VDL's Western Balkan tour: Promises and warnings on EU enlargement

This week the Beyond the Byline podcast looks at Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's tour of the Western Balkans.The EU executive chief talked to leaders of Western Balkans countries to encourage their governments to continue their hard work to meet EU membership standards, while warning that many are falling short of the requirements, and Brussels’ newfound appetite for enlargement might not last forever.The six Western Balkan states of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia are all aspiring EU members. Accession for any of them looked a distant prospect until Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last spring got Brussels talking seriously about enlarging the EU again.

Om Podcasten

Today in the EU is the first daily podcast dedicated to politics and policy in the European Union. Every morning at 6 am, host Giada Santana analyses the latest in the EU bubble with Euractiv’s specialised journalists. Tune in to know what is going on in the bloc. The podcast covers a wide range of topics, including EU politics and institutions, elections, shifts in political power among EU parties (EPP, PES, ALDE, GUE, Greens), G7, EU enlargement, member states, economics, finance, tech regulations, environmental policy, climate change, agrifood, agriculture policy, health, and pandemic treaties. Euractiv’s analysis is enriched with the latest reports from esteemed international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and European institutions. The production team includes producers Charles Cohen and Miriam Saénz de Tejada.