K E Y W O R D S : European Pillar of Social Rights, minimum income, social policy, Western Balkans, World All rights reserved application/pdf 1038170 bytes Minimum income in the Western Balkans: From socialism to the European Pillar of Social Rights Abstract In this article, we examine the evolution of minimum income programmes in the Western Balkans (comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia). During socialism, Yugoslavia developed a rudimentary minimum income protection pro- gramme, while Albania did not have one. As countries moved towards a market economy, socialism's legacy remained relevant, but especially since 2000, governments have taken more direct responsibility for the minimum income schemes—typically under the influence of the World Bank. The attention was paid to strict targeting accuracy rather than to adequacy or sufficient coverage of the lowest deciles. In essence, neither socialist nor neoliberal policymakers ever recognised anything but the poverty relief function of the minimum income. Both ideologies were hostile, or at best indifferent, to increasing the ade- quacy and generosity of minimum income programmes, per- ceiving them as impediments and distractions that slowed socialist and neoliberal transformations. Despite some reform initiatives supported by the World Bank and, more recently, the European Union, the generosity and adequacy of minimum income programmes remain low, and coverage keeps declining. There have been very few efforts to develop inclusion function of the minimum income, while the activation aspect has achieved very little, sometimes degrading into punitive programmes of unpaid community work. In this dismal picture, the European Pillar of Social Rights action framework could serve as a guide for a long overdue third phase in the Western Balkans' minimum income policy evolution. info:eu-repo/semantics/article Social policy and administration 57(1) Žarković, Jelena Mustafa, Artan Arandarenko, Mihail eng https://phaidrabg.bg.ac.rs/o:32520 doi:10.1111/spol.12855 ISSN: 0144-5596 2023