VIENNA – New parties with reformist ambitions, such as We Continue the Change, should seek European legitimization by joining European political families, recommends Policy Brief “Citizens vs.

VIENNA – The 2015 refugee crisis led to the reinvigoration of civic activism in Greece and North Macedonia. However, while CSOs in both countries benefited

VIENNA – The EU should use its new momentum and extend its future comprehensive civil society strategy and the European Civil Space Index to the

VIENNA – The countries of the Western Balkan need to be convinced that digitalization must remain high on their agenda and given full attention, it

VIENNA – New Policy Brief “Civil society: a driver for democratisation from below in Serbia“,  published within the “WB2EU“ Network, presents the ways in which

VIENNA – Environmental issues in Western Balkan countries have become topical, particularly in recent years, with a significant increase in the number of NGOs active

VIENNA – There is a great issue regarding the lack of data on emigration in Romania which is a widespread phenomenon with both positive and negative

VIENNA – Kosovo has a unique demographic and a window opportunity for capitalizing on it, which will be closed sooner than expected if no action

VIENNA – The Western Balkan countries share similar environmental, economic, and social constraints when faced with the challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which

VIENNA – The socio-economic policy of the EU member states towards the Western Balkans is not long-term oriented, thus policy shifts should be made in

VIENNA – There is a high need for increasing youth participation in sectoral policy-making and establishing more inclusive, youth-friendly policies, it is concluded in the

VIENNA – In order to ensure the proper functioning of local self-governments as a governing system established on principles of direct and local democracy, it

VIENNA — Young people in the Western Balkans and the EU should be made aware of all possibilities for cooperation and reconciliation programs by relevant

VIENNA – Macedonian society is still very’ paper based’, and citizens hold strongly trust the paper rather than clicks. This is a reason why more

VIENNA — In order to effectively address the issue of demographic decline, Croatia needs to adopt a sustainable and comprehensive policy approach focusing on the

VIENNA — To secure effective implementation of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, the European Union should include environmental civil society organizations (ECSOs) from

VIENNA – Discrimination against women in the labour market is a common occurrence and one of the primary causes of women’s unequal status in Serbia,

VIENNA — Visa liberalization for Kosovo, which is still on halt even though the government in Priština fulfilled the benchmarks back in 2018, should be

VIENNA — Bearing in mind the potential of culture for emancipation, reconciliation and integration, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to create a cultural policy that would

VIENNA — Returning migration has been strategically identified as one of the most efficient solutions for the problem of depopulation Bulgaria faces, however a lot

VIENNA – In the Western Balkans the socio-economic cost of air pollution due to dirty energy production is significant, it was concluded in the Policy

VIENNA – Considering the cumulative impact of a number of dominantly political factors that influence the judiciary, coupled with the internal mechanisms of undue influence,

VIENNA – Strengthening the administration of judiciary should be given more attention and be considered as a crucial part of rule of law reforms, as

VIENNA – Romanian society over the past two decades shows that strategic EU orientation at the political level can well be an opportunistic choice, whose

VIENNA – Structural and operational cooperation between EU member states, candidate countries and potential candidate countries is the best solution to fight against Europhobic discourse,

VIENNA – Judicial reform in Albania represents a case study to understand EU membership-driven reform processes in the Western Balkans. The experience of the justice

VIENNA –  The government in Montenegro should develop precise roadmaps in the EU accession talks and a clear framework for strengthening the rule of law,

VIENNA – Negative Bulgarian transition from postcommunism to post-democracy expressed in the transition from corruption to endemic corruption and state capture, it was said in

VIENNA – Croatian judiciary remained “stubbornly dependent, biased, unprofessional and inefficient” after the EU accession process. In 2013, joining the ranks of Bulgaria and Romania,

VIENNA – To avoid an institutional crisis and restore its internal and external credibility, the EU needs to foster Member States’ and candidate countries’ compliance

VIENNA – Common features in the Western Balkan countries are inconsistency in the law application, the absence of a solid regulatory framework equal for all,

VIENNA – Constant postponing of the reforms in Serbia in the area of the rule of law showed to be crucial for the poor results

VIENNA – Without transparency and deep consultations with stakeholders, some government measures for liberalisation and “more economic freedom” could have a negative impact on the

VIENNA – Hungary’s motivation in supporting the EU enlargement process is driven by national interests, but  its own stands on the rule of law, freedom of

Ob in Polen oder auf dem Westbalkan, die EU tut sich mit ihrem Pragmatismus schwer, Autokraten in die Schranken zu weisen Der Streit zwischen Polen

VIENNA – The Western Balkans is perhaps Slovenia’s most important strategic region. A next round of EU enlargement would therefore bring immense benefits to Slovenia in

VIENNA – Without substantial political and financial consequences from the EU towards the tendencies of democratic backsliding, the issue of democratic backsliding in the region

While the European Union has initiated a yearlong Conference on the Future of Europe that gives the floor to its citizens to debate contemporary challenges

Die Idee der ethnischen Neuaufteilung der Region, für die keiner die Autorenschaft übernehmen möchte, steht plötzlich wieder auf der Agenda. In den kommenden Wochen wird

The EU’s stalled enlargement process and the Covid-19 pandemic are reshaping the politics of the Western Balkans, write Paul Schmidt and Vedran Dzihic. Faced with

Trotz einiger großer Veränderungen in der politischen Landschaft der Westbalkanstaaten, die insbesondere an den Wahlurnen erreicht wurden, sind die Aussichten auf eine Demokratisierung der Region