By: Katrin Böttger, Dominic Maugeais
Seventeen years after the big round of EU enlargement and with the Conference on the Future of Europe up and running, the EU and the Western Balkan countries are confronted with a serious backsliding of the rule of law. A challenge, which is not only posing a risk for the democratic foundation of the EU but also favors those who argue for a de facto hold on all future enlargements. In their recommendations the authors of this Policy Brief, part of our "WB2EU" project, take account of the current state of the EU, the rule of law situation and democratic backsliding of the (potential) candidate countries in the Western Balkans.

By: Florian Woschnagg
Although media policy is a fundamental issue for European democracies, the European Union has only limited competence in this field, and the policy area is segmented into different approaches. Against this background, this Policy Brief discusses the situation of the Austrian media market on the basis of the "Media Pluralism Monitor" (MPM) 2020, puts the results in context with the EU-wide situation and formulates policy recommendations.

By: Dorothea Herzele, Susanne Wixforth
The current Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy have been extended by the European Commission to the end of 2021. That means reform is imminent. The authors of this Policy Brief take a look at what the cornerstones of that reform should be and formulate policy recommendations.

A renewed EU enlargement policy, with genuine commitment to the European future of the region, should be built on the mobilisation and trust of its people. This is what the Western Balkans and the European continent as a whole during the pandemic need.

By: Johanna Edthofer, Paul Schmidt
Diverging views between EU institutions and EU member states regarding the relation between the European elections and the constitution of the new European Commission led to renewed questions about democracy, legitimation and efficiency of the European decision-making processes. The Conference on the Future of Europe is another chance to find answers to these questions and to improve the functioning of the EU. Against this background, the authors of this Policy Brief analyse the EU`s electoral law and the Spitzenkandidaten procedure that reached its preliminary limits after the European elections 2019 and argue why it should not be abandoned.

In societies devastated by the pandemic, the EU needs to leave its conventional tool-box behind and urgently speed up the Europeanisation of its neighbours in Southeast Europe.