Von: Christina Griessler, Fanni Elek
The trust in the EU’s ability to move forward and enable the next round of enlargement has more or less vanished. Still, there are EU member states actively pursuing the EU accession of the Western Balkans. Hungary is one of those countries. However, Hungary is in conflict with the EU, due to its reluctance to comply with the EU’s values and rules, especially regarding the rule of law. This Policy Brief analyses how Hungary did turn from a “good pupil” to a “problem child” of the EU, has a look at Hungary as a role model for the countries of the Western Balkans and explores how good bilateral relations to the region supports its national interests.

Von: Djordje Popović
Serbia is a country with enormous challenges in the area of rule of law. The postponing of reforms in this field leads to rather unsatisfactory results in the accession process to the European Union. Not opening any negotiating chapter last year should be understood as a clear sign that the necessary reforms are a precondition for any progress in the negotiations. In this context, the author of this Policy Brief gives several examples of the dire legal situation in Serbia and offers policy recommendations for improving the rule of law in the future.

Von: Faris Kočan, Marko Lovec
Within the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union several priorities are relevant from the perspective of the EU’s Western Balkans strategy. The informal EU-Western Balkans Summit scheduled for 6 October will be one of the highlights and opportunities to achieve progress. Against this background, the authors explore what can be learned from the way enlargement policy has accommodated to the changing contexts and discuss the possible scenarios for the Western Balkans agenda during the Slovenian presidency.

Von: 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.

Von: Stefan Brocza
Die Zollunion zwischen der EU und der Türkei besteht seit mittlerweile 25 Jahren, doch ist sie bis heute nicht vollständig umgesetzt. Aktuell wird über eine Ausweitung und Vertiefung dieser nachgedacht, womit eine weitreichende wirtschaftliche Entscheidung mit großer politischer Symbolwirkung verbunden wäre. Vor diesem Hintergrund analysiert der Autor des Policy Briefs die bisherige Umsetzung sowie Reformmöglichkeiten der bestehenden Zollunion und formuliert Handlungsempfehlungen.

Von: 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.

Von: Von Christian Alexander Belabed, Andreas Breitenfellner, Jakob Schriefl, Thomas Zörner
Die EU hat aus den Erfahrungen der globalen Finanzkrise ihre Lehren gezogen. Dennoch kommen die USA, trotz milderer Lockdown-Maßnahmen und entsprechend höheren Fall- und Todeszahlen, konjunkturell wesentlich besser aus der COVID-19-Krise als der Euroraum. Die Autoren des Policy Briefs analysieren die aktuelle Krisenbekämpfung der EU, ziehen Vergleiche zur COVID-19-Rezession in den USA und formulieren Handlungsempfehlungen für den Euroraum sowie Europa.

Von: Dorothea Herzele, Susanne Wixforth
Eine Reform der europäischen Förderpolitik für Erneuerbare Energien und Klimaschutzmaßnahmen steht unmittelbar bevor. Die Autorinnen des Policy Briefs analysieren welche Eckpunkte diese umfassen sollte und formulieren Handlungsempfehlungen.

Von: Karl Aiginger, Ruth Kreuz
Die gegenwärtige Gesundheits- und Wirtschaftskrise wirkt wie ein "Brennglas". Vor diesem Hintergrund analysiert der Policy Brief Ursachen und Dimensionen von Ungleichheit, insbesondere regionale Disparitäten und Einkommensunterschiede, den Stellenwert von Sozialpolitik in der EU und formuliert Handlungsempfehlungen.