By: Philipp Heimberger, Andreas Lichtenberger
The member states of the European Union need to increase public investment to transform the energy and transport system and achieve climate targets. This necessity is also highlighted due to the geopolitical circumstances surrounding the war in Ukraine, in particular the price increases caused by fossil fuels. Current public spending is not sufficient to successfully fight climate change, argue the authors of the Policy Brief. They analyse the prospective reform of EU fiscal rules as announced by the European Commission, suggest the establishment of a permanent EU investment fund for climate and offer policy recommendations.

By: Daniele Fattibene, Federico Castiglioni, Matteo Bonomi
The Sustainable Development Goals are an ambitious benchmark that the United Nations has adopted to scientifically assess the advancement made by single countries in sustainable growth. The European Union fully embraces these objectives and is recently anchoring to these international standards many of its plans on sustainability and development. Indeed, even though the Copenhagen criteria do not explicitly mention environmental goals, the political dialogue on the Sustainable Development Goals between Brussels and all the EU candidate countries today is vibrant but not much investigated. The authors of this Policy Brief aim to shed a light on the relationship between Sustainable Development Goals and the EU policy of enlargement, focusing the attention on the Western Balkan region, and provide policy recommendations to both European and national decision-makers.

By: Dominic Maugeais
The European Union’s enlargement policy towards the Western Balkans aims at promoting democratic reforms, good governance and economic transformation to support the countries in fulfilling the Copenhagen Criteria, as precondition for a future EU membership. This policy reflects the democratic values that are fundamental for the functioning and cohesion of the EU as a political system. The author of this Policy Brief claims that the social dimension of the enlargement policy should be strengthened, and a credible enlargement perspective should be ensured to improve the overall social and economic development outlook in the region. The socio-economic policy of the EU member states towards the Western Balkans is not long-term oriented, the author argues and proposes policy shifts to make it more sustainable.

By: Inva Nela, Gresa Smolica
Today, the Western Balkan region suffers from high unemployment rates especially among youth, brain drain, high migration rates, low levels of trust in public institutions, devastated health systems, weak economies and harmed environments. The European Union’s Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans aims to boost the long-term recovery, economic development, accelerate a green and digital transition, foster regional cooperation and convergence with the EU. However, not enough attention has so far been given to the next generation, argue the authors of this Policy Brief. In their analyses they focus on the mechanisms in place and the space offered to ensure youth participation in sectoral policy-making, provide recommendations for increasing involvement of young people and establishing more inclusive and youth-friendly policies.

By: Ewald Nowotny
In order to avoid a looming deep crisis in Europe, the European Union has to counter several challenges at the same time, such as Russia’s war on Ukraine, geopolitical tensions, inflation, energy dependency, climate change or demographic developments. With regard to the EU’s strategic agenda, the author of this Policy Brief argues that a better understanding of the medium- and long-term developments ahead is necessary. In addition, he illustrates the need for a comprehensive understanding of the various interacting elements of the global polycrisis, analyses different perspectives for the EU’s policy orientation and offers policy recommendations.

By: Nikola Mumin
For years, one of the key objections of the European Commission in its annual reports on Montenegro has been the failure to hold local elections on one day. A prerequisite for this would be a better understanding of the work and nature of local self-governments in Montenegro. Also a separate Law on Local Elections should be adopted to additionally address the issues of open lists and individual candidatures, argues the author of this Policy Brief. He furthermore recommends a structural transition to an organisational model of local self-government, which would allow for a governance based on the actual needs of the local population.

By: Fanni Elek, Christina Griessler
The policies of the European Union regarding the enlargement process focus not only on the political elite but also create bottom-up processes involving and supporting the population in cross-border or regional cooperation projects. Especially, the younger generation in accession countries receives more attention, as they play an important role in overcoming old animosities and are open to new ideas and perspectives. The authors of this Policy Brief, look at activities concerning youth empowerment in the EU and the Western Balkan region in general, address the regional level, and assess selected projects in the context of the Interreg-IPA Cross-border Cooperation Programme Hungary-Serbia from 2014-2020. They focus on activities and youth exchanges between both Serbia and Hungary as an example and discuss finance possibilities within the EU's cohesion fund.

By: Dimitar Nikolovski, Aleksandar Stojanovski
In 2018, the European Commission has launched the Digital Agenda for the Western Balkans. It aims to support the transition of the region into a digital economy and society by modernising public administrations, strengthening cybersecurity, increasing connectivity, and boosting research and innovation. In recent years, North Macedonia has been trying to digitalise its public services and install digital wallets, but the process remains slow, and is riddled with problems coming from both citizens – a lack of knowledge, trust, and digital skills – and institutions, because of the need for legal amendments, inertia, the lack of understanding the benefits and trust. The authors of this Policy Brief outline the many political, social and administrative advantages that fast implementation of these services would have and formulate policy recommendations.

By: Senada Šelo Šabić
Over the last three decades, Croatia has been steadily losing its population. The 2021 national census results show that Croatia has a population of 3,871,833 million people, 413,056 less than in 2011. Demographic decline is partly a result of wartime human losses in the 1990s, but ever since it has been steered by a combination of factors including decreasing birth rates, increasing emigration and limited immigration. Since Croatia joined the European Union in 2013, emigration of mostly young and educated hit new record highs. The author of this Policy Brief argues that the government’s policy solutions have not reversed negative demographic trends and offers policy recommendations for a progressive and comprehensive immigration policy in Croatia.