The EU’s report card: Ukraine, Moldova and other aspiring members

The EU made important steps this week toward bringing new members into the bloc — our POLITICO team explains in this episode of EU Confidential.

Host Suzanne Lynch is joined by POLITICO’s Barbara Moens and Jakob Hanke Vela in Brussels, as well as Sam Greene from the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington to discuss the European Commission’s annual report card on the ten countries hoping to join the 27 EU members. The report recommends the start of formal accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, but what exactly does that mean? And where does that leave others in the Western Balkans, for example, who’ve been waiting in the wings for years?

Also in this episode, POLITICO’s Aitor Hernández-Morales explains what’s behind the shock resignation this week of Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa amid a corruption probe.