Miroslav Beblavý (27) is the State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs of Slovakia. His undergraduate education in economics took place at the Economic University in Bratislava, while his graduate degree in economics is from the University of St Andrews in the UK, where he is currently also finishing his PhD. His professional experience ranges from the economic editor of SME Daily through advisor to Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Slovakia to the Executive Director of Slovak Governance Institute. He has worked, as an expert, inter alia for the European Commission, World Bank, UNDP and OECD.

Abstract of the speech:

The presentation will focus on the role of social reform in improving Slovakia´s competitiveness and long-term prosperity. The reforms pursued by the current government in the area of social policy are aimed at increasing employment rate and labour productivity through three principal pillars: pension reform, reform of labour market institutions and policies and reform of social assistance and family policy. Such policies have already made contributions to growth in employment and GDP and should assure, over the medium term, that Slovakia will rapidly converge to the EU living standards and will base this convergence on a sustainable economic and fiscal path.