According to “Serbian Economist”, Montenegrin citizens will not necessarily immediately gain the right to work without permits in all 27 EU member states following the country’s potential accession to the EU in 2028. The European Union has provided for the possibility of transitional restrictions lasting up to nine years.
The relevant mechanism is contained in the EU’s official negotiating position on Chapter 2, “Free Movement of Workers,” approved on June 12, 2026.
How will the restrictions work?
For the first four years, EU countries will be able to decide independently whether to open their labor markets to Montenegrins.
For up to seven years, the restrictions may be extended following the prescribed review procedure.
For up to nine years, an additional extension is permitted in the event of serious disruptions in the national labor market or the threat of such disruptions. Each EU member state will make its own decision in this regard.
Specific restrictions apply to Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria. These countries will be able to implement special protective measures in certain sectors in the event of the temporary posting of workers by Montenegrin companies.
There is also an exception for citizens who are already working: Montenegrins who are legally employed in an EU country and have had uninterrupted access to its labor market for at least 12 months will be able to enjoy broader labor rights in that country.
What does this mean in practice?
Montenegro’s accession to the European Union does not guarantee immediate freedom of employment in all EU countries. The right to work may depend on the legislation of a specific country and the transitional arrangements in effect.
If Montenegro joins the EU in 2028, the maximum restrictions could theoretically remain in place until 2037.
EU, EU accession, Labor market, MIGRATION, MONTENEGRO, transitional restrictions
The largest percentage increase in the number of job openings on the Ukrainian labor market in September 2026 compared to June was recorded in the education and translation sectors, where demand for specialists rose by 30%, according to a study by the “OLX Jobs” platform.
According to the platform’s press release, the median salary in the education sector decreased by 14%—to 17,250 UAH. The medicine and pharmaceuticals sector ranked second in terms of growth in the number of job postings (+28%, with the median salary rising by 13%—to 22,500 UAH). In the IT sector, median salaries rose by 18% (to 32,500 UAH), although the total number of job openings fell by 7%.
At the same time, in absolute terms, blue-collar trades and logistics remained the leaders in terms of the number of job openings this fall. Specifically, in September, employers posted the most job listings in the manufacturing and blue-collar trades sectors (19,100 vacancies with a median salary of 30,000 UAH), retail and sales (16,600 job postings, 27,500 UAH), construction (nearly 10,200 job postings, with salaries reaching nearly 43,800 UAH), as well as in the hospitality and tourism sector (nearly 8,000 job postings, 25,000 UAH).
Compared to June, there were 176 more job postings in logistics, warehousing, and delivery, while the median salary was 2,500 UAH lower (compared to 35,000 UAH in September).
In terms of candidate activity, the positions that received the most applications per posting in September were in advertising, design, and PR (36 applications), call centers (27 applications), and entry-level roles for students (25 applications). The biggest surge in interest from job seekers was observed in the IT sector, where the number of responses per job posting jumped by 97%.
“Overall, the data shows that both at the beginning of summer and at the beginning of fall, employers were primarily looking for skilled workers. The study also confirmed the discrepancy between the needs of employers and candidates, as in both June and September, job openings in advertising, design, and PR received the most applications per posting,” OLX Robota concluded.
The transition from predominantly theoretical learning to developing independence, responsibility, critical thinking and practical competencies should become one of the priorities in the transformation of Ukrainian education. This was stated by representatives of educational institutions, businesses and students.
“According to research, 70% of teenagers aged 13–16 cannot name their desired profession, only 3% have internship experience, and 7% have met with career advisers. This is directly linked to the humanistic culture that needs to be instilled in young people. It involves the holistic development of a person through education, work, culture, science, moral responsibility and openness to the world. Our goal is to prepare not only a person who has mastered a profession, but an individual capable of consciously fulfilling their potential in that profession, creating value and contributing to the development of society,” Maria Furman, Director of the Business Education Center at the Institute of Psychology and Entrepreneurship, emphasized at a roundtable discussion at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Friday.
Iryna Khomenko, Head of the International Development and Partnerships Department at the Institute of Psychology and Entrepreneurship (IPP), in turn, emphasized the importance of a humanistic and ontopsychological approach to education and personal development.
“The transfer of knowledge is a fundamental, but not the only, task of education. Secondary and higher education institutions work with individuals during the period when their identities are being formed, when their perceptions of themselves, their own capabilities, and their professional and life orientations are taking shape. And responsibility for this process extends far beyond the development of professional competencies,” she added.
Tetiana Harets, Director of the Professional College of Management and Psychology, linked teenagers’ communication difficulties to the war and distance learning. The college currently operates the Start Week and Team Challenge programs, project-based learning using EduScrum and Agile approaches, the IPP COIN motivation system, while students create a mini-company in the OpenSpace business laboratory.
“A traditional report card simply shows the grades a student receives in an academic subject. It says nothing about whether the student has learned to coordinate people’s actions, make decisions, respond to feedback or take responsibility for a shared result. That is precisely why we created an individual student portfolio – a chronological account of a person’s development, rather than just a folder of certificates,” Harets explained.
Oleksandr Strukov, Head of Sales at the DMNTR media holding company, noted that companies can teach technical skills but expect candidates to have communication skills and a willingness to develop.
“If we talk about what exactly businesses want from candidates, it is now far from being only about technical aspects. It is about leadership potential, personal resource potential and soft skills. I am convinced that no business can function without communication,” the employer emphasized.
Entrepreneur Yurii Skilskyi, a partner of the BOARD community in Kolomyia, identified initiative, learning, stress resilience and responsibility as key factors in the development of modern education and called for stronger business mentorship.
“I suggest that business representatives visit young people more often and share their experience. Visits to companies can be organized so that they can see everything with their own eyes. For us as entrepreneurs, it is important to support young people and unlock their potential,” Skilskyi emphasized.
In turn, Olha Bondarenko, HR Director of a technology holding company, highlighted the desire for development, independent thinking, responsibility and the ability to create value. She added that in the defense technology industry, the security of the country may depend on an employee’s decisions.
“Responsibility is formed primarily through practical experience, through the opportunity to make a choice, through the need to make a decision, through awareness of its consequences and, of course, through mistakes. But here I want to draw a clear line: the right to make a mistake is not the right to be irresponsible. A mistake becomes experience when you are able to acknowledge it, analyze it and change your subsequent actions,” the specialist emphasized.
Tetiana Spivakovska, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor at IPP and Deputy Director of the Sofia Academy in Dubai, reported that, thanks to the recognition of learning outcomes obtained abroad, the academy had managed to integrate more than 30 pupils into the Ukrainian education system within a year.
“For Ukrainian higher education institutions, this means a fundamental change in the competitive environment. They are now competing for young people in the global educational space. It is necessary to create unique educational offerings, ensure high-quality teaching, develop international partnerships and modern infrastructure,” Spivakovska said.
Nataliia Shumska, Head of the 3S AGENCY recruitment agency, warned against replacing independent thinking with the search for ready-made answers. According to her, the IPP publishing project translated and published five books by Antonio Meneghetti in Ukrainian over the course of a year.
“Today, students can obtain a significant portion of information independently. Artificial intelligence can explain a complex topic, prepare notes, write an essay – these are enormous opportunities. But if thoughts, arguments or conclusions are increasingly formulated for a person, do they not risk gradually losing the habit of doing this independently?” Shumska added.
IPP students Anna Sytnyk and Nataliia Kozlovska spoke about practical work and mentorship. Kozlovska, who also mentors first-year college students, emphasized the significance of ontopsychological pedagogy in working with young people.
“It seems to me that the task of education is not simply to give a person knowledge, but also to help them better understand themselves. Especially at a young age, we do not always fully understand what we want, what our strengths are and where we can realize our potential. That is why it is important for education to provide not only theoretical knowledge, but also opportunities to try ourselves in different fields, work on practical tasks, make decisions and see the results of our work,” the student noted.
IPP graduate Serhii Andriichenko, Head of Development and Innovation at 3S AGENCY, highlighted the Work and Study program, which combines education with employment, and emphasized the value of the educational community.
“The institute develops a new generation of leaders, but a leader cannot be developed through lectures alone. A leader is shaped by the environment. This includes the Work and Study program, a theoretical foundation, face-to-face meetings with entrepreneurs, elective classes, professional events, activities and the student community,” he emphasized.
In conclusion, Maria Furman announced the IPE Leader 2027 international platform, featuring a year-long program of more than 20 events for young people, educators and businesses.
“This is an international platform that brings together education, business, science, leadership and humanistic culture. We invite young people, as well as representatives of business, culture and science, to join this platform. It is a large year-long program that will include intellectual activities and lectures by scientists, speakers and teachers from the business sector,” Furman said.
According to her, a hackathon for young people aged 15 and over is scheduled for October 23–24, while the Ukrainian Leadership Forum will begin in November. Its participants will propose social projects for schools and communities, form teams and present their results in May 2027. The IPE Leader 2027 Awards, covering ten categories for young people, scientists, philanthropists and businesses, have also been announced for May.
The platform is scheduled to open on October 23. The organizers invite attendees, speakers, companies and non-governmental organizations willing to support youth initiatives.
EDUCATIONAL TRANSFORMATION, HIGHER EDUCATION, IPE LEADER 2027, Labor market, YOUTH
Germany will reduce the annual limit for admitting workers under the Westbalkanregelung programme from 50,000 to 25,000 people, which will affect citizens of six Western Balkan countries at once — Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, the Experts Club analytical center reports, citing data from the German government and the Federal Employment Agency.
The new limit is to take effect from 2027 and effectively means a return to the level that existed before June 2024, when Germany doubled the annual quota from 25,000 to 50,000 people.
Westbalkanregelung has been in force since 2016 and is a special mechanism providing citizens of the Western Balkans with access to the German labor market.
The main difference between the programme and many other channels of labor migration is that it applies not only to qualified specialists. A citizen of one of the six countries can obtain permission to work in Germany if they have a specific job offer from a German employer, while recognition of professional qualifications in Germany is generally not a mandatory requirement.
Regulated professions, such as doctors, remain an exception, as separate qualification recognition requirements apply to them.
It is precisely because of this that Westbalkanregelung has become one of the most accessible channels of legal labor migration from the region to Germany.
At the same time, there are no separate national quotas for Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro or North Macedonia. The limit is common to all six countries, so reducing it to 25,000 people will mean increased competition among applicants from across the region.
Demand for the programme already significantly exceeds supply.
According to Germany’s Federal Employment Agency, demand continued to grow after the quota was increased to 50,000 places. In December 2025 alone, the agency had to reject around 18,000 applications because the annual limit had already been exhausted.
At the same time, the scale of labor migration from the Western Balkans significantly exceeds the figures directly related to this programme.
The Federal Employment Agency notes that, among the relevant category of foreign workers, citizens of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia account for around a quarter of all employees in Germany covered by social insurance who have a residence permit or permanent residence based on employment.
Thus, over the past decade, the Western Balkans have become one of the important external sources of labor for the German economy.
“The German decision is interesting because it comes against the backdrop of two opposing trends. On the one hand, the German economy is experiencing a structural shortage of workers and is interested in attracting foreign labor. On the other hand, the state is tightening migration controls and reducing one of the most accessible employment channels for citizens of the Western Balkans,” said Maksym Urakin, founder of the Experts Club analytical center.
According to Experts Club, the most immediate consequence of the quota reduction may be increased competition for permits among citizens of the six countries.
If demand already exceeded supply with a limit of 50,000 places, halving the quota could potentially increase waiting times and the share of applicants who will not be able to use the programme in a particular calendar year.
At the same time, the Westbalkanregelung mechanism itself is not being closed. Citizens of the region will still be able to work in Germany through other labor migration channels provided for by law if they meet the established requirements.
Germany’s decision is also of particular interest from the demographic perspective of the Western Balkans themselves. Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo have for many years been sources of labor migration to EU countries, primarily Germany, Austria and other Western European economies.
For the countries of the region, the mass outflow of the working-age population has a dual effect. Remittances from citizens working abroad support household incomes and domestic consumption, but at the same time emigration increases labor shortages within the Balkan economies themselves.
The outflow of medical personnel, construction workers, drivers, technical specialists, service-sector employees and other categories that are in demand both in Germany and in the domestic labor markets of the countries of the region remains particularly sensitive.
“For the Western Balkans, Germany’s decision may somewhat reduce one of the channels of labor outflow, but it is unlikely by itself to substantially change migration processes. The difference in wages and employment opportunities between Germany and most of the region remains the main economic driver of migration,” Urakin believes.
The reduction of Westbalkanregelung is part of a broader adjustment of the German government’s migration policy. Among its objectives, the cabinet lists reducing irregular migration, expanding the list of safe countries of origin, increasing the number of returns and introducing stricter regulation of migration flows.
At the same time, Berlin continues to emphasize the need for legal migration for the German labor market.
This creates a certain paradox: Germany is restricting one of the most in-demand regional channels of labor migration at precisely the moment when population ageing and staff shortages are forcing the German economy to search more actively for workers outside the country.
For the Western Balkans, the consequences are also ambiguous. The quota reduction potentially reduces opportunities for new labor emigration, but at the same time may somewhat reduce pressure on national labor markets, which themselves face worker shortages.
The key indicator of the effectiveness of the decision will be how quickly the new quota of 25,000 permits is exhausted after its introduction. If demand remains at its current level, Westbalkanregelung will effectively become a significantly more competitive channel of access to the German labor market.
The Westbalkanregelung programme has been in force in Germany since 2016 and applies to citizens of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. In mid-2024, the annual limit was increased from 25,000 to 50,000 people. The German government has decided to limit it again to 25,000 permits per year.
Sources: Federal Government of Germany, Federal Employment Agency of Germany.
EMPLOYMENT, GERMANY, Labor market, MIGRATION, Western Balkans
Poland’s Deputy Minister of the Interior, Maciej Duszkiewicz, highlighted the contribution of Ukrainians to the functioning of the Polish economy. He made this statement during an appearance on Polsat News.
Polsat News reports that Duszczyk believes that in many cases, the absence of Ukrainians is noticeable. “If it weren’t for Ukrainian citizens, we’d be waiting 10 minutes for the bus instead of five. After all, they fill the gaps in the Polish labor market. That’s why a certain part of the Polish economy depends on refugees from Ukraine. Generally speaking, these are Ukrainians living in Poland, and we need to reiterate this more and more often, because if a situation were to arise where one day all Ukrainians united and refused to go to work, the Polish economy would grind to a halt,” he said.
He also criticized the Law and Justice (PiS) party’s proposal to deport unemployed men of draft age from Ukraine. In this context, the figure of 3,000 people has been mentioned in public discussions. “Three thousand is a small group. Let me remind you that 900,000 people have been mobilized in Ukraine, so this is no help at all. In fact, those who aren’t working in Poland are either caring for their disabled children or are people who were wounded on the front lines and are undergoing rehabilitation in Poland,” he said.
When asked whether refugees will begin returning to Ukraine once the war ends, Dushchyk replied that “this is a process we’ve observed in other countries, and it’s very easy to predict.”
“Sometimes, those who say, ‘I’m staying,’ end up leaving because something happens. And those who say, ‘I’ll leave as soon as the war ends,’ end up staying. Of course, these trends change with each passing month, as the roots they put down in the host society—in this case, Polish society—grow deeper and deeper. “If someone has enrolled their children in school, they’re learning Polish; if a person is working in the labor market, the likelihood that they’ll return to Ukraine without a strong incentive to do so is practically very low,” he noted.
Net migration to Germany fell to 235,000 people in 2025, compared with 663,000 in 2023, according to a study by the German Economic Institute (IW) published on July 28, 2026. Excluding the pandemic period, this is the lowest figure since 2010. Experts at the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center attribute the decline to several factors: a decrease in the number of refugees, the departure of workers from Central and Eastern European countries, a decline in migration from the Western Balkans, and an increase in emigration by German citizens themselves.
The largest net inflow from a single country in 2025 came from Ukrainian citizens, amounting to 89,000 people. A year earlier, the figure was 116,000. Ukrainians have a special status because they are admitted to Germany mainly under the EU’s temporary protection mechanism rather than through the standard asylum procedure. Further developments will depend primarily on the course of the war and the conditions of Ukrainians’ stay in Germany.
By the end of 2025, approximately 1.41 million Ukrainian citizens were listed in Germany’s Central Register of Foreigners. They became the second-largest foreign group after Turkish citizens.
The number of initial asylum applications fell from 329,000 in 2023 to 113,000 in 2025.
The inflow from Syria declined particularly sharply: the number of initial applications fell from 103,000 to 23,000. Over the same period, the number of applicants from Afghanistan decreased from 51,000 to 24,000, while the number from Turkey fell from 61,000 to 12,000.
At the end of 2025, the largest groups of people registered in Germany as being in need of protection remained citizens of Ukraine, at approximately 1.164 million; Syria, at 669,000; and Afghanistan, at 321,000.
IW links the decline in Syrian migration primarily to the change in the situation in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2024, as well as to the tightening of German and EU migration policies.
Another important change was the reversal of migration from the new EU member states.
In 2023, Germany recorded a net inflow of approximately 42,000 citizens from these countries. In 2024, 35,000 more people left Germany than arrived, while in 2025 the net outflow reached 45,000 people.
This group includes, in particular, citizens of Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, and other countries that joined the EU from 2004 onward. Economists explain migrants’ return by the narrowing gap in wages and living standards, growing demand for workers in their own countries, and the overall ageing of the population of Central and Eastern Europe.
At the end of 2025, approximately 904,000 Romanian citizens and 840,000 Polish citizens were registered in Germany. Over the year, the number of Polish citizens declined by approximately 25,000, while the total number of EU citizens fell by 75,000.
In recent years, citizens of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia have been actively recruited into the German labour market, including under special rules for the Western Balkans. However, their net migration has been steadily declining since 2022. In 2025, it amounted to approximately 39,000 people. IW warns that the potential for further recruitment of workers from the Balkans is also limited: the populations of most countries in the region are shrinking, while their own labour markets are facing staff shortages.
Against the backdrop of the overall decline, there are also opposing trends. Net migration of Vietnamese citizens increased from 10,000 people in 2023 to 19,000 in 2025.
At the same time, the number of residence permits issued to citizens of non-European countries for employment purposes increased by 33,000, or 13.6%, between 2023 and 2025. The number of permits related to education also rose by 33,000, or 15.3%. Thus, the inflow of students and skilled workers is currently declining significantly more slowly than humanitarian and intra-European migration.
The net outflow of German citizens increased from 74,000 people in 2023 to 97,000 in 2025. IW notes that negative migration among German citizens occurs regularly. However, growth of approximately 30% over two years may be an alarming signal, especially if qualified specialists are leaving the country.
At the same time, part of the statistics may relate to previously naturalised migrants who return to their countries of origin after obtaining German citizenship. It is difficult to assess the structure of this outflow precisely because the final destination country is not recorded for many of those leaving.
According to the Central Register of Foreigners, approximately 14.07 million foreign nationals were living in Germany at the end of 2025.
The largest groups were:
Approximately 5 million foreigners, or 35%, were citizens of EU member states. Another 4.6 million held the citizenship of other European countries, while approximately 4.5 million represented countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and other regions.
If not only foreign citizens but also migrants who obtained German citizenship and their direct descendants are taken into account, Germany had approximately 21.8 million people with an immigration history in 2025, representing 26.3% of the population. The largest groups by country of birth were people from Poland and Turkey, at approximately 1.5 million each; Ukraine, at 1.3 million; and Russia and Syria, at approximately 1 million each.
The decline in migration is occurring simultaneously with the mass retirement of the baby-boomer generation. According to a separate IW forecast, by 2036 the gap between older workers leaving the labour market and young people reaching working age could reach 4.3 million people. Economists consider a return to a mass inflow of workers from Eastern Europe unlikely. Germany will have to recruit specialists and workers with medium and lower levels of formal qualifications more actively from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other regions.
IW proposes accelerating visa procedures, reducing the tax and social burden on workers, and extending simplified labour migration mechanisms similar to the existing rules for the Western Balkans to new countries. Thus, this is not about the complete cessation of migration but about a change in its structure. Germany is receiving fewer refugees and workers from neighbouring European countries, while the economy’s need for foreign labour continues to grow because of the ageing population.
