Covid-19 zeigt, wie abrupt der Übergang von Glattgehen zu Havarie sein kann. Seit Februar vernichtet das Coronavirus eine unvorstellbare Summe von mehreren Billionen Euro und verdeutlicht somit die Risiken, die Instabilität und die Destruktivität einer auf fossilen Brennstoffen – gekennzeichnet durch immer wachsenden Güterkonsum - basierenden Weltwirtschaft. Außerdem hat die Physik der Erderhitzung ihren eigenen Kalender und die realistische Gefahr besteht, dass wir uns Kipppunkten nähern, deren Überschreitung katastrophale und nicht rückgängig zu machende Folgen hat.

Following the passage of Hungary's new emergency law under Viktor Orbán, might there be a stronger response of the European Union to the latest events in Hungary? How long will Orban use his unlimited power provided by the law? And how much will it affect the democratic backsliding of Hungary? The IIP hosted a panel discussion last week on the potential fallout from Hungary's emergency law and the impact of the pandemic in the country, featuring Peter Krekó, Director of the Political Capital Institute Budapest; Hannes Swoboda, President of the IIP; and Stephanie Fenkart, Director of the IIP.

IIP Project Assistant Patrick McGrath spoke with Samuel Goda of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA) on the current political situation in the autonomous territory of Gagauzia in Moldova.

As the fourth event on the Virtual Visions of Europe series, Univ. Prof. Dr. Heinz Gärtner speaks on a panel about the changing geopolitical order as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

How will the postponement of the NPT Review Conference play into these circumstances? Does it delay the necessary talks or might it actually provide an opportunity to use the additional time to seek common ground among the delegations? How does the Austrian government see the situation? Can Vienna become a new venue for the postponed conference?

2020 jährt sich das Inkrafttreten des Atomwaffensperrvertrages (NPT) zum fünfzigsten Mal. Dieser Vertrag soll zum einen die Verbreitung von Nuklearwaffen über die 1967 bestehenden fünf Nuklearwaffenmächte (USA, Sowjetunion, Frankreich, Großbritannien und China) hinaus verhindern, was von der Internationalen Atomenergiebehörde (IAEO) in Wien überwacht wird. Zum anderen verlangt er in Artikel VI von den Nuklearwaffenmächten ernsthafte Verhandlungen über die vollständige Abrüstung zu führen.

During its visit to Tirana, Albania in February 2020 as part of the “Young Generations for the New Balkans 2030: Towards Alternative Horizons” initiative, the IIP conducted interviews with three Western Balkans Initiative experts on their recently published Vision 2030 policy proposal.

We, the entire team of the IIP and all its members, congratulate our Honorary President Erwin Lanc, former Minister for Interior Affairs, Traffic and Foreign Relations, on his 90th birthday! We wish you health, happiness, and prosperity, and would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your extraordinary commitment within the framework of the IIP, which you led as president from 1991-2008.

At the "Friends with Enemies: Neutrality and Nonalignment Then and Now" conference on March 2-3, 2020, the IIP spoke with a number of experts about the concepts of neutrality, both as a theoretical framework as well as in practice.

Director of the IIP Stephanie Fenkart spoke with Vasyl Filipchuk, Senior Advisor of the International Centre for Policy Studies in Kyiv, on the impact of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic on the political situation in Ukraine and its impacts for the war in the east.