On 1 January 2019, Romania started presiding over the Council of the EU, for the first time since joining the Union. It took up the baton from Austria, a country whose priorities mainly revolved around strengthening the EU’s security, tackling the migration issue, and supporting the Western Balkan’s EU perspective. What about Romania’s priorities?

This policy brief aims to uncover the motivating factors for EU membership support in Serbia by employing advanced statistical methods. Based on the results, it develops a set of recommendations for a communication strategy and initiatives aimed at boosting citizens’ support for EU membership.

Even though there is barely a month left until Brexit, it still remains unclear how the whole process will end.

On 28 November 2018, in the framework of the current Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Policy Centre – CEP hosted a conference under the name “European Union and the Western Balkans: How to make the enlargement process more credible?”. The event was part of the Western Balkans Reflection Forum Initiative, launched by a network of European think tanks in support of the Berlin Process

The overall aim of this Insight is to encourage further discussions on what lies ahead for the Balkans in the post-Brexit Europe

During the past few years, the EU system of fundamental values has been under threat due to the rise of illiberal democracies, most notably Hungary and Poland. The tool which the EU has under its disposal to tackle such threat is the so-called ‘Nuclear Option’ specified in Article 7 of the Treaty on EU.

It, however, seems that the wider public is not fully aware how the procedure under Article 7 is supposed to function in practice, due to its complexity. Hence, the goal of this infographic is to explain what does Article 7 stand for and present the process of activating it, by providing a step-by-step illustration. Furthermore, the infographic shows what have been the issues of concerns in Hungary and Poland, as well as the current status of Article 7 procedure in those countries.

All across the EU, it has become quite common to label the modus operandi of the EU as ineffective, its institutional set-up as undemocratic and its politics as far removed from European citizens. 

While Bulgaria has recognised providing a clear European perspective for the WB countries as its first priority, Estonia has rather kept its centre of interest and activities on the Digital Single Market, while omitting enlargement from its top priorities; as for Austria, it is expected that it will direct its attention mostly on the issues of immigration and security, while simultaneously aiding the EU perspective of the region.

The enlargement of the European Union to the Western Balkans is still an uncertainty, fifteen years after the countries of the region were promised a European perspective at the 2003 Thessaloniki Summit.

The space for civil society contribution has been gradually shrinking across the Western Balkans, making it harder for civil society organisations to actively take part in the policymaking process in their home countries.