certain way treated as a limiting.

“Some tensions still exist in Vukovar and of course that they will not say it publicly, but you can tell by certain signals that people have difficulties in accepting even the fact that you come from Novi Sad, and that you finished your studies there, and that you moved here, and that you’re looking for a job, as it was in my case.” (MA, 29, educated in Serbian language and script, Vukovar-Syrmium County) Also, in some cases it is difficult to divide the factor of the language / place of schooling from the factor of nationality, due to the fact that the minority education in Serbian language is attended mostly by the members of the Serbian minority47. Nationality (in most cases it refers to the Serbian nationality, although the Roma nationality was perceived in this context, as well) is also one of the factors which are influencing the employment possibilities, according to the interviewees from both counties. In Vukovar-Syrmium County, 11 interviewees educated in Serbian language have pointed out Serbian nationality as one of the discriminatory factors in getting employment:

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See, for example the Report on the Implementation of the Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities for 2010, July 2011, Government of Republic of Croatia, section Education in the language and script of national minorities, pg 13.

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“Minorities, for example Roma, and after that some other minorities and Serbs (...) For example, my nationality is written on my Certificate of no criminal record. I think that people unfortunately still look at these things.” (S, 27, educated in Serbian language and script, university degree, VukovarSyrmium County) The view that nationality plays a significant role in finding a job is shared by 4 interviewees educated in Croatian language and script in Vukovar-Syrmium County, as well as by the interviewee belonging to the population of the returns to Vukovar and who was educated in Croatian language and script.

Language education and place of schooling, on the other hand was, mentioned as a determining factor the interviewees who have decided to change their language (model) of education from Serbian to Croatian, in both Vukovar-Syrmium and Osijek-Baranja County. 2 interviewees from Osijek-Baranja County also pointed out that, regardless of exhausting job search or poor working conditions, a degree in Croatian language has made things a bit easier for them.

“K: (…) My parents thought that I should continue my education in Osijek, and that it is the best for me to be educated in Croatian language so that there would not be problems (…) It means that if I studied in the Serbian language and everything else in bilingual way, it could have been some teasing and things like that. (…)

Researcher: And what do you think now, from your position of going through all that, were they right?

K: Well, yeah. Anyhow, it was easier for me.” (K, 27, educated in Croatian language and script, vocational qualification, Osijek-Baranja County) Experiences of discrimination shared by the interviewees include situations of explicit expression of discriminatory attitude; situations of non-written institutional practice; and situation where the interviewee noticed a change of atmosphere during job interview. The latter was mentioned more than once by the interviewees who had a degree in Serbian language, however, only one concrete situation was exemplified. In these cases, the interviewees often mentioned that the situation they experienced was very ambiguous and that it was related to certain change of behavior, tone of a voice, or a look. For them, it was hard to describe a specific element or action - instead, they described an impression of awkwardness. This is why it was difficult to assess for them whether this situation has indeed included discrimination: “Nobody will tell you concretely - I will not give you the job! And then I show the stamp on my degree from [Name of a university in Serbia] and all of it is worth nothing. (…) I don’t know, it is some kind of feeling, maybe it is a stereotype, I think it is a feeling because of perhaps my nationality, or perhaps 32

because of the stamp on my degree, or because of the place where the degree is from… (…) They look at it and when they read my CV, resume, they say - Your degree, you finished your studies in [name of a town in Serbia], and then, subconsciously, I have that feeling that the conversation starts going in some other direction, and here it is.” (G, 29, educated in Serbian language and script, VukovarSyrmium County) Another important aspect of perceived discrimination in employing practices is a form of non-written institutional discriminatory ‘rules’. This kind of experience was mentioned in two cases - one of them was a direct experience of the interviewee, while in the other one the person was an observer witnessing a situation which she describes as discriminatory. It is important to mention that both of these experiences are related to public educational institutions that did not permit members of the teaching staff to teach in both Croatian and Serbian language, despite their qualifications to do so. „E: (...) The teacher that teaches [the same subject] in Croatian left for a sick leave, but I did not have the right to compete for that position. (...) My colleague asked what would happen if somebody would need to get a couple of extra classes [to fill the weekly rate] and she got the reply that it would not be possible for a person to get it.

Researcher: And when you ask why is that?

E: They do not say, but everybody knows why.

Researcher: Why? E: Well, because we are Serbs and we teach in classes in Serbian language. “(E, 30, educated in Serbian language and script, Vukovar-Syrmium County) The experiences presented in this report show that those young people who apply to a job competition and possess a degree obtained in Serbia, may be more vulnerable to discrimination during this process, presumably because of the discriminatory attitudes of employer or discriminatory institutional practices.

Unreported discriminatory practices

None of the interviewees who have experienced, witnessed or heard about these kinds of practices did report the situation. There are a few reasons for this - as described before, some of these situations are about the impressions and therefore they are hard to prove or even describe in a clear way. Another reason for not reporting these cases, especially where the factor of political party affiliation played a role, is the estimation that one would decrease his chances in the future job search. Young people who find themselves in a situation, in which discriminatory practices damage

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their employment possibilities, usually do not report it, since they foster the attitude that nothing would be changed by this kind of action.

“Vukovar is a small town, and everybody would find it out immediately. It is not a problem that it would be revealed, but the problem is that these people tomorrow can have certain influence. Since they are powerful people, since they are a powerful party, they can have an influence (...) I did not want to bother too much, because I saw how it works, and I gave up, and that was it.” (V, 20, educated in Serbian language and script, Vukovar-Syrmium County)

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4.3. If I find a job soon, something might even keep me here: Plans and visions of the future

All interviewees from Vukovar-Syrmium County, regardless of their ethnicity, language, schooling, or employment status, pointed out that having a job is the most determining factor in the decision on leaving the County: “At the moment, I am here, I was born here, I see myself here, I have a job, I am satisfied, and it means that the things are OK for now. The job plays a role, that is, if I lose my job, what would bind me to this place, if I would have a chance to get a job somewhere far away?” (D, 30, educated in Croatian language and script, Vukovar-Syrmium County) Other factors that influence their decision are mostly seen in combination with the previous one (having the employment) - family or social bonds, for example. 2 interviewees, both of them educated in Serbian language, have mentioned an interesting element which influences their potential decision on staying or leaving, typically related to Vukovar - interethnic division and hostility: “Going abroad, but for safety and job, and so that the kids would not be so burdened with hatred and war.” (Z, 29, educated in Serbian language and script, Vukovar-Syrmium County) “Well, I think that what should be different - they should not separate children from the kindergarten, according to their national belonging and I think that children in schools should be together because here [in Novi Sad] I met many people who could not believe that Serbs or Croats go to separate schools, that they are divided or that they attend different classes.” (L, 22, educated in Serbian language and script, Vukovar-Syrmium County) One of these interviewees has also mentioned that she is considering leaving the County permanently, since it is a community which is developing very slowly and does not offer much of space or content for the young people, in terms of public events, culture or free time. The interviewee has described the atmosphere in the town of Vukovar as sterile: “I think that these things are necessary for me in order to function well, and I think, if I would come back to Vukovar, I would not manage to stay in a town which is so…. I don’t know, everything is settled, everything is sterile and there are no people, there is no amusement. Honestly, I do not intend to stay neither in Novi Sad, maybe I was at the beginning, because of a job, but still I have big ambitions and I would lie to go abroad. So, that’s it, I would not come back to Vukovar.” (L, 22, educated in Serbian language and script, Vukovar-Syrmium County)

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Out of 18 interviewees from Vukovar-Syrmium County, regardless of their nationality or language of schooling, 11 of them are ready to leave the County, and most of them are planning to leave Croatia as well. In most cases their preferred destination of settlement are the countries of Western EU such as Germany and Sweden, while a smaller number of interviewees - educated in Serbian language - has mentioned Serbia and Australia.

“I don’t know, we were thinking about Australia or some other similar option.” (M, 30, educated in Serbian language and script, Vukovar-Syrmium County) “Yes, I would like to leave; I would like to leave Croatia.” (A, 24, educated in Croatian language and script, Vukovar-Syrmium County) It is important to say that 3 interviewees mentioned that they would prefer to stay, in case that they find a job and that they feel that joblessness in some way is forcing them to leave. On the other hand, more interviewees expressed their strong decision and plan to leave the County and the country.

“Honestly, I don’t know anymore. Until now, not having a job for a year and a half has influenced me very much and it changed my opinion completely about some things so, perhaps, if I find a job soon, something might even keep me here, but…”

(J,

26,

educated

in

Serbian

language

and

script,

Vukovar-Syrmium

County)

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Part 5 - Of course, not everyone has the same chances to get employment: cases from Vukovar-Syrmium and Osijek-Baranja County This part of the report will present 3 stories of different job search experiences of young people that were interviewed within the research. It is important to accentuate that these cases have been selected for two reasons - firstly, they portray a wide range of different experiences related to interviewees different contexts, identities, life histories, and backgrounds; secondly, even though that they are different, they can be seen as paradigmatic and they do share some similarities. We will present the experiences of 1 woman and 2 men from Vukovar-Syrmium County. The interviewees were guaranteed anonymity and their names have been changed. However, since they live in rather small communities, we estimated that not mentioning their names would not be enough to protect their anonymity and therefore we decided to avoid the names of the institutions or companies mentioned in the interviews. In some cases we estimated that some other details from an interviewee’s personal and professional history, such as name or place of study, because of the need for additional protection of interviewee’s identity.

Story 1 - „At that time most of us went to study in Novi Sad, it was not so long after the war, reintegration…“ E. (30), Vukovar-Syrmium County

E. is a young Serb woman, who has experienced many different models and languages of schooling during her education. In the period of early childhood, she was educated in Serbo-Croatian language, which was the official language of SFRY. Also, at the time, Serbian and Croatian, were considered and defined as a same language spoken by many nations living in the SFRY. In the early phase of her primary education, the war broke and E. and her family stayed in the territory of today's VukovarSyrmium County. During this period, E. was educated in Serbian language which was at the time the only option within that territory. The beginning of her secondary education corresponds with the late period of peaceful reintegration of the territory under UNTAES administration. Related to this period E. says that the students could have chosen the language of their education (i.e. Serbian or Croatian).

E. mentions two reasons for her choice - her preference to be educated in her mother tongue and the awareness of and the wish to consume the equal rights as other citizens (in this case to have the school in her mother tongue).

After finishing her secondary education in Vukovar-Syrmium County, E. has chosen to continue her higher education at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia, just like many students from her class. She explains that her decision was determined by many factors - she had relatives there and therefore she considered that she will have a good support network; the town is geographically close to her original home; she estimated that the overall costs of her studies would be lower than if she would 37

study at the University of Osijek in Croatia. However, she also mentions that her decision was fairly influenced by the recentness of war and its consequences, as well as by the estimation that she will have better chances to get enrolled in the University of Novi Sad: „ I have chosen [this place of study] because it was 2001 and at the time most of us went to study in Novi Sad, it was not so long after the war, reintegration... Not many of us studied in Osijek, so we thought that we have better chances to get enrolled in Novi Sad, since we had relatives, and it was close to us, and it was even cheaper than Osijek, so...“ After she finished her studies in Novi Sad, E. became a teacher. She thinks that her options for finding employment are limited due to the choice of profession. Also, she believes that she would not be accepted to teach in the Croatian language program. „E: Especially because most of us [students who graduated from the University of Novi Sad] are teachers, and this does not provide you with a great possibility for employment. (...)

Researcher: Did you try to find a job in other regions of Croatia?

E: Yes, I was looking at the ads, but there are no, since I would not be accepted to teach in classes with Croatian language programs, and the ads for teaching in Serbian aren't many.“ E. managed to get a teaching position in the Serbian language program in one of the schools in Vukovar-Syrmium County. Talking to other colleagues, she learned about the form of discriminatory practices within the institutions which are considered to be common, not-to-be questioned practices.

She was told that it is impossible for a teacher for Serbian language program to teach or to apply for the teaching position for the same subject in the Croatian language program, even if the person is qualified for the position and even if it is within the same school (e.g. bilingual school).

When she was asked about the factors that she finds the most limiting for finding an employment in Vukovar-Syrmium County, E. singled out a couple of factors - ethnicity/national belonging, interethnic division and hostility, but also the factors related to nepotism and corruption by political parties - contact or a backup by the political party. She has described a situation that she witnessed and that she relates to the direct influence of one political party to the employment of a certain candidate: “(…) They were supposed to employ another teacher. And everybody thought that it would be the person who was doing her internship at the moment, it was somehow logical. (...) But she told me that the political party has already urged the school to employ another person (...). This was one of the situations.”

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E.'s plans for the future are almost entirely related to the employment possibilities, just like many other young people in the County. She says that she would be ready to permanently leave the County if she would be able to find a better position. If she could change some of her previous decisions, she would perhaps choose a study or a profession that would be less limiting in terms of possibilities of applying for the jobs. Also, she would perhaps choose the University of Osijek due to the possibility of studying a double major.

Story 2 - „What is important is who is ready to guarantee for you. “ I. (26), Vukovar-Syrmium County

I. is a young Croatian born in Vukovar, who as a small child had the experience of being a refugee in one of the EU countries, where he finished the first part of his primary schooling. He accentuates that he perceives his identity as mixed, since his family background is ethnically mixed, but he declares himself a Croatian. After he and his family came back to Vukovar-Syrmium County, he finished the rest of his primary schooling, his secondary schooling and his higher education in Croatia, in Croatian language and script.

He says that more than half of the colleagues from his class in the high school he attended continued their studies in other parts of Croatia and most of them did not come back, for the reasons of finding a job. For those that decided to stay in the County, I. estimates that they did so mostly because there were some factors present that influenced negatively their possibility for mobility - such as difficulties in finding a job: “Well, because of certain habits, family, home, some expectation that they it will be easier for them to find a job here, some did not get the chance to find a job immediately after the finished studies, so it was necessary for them to come back home - the lack of job automatically relates to one’s independence (…)”

I. is currently employed in one of the public institutions and his position is closely related to his qualifications. However, his position is uncertain, since it is regulated by a fixed-term contract. Before finding this position, he had difficulties in his job search and one of the situations that he singles out is participation in non-transparent job competitions that convinced him that individual qualifications and competences do not play any role in getting an employment: “Well, yes, I was told that the job competition has been annulled. By accident, after a few months or so, I met a friend that came from Zagreb and we say hello. And she tells me - I got the job. I say Congratulations! Which one? And she says that she got that job that I applied. There was no other job competition. So, there.”

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According to his experience, I. perceives that there are few factors as that influence negatively his position, as well as other young people in the County, in finding a job - first and the most obvious one is the lack of job positions; second is his profession related to humanities, which became redundant at the labor market; the third are the ways of employing in public sector, which generates most of the jobs in the County, which is not mobile and once a person gets the employment in this sector, his or her position is unavailable for other people; and the forth are people from other counties/parts of Croatia applying for the same positions.

Still, what is crucial to get the job, according to his experience, is a backup, preferably by a political party: “Well, I should definitely be engaged politically or ‘backed-up’ in any other way so that there are certain people standing behind me, who will guarantee for me. I mean, this is one of the factors that definitively determine the possibility of employment in this town, unfortunately, even though that many people think otherwise. But, at least according to my experience, everything is decided based on how much somebody is ready to guarantee for you.”

I.’s proven excellent competences and qualifications were not enough for finding a job. What was mandatory was the possibility of contact with an influential person in a high position to whom he has communicated his situation, even though that I. himself is not a member of any political party: “I went to him and we talked about it, I told him about the situation (…) He said - No problem, I will help you and I will say something on your behalf… The guy made a call and he told about my situation to [the head of institution] and I believe that it had the effect…”

Despite the experiences that he had, I. is planning to stay in the County and his decision is mostly determined by the possibility of finding a decent employment, according to his qualifications and ambitions, as well as by the possibility of continuation of his studies. I. says that he hopes for the best.

Story 3 - „What kind of contract? I would call it a ‘verbal’ contract. “G. (29), Vukovar-Syrmium County

G. is a young Serb from Vukovar-Syrmium County province, where he finished most of his schooling.

Just like E., he was educated in Serbian language during the period of Peaceful reintegration of Danube region. After primary education, he continued his secondary education in vocational school where he obtained his qualification. Still, he decided to continue his studies in Serbia, where he obtained a college degree. He has chosen a college in a small town in Serbia, since it was geographically close. G. also says that almost 90 % of his classmates from high school have left Croatia because of the impossibility to find a job in the place that they lived, and he estimates that only a small number of them came back: 40

Today G. is employed in the informal sector. He graduated almost 10 years ago, he is registered at the Employment Service Office, he actively looks for a job, but he is not formally working a single day of his life.

“Generally, I look for a job every day, even when I have it, or when I wait for it, and so on… (…) I cannot say that there has been a year when I was without work, I always found some job, at the neighbors’ and so, but since I finished my education, I am registered at the Employment Service.”

G. occasionally works as a car electrician or a mechanic, which is the area not at all related to his qualifications. These kinds of jobs he manages to find in the border area of both Croatia and Serbia.

“Researcher: What kind of contract do you have?

G: What kind of contract? I would call it a ‘verbal’ contract.”

He says that during the period of almost 10 years he was trying to find employment in the formal sector and he attended many interviews, exclusively in Vukovar-Syrmium County (not in other parts of Croatia) and in Serbia. The description of G.’s job search experiences is characterized by discouragement and feeling that the job competitions that he participated in were set up and that they lacked to send the feedback information to the candidates: “Well, I don’t know, I went to a few interviews, competitions, and in some cases I got the feedback information, but in most of the cases they don’t let you know if you got the job, even though that they have to do it, even in case when you didn’t get the job. I don’t know, maybe it would be good that, when they put an ad for a job, they publish a photo so that we know how the right candidate should look like, his address or his personal identification number, so that we know should we apply for the position or not.”

He feels that his chances for getting an employment in Vukovar-Syrmium County, especially in the public sector, are low because he is not part of the privileged group with connections in politics, which he considers to be a crucial factor that influences the situation in the labor market: “I think that political affiliation is actually the most influencing. The parties are simply competing which one will push their people.”

Besides political party influence, G. finds that his chances for employment are not equal due to his nationality and the degree obtained in Serbia. He speaks from his own experience, and he finds it difficult to ‘pinpoint’ the action or employer’s behavior during the interviews in such situations, but rather of a strange change in the atmosphere during job interview.

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G. also says that sometimes he was in the situations when he felt that people were having a negative reaction to his accent, even though that it does not create serious problems in his work: “Well, if I do what I do, outside my qualifications, then it’s not a problem because there is not a lot of communication with people. But you can feel, when you speak, how you speak, and then it is a problem. People look at you like that way; they will perhaps not say anything. I had a case when old ladies were correcting me - you should not speak like that if you want to live here, you have to speak like this and that’s it.”

G. is planning to leave Croatia for good and to live in the Western EU countries. He says that his decision is final and that it is mostly related to the possibility of work and the consequences of war in the County. To the question on what should be different in order for him to change the decision, he replies: “Well, one must work to live, to feed the family and oneself. And you must have some basic conditions in place, a job that covers your basic expenses…“ He says that he would have probably made different decisions in terms of language or place of schooling because it would make things easier when talking to employers. But he assesses that the language difference between Croatian and Serbian is not so big to actually be significant in the context of work, as it would be in some other countries.

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Part 6 - Special concerns (Conclusion) We began this research with a question does it make sense to deal with the issue of job search experiences of youth educated in minority programs of one single county in a moment when the global economic crisis is affecting most of the citizens in Croatia. We will conclude that the answer to this question is still positive, because this research resulted in a general portray of the experiences of youth in Vukovar-Syrmium County, that shows the obstacles that they encounter in the process of their transfer from school to work, regardless of their background. This portrays also shows the specifities of experiences related to different educational backgrounds in terms of language of schooling and choices that young people in Vukovar-Syrmium make.  Regarding the choice of education, in case of the generations educated during the war and reintegration process, it was in many ways determined by historical and social changes, that made their educational experience fragmented. On the other hand, choice of schooling for generations educated in minority programs after the period of reintegration is mostly based on the wish to be educated in mother tongue and to exercise guaranteed rights. In many cases, individuals educated in minority programs in Serbian language decide to continue their schooling on a secondary level as a result of their previous experience of being educated in minority program, and this decision is usually supported by family bonds and social environment. However, it seems that this dynamic is not strict and when parents’ or student’s choice is based on availability of the desired educational programs or on the estimation of better chances for success and integration into society, individuals might decide to change the program at the secondary level. Even though that the latter is connected to the perceived possibility for social integration, it might also indicate the expectation to be discriminated in the society based on the degree obtained in Serbian language.  When it comes to the choice of higher education, it differs between the students educated in in majority and minority programs of schooling. Our research shows that both students educated in Croatian and in Serbian language choose to study at institutions of higher education in Croatia (University of Osijek), while the universities in Serbia (University of Novi Sad) are regarded as an option almost exclusively and more often by students educated in the Serbian language model. Both of these options are explained by the reason of geographical closeness, affordability, support of family and social networks and quality of the study.

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 During the job search, individuals from all groups, regardless of their background reported that they participated in non-transparent job tenders, where one of the most significant aspects of intransparency was the lack of feedback or formality of a job tender the results of which were known in advance. Given that these experiences were related to all sectors, it can indicate a high level of favoritism in the area of employment in Vukovar-Syrmium County.  Political party affiliation seems to be perceived as the most determining factor in getting an employment, especially in the town of Vukovar, by young individuals regardless of their nationality and educational background. At the same time, political parties are seen as the most influential agents who trade with jobs primarily in the state and public sectors, thereby setting-up and maintaining a separate labor market, and this perception is often supported either by first-hand experience of individuals, either by the experiences of people from their close environment. This might suggest the need to explore further the dynamics of social divide from the point of job trade in the community, such as the town of Vukovar and the possible role of political parties in maintaining it. 

Nationality of a candidate was identified among other significant factors for limiting or expanding individual employment possibilities by the individuals from all groups in the research. On the other hand, the experiences of discrimination are recounted in relation to the employer’s reaction to the degree obtained at the institutions of higher education in Serbia (including the explicit discriminatory attitude or ambiguous change of atmosphere during job interview), as well as to non-written institutional practices in public institutions such as bilingual schools. This suggests that these factors - nationality, language of schooling and the place of education of a candidate - are interrelated and often difficult to separate in a situation of discrimination and that discriminatory attitude of employer might be directed to one of these factors, as well as to all of them.

 The situations of nepotism and discrimination are usually not reported by those that experience, witness or hear about them for the reasons of the difficulties of proving that they happened, as well for the estimation that one would decrease own chances for finding a job in the future by reporting them.  Employment is the most relevant factor for young individuals in their decision on leaving the County. However, most of the participants in the research are ready to leave the County, regardless of their background. In most cases, they plan to leave to other countries of the

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European Union, such as Germany and Sweden. Even though that some of them would prefer to stay, young people from Vukovar-Syrmium County feel that joblessness is forcing them to leave. This suggests the need for empowerment of young individuals in the County, through providing them with possibilities for employment, according to their qualifications, as well as for building strong networks between them.

As much as discouraging as these findings might seem, they reveal youth as the area of common interest in a community with a strong social divide such as the town of Vukovar, in the County with the largest negative net migration, and in the country where the largest number of migrated population was aged 20 - 39 (46.0%). The experiences of youth in Vukovar-Syrmium County suggest the presence of nepotism and discrimination in the labor market, as well as low level of trust to the dominant political groups fostered by young people. It is reasonable to assume that these practices can be far more detrimental to a divided community still suffering the consequences of war such as Vukovar - to the quality of life of its citizens, social cohesion, and economic development - than it would be in a community which is not determined by ethnic divisions and war consequences. Given that the development and, in a certain sense, survival of the community depends on its youth, empowerment of young members of the community through employment possibilities and strong joint alliances should be the strongest priority in Vukovar-Syrmium.

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