The EU’s enlargement reality check
Jessica Hendrick takes over The Neighbourhood to unpack what the EU’s 2025 Enlargement Package reveals about both Brussels’s expectations and life inside the candidate countries
This week, The Neighbourhood shifts from the “why” of enlargement to the “how”—specifically, how reforms are unfolding on the ground and what drives progress or stagnation. The 2025 Enlargement Package presents a mixed picture: Ukraine and Moldova are racing ahead, while Serbia and Georgia are lagging. The EU itself is struggling with internal divisions and reform fatigue.
Jessica is joined by Tiago Antunes, senior policy fellow with ECFR’s European Power programme, Leo Litra, visiting fellow at ECFR and senior fellow at Kyiv’s New Europe Center and Engjellushe Morina, senior policy fellow with ECFR’s European Security programme. Together, they discuss what this year’s enlargement report says about political will, institutional resilience and the everyday impact of enlargement.
How can the EU make conditionality more credible? Are EU reforms changing behaviour in governments, institutions and people’s lives? And how can Brussels keep the reform energy alive?
This episode was recorded on November 12th 2025
