Our podcast for the first time in English!  Should Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova join the European Union? One side of the debate sees that a fast-tracked EU membership deal is the best way to help these countries become secure and prosperous, especially in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s possible further regional ambitions. However, another argument sees that these states’ fragile democratic systems, and problems associated with widespread corruption and weak rule of law mean that they are a long way from meeting basic EU membership criteria, and should therefore, not be allowed to join too quickly without sufficient conditions and stringent backstopping.

The guest of this episode is Dr. Kerry Longhurst, an expert on Eastern Europe, who talks to Dr. Agnieszka Nitza about the effect of the war in Ukraine. Listen to our timely podcast and make up your mind on the EU’s enlargement conundrum!

Dr Kerry Longhurst is a researcher and also a Head of Institute of Political Sciences and International Relations in Collegium Civitas. She carried out a research grant from the Polish National Science Centre for a project on State Capture in the Republic of Moldova within the framework of the country’s Europeanisation: “Domestic Barriers to the Pro-European Transformation of Moldova”.