Ukraine on the road to EU membership ⁠— Balkan backlash — Albanian Prime Minister – POLITICO

Coming from the EU leaders’ summit in the heart of Brussels, we discuss Ukraine’s bid to join the club and the lack of progress for EU candidates in the Western Balkans. We hear from Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Florence Gaub, prospective adviser to the Council of the European Union.

This week’s episode, hosted by POLITICO’s David M. Herszenhorn, comes to you from the European Council where the 27 EU Heads of State and Government decided to nominate Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for EU membership.

Lili Bayer, Giorgio Leali and Hans von der Burchard of POLITICO join David to explain how the decision was made and where the discussion on EU membership is going. Giorgio also explains how French President Emmanuel Macron’s seriousness around the Council table may have been diminished by the disappointing performance of his centrist alliance in last weekend’s legislative elections. We also discuss the reception of the French president’s idea of ​​a “European political community”.

Then you will hear from Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. He spoke to POLITICO’s Louise Guillot in Tirana last week – sharing his pessimistic view on why Albania’s prospects of starting EU membership talks have stalled.

After the break, we introduce NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He sat down with Lili Bayer on Wednesday for a POLITICO Live event, which you can watch here.

And POLITICO’s Matt Karnitschnig brings us a discussion with Florence Gaub, Foresight Advisor to the Council of the European Union. They discuss the war in Ukraine, how long it could last and what we can expect from next week’s historic NATO meeting in Madrid.