The global crisis that the pandemic caused in 2020 was also the core issue of 2021, and the new normal of working at the office alongside working from home is apparently here to stay. With a lot of resilience, CSD continued to work in this hybrid format in a number of key areas:

• countering corruption and state capture, especially in the Western Balkans by establishing a new regional good governance platform, and across Europe by applying state capture monitoring instruments at the sectoral level; further analysing authoritarian economic and media influence;
• prioritising energy governance, energy security and green transition and charting paths to a low-carbon future in the current policy debates in Europe;
• providing assessments of organised crime risks in emerging markets, countering radicalisation among youth and right-wing extremism;
• promoting fundamental rights and equality, integration of migrants, diversity and social inclusion; assessing the influence of technology and social media platforms on human rights, the quality of public debate and democracy.