The EU's enlargement policy with regard to the Western Balkan countries is in tension with the necessary internal reforms. Therefore, the promise of admission contrasts with the slow realisation of this promise. The dilemma results less from the Western Balkan countries' readiness for accession...

This Policy Note reports on the analyses undertaken in a number of wiiw Working Papers that are the output of two projects financed by the Anniversary Fund of the Austrian National Bank (Project no. 18474 and no. 17166). Four of the papers are based on survey data from the FIMAS dataset, which...

While climate change has long called for a green shift in our economies, the current energy crisis leads to an increased urgency when it comes to transforming the energy and transportation systems. The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which was adopted to support recovery from the...

The European Green Deal, which aims to steer the EU towards climate neutrality, has traditionally been met with a degree of reluctance by the Visegrád countries. The convergence to green targets represents a particular challenge for these economies, given their fossil fuel-intensive industrial...

Im Kontext der Energiekrise und des Klimawandels ist in den kommenden Jahrzehnten eine erhebliche Ausweitung der öffentlichen Investitionen erforderlich. Für Österreich sind bis zum Jahr 2030 die Erfordernisse für öffentliche Investitionen zur Erreichung der Klima- und Energieziele gemäß...

Industrial policy has been largely overlooked in the Western Balkans for the past three decades. However, the region's economic struggles and the adoption of smart specialisation strategies have led to renewed interest in the topic. Promising industrial sectors in the Western Balkans include...

Although China has become a major trading partner of the EU, the EU-China relationship has deteriorated over the last decade. This has been demonstrated, for example, by disputes over trade issues, unequal treatment of EU investors by Beijing, frictions over the transfer of intellectual...

For a number of years it has become obvious to an increasing number of observers that the economic policy framework of the EU and the euro area is no longer 'fit for purpose'. This effectiveness gap in economic governance has become even more visible during recent multiple crises (ranging from...

Public spending will play the decisive role in the reconstruction of Ukraine, in rendering aid to the population, providing emergency services, reconstructing infrastructure and driving industrial development in the coming years. For economic recovery and sustainable development in the post-war...

Die Spezialisierung von Ländern auf Funktionen innerhalb internationaler Wertschöpfungsketten ist ein definierendes Merkmal der letzten Globalisierungswelle. In der EU haben sich dabei komplementäre funktionale Spezialisierungsmuster herauskristallisiert. Dabei stehen die mittel- und...