Ece Özbey is a doctoral researcher in Comparative Politics and a lecturer at the University of Cologne, where she is pursuing her PhD on populist contagion and anti-populism in the United Kingdom. Her research spans Euroscepticism, political competition, radicalization, and democracy, with a primary focus on European democracies. She holds an MSc in European Studies and a BSc in International Relations. Ece is also the Co-Managing Editor of the Review of Democracy, the journal of the Central European University’s Democracy Institute, where she previously worked as a Global Forum for Democracy and Development Fellow. She is affiliated with the METU Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and has published on European integration and EU–Turkey relations. She has also held visiting positions at academic institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Chile and is actively involved in various international research networks, including OPUS Initiative and Team Populism
This policy study analyses how the European Parliament (EP) has engaged with the European Commission’s Rule of Law Reports (RoLRs) during the ninth legislative term (2019-2024). It also examines what this engagement reveals about the EP’s understanding of the rule of law and its capacity to strengthen EU-level democratic safeguards.
Drawing on a qualitative analysis of parliamentary resolutions, debates and voting patterns, the policy study examines whether the EP approaches the rule of law primarily as a procedural-legal standard or as a broader normative principle encompassing fundamental rights, equality and democratic inclusion.
Academic Mentor: Felix Butzlaff, political scientist and postdoctoral fellow at the Central European University Vienna
Political Mentor: Juan Fernando López Aguilar, S&D Coordinator LIBE Committee
Joint PhD at the University of Edinburgh and KU Leuven
Europe faces a dual challenge: the climate crisis and a persistent housing crisis, both of which converge in the urgent need to renovate aging urban housing stock. While energy-efficient renovations are essential to meet EU carbon-neutrality targets by 2050, they risk triggering “renovictions”, the displacement of vulnerable residents due to rising rents and property values. This policy study shows how these renovictions can be avoided.
This policy study summarise the scientific literature and survey best practices and cautionary tales from three cities across Europe: Amsterdam; Athens; and Paris. These are three large capitals, with historic centres protected by heritage status and facing the pressure of (over)tourism.
Academic Mentor: Eunice Goes, Professor of Politics at Richmond University in London
Political Mentor: Andreas Schieder, Member of the European Parliament and S&D Coordinator of HOUS Sub Committee
