In this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast Camino Mortera-Martinez, head of the Brussels office, joins Charles Grant, director of the CER, and Heather Grabbe, senior advisor at the Open Society Foundation, to discuss the prospect of EU enlargement. They talk about the likely timeline of the accession process, the countries with prospects of joining and which of these will struggle to meet the EU's criteria. Camino and Charles then debate whether the Lisbon Treaty will be used for this next round of accession or if treaty change might be required.

CER Podcast: Is the EU ready for enlargement?

As we enter the third year of full-scale war in Ukraine and the possibility of Trump's re-election becomes more likely, Charles Grant, director, and Luigi Scazzieri, senior research fellow, consider how the EU's role in defence is changing. They discuss where the money for a larger defence budget would come from and whether the Commission could play a role in defence planning. Charles concludes the podcast with a quiz on the many acronyms that appeared in the Commission's latest press releases on defence.

Music by Edward Hipkins
Produced by Octavia Hughes

CER Podcast: How is the EU's role in European defence changing?

Ian Bond talks to Sophia Besch about the next steps for the newly elected French president; how his victory is perceived in Brussels, Berlin, London, Moscow and Washington; and whether the defeat of the French right wing populist candidate should be read as part of a broader trend.

CER podcast: What does Macron's victory mean for France, the UK, the EU and the world?

Recording at the CER's Arctic Bridge Summit in Finland, Sophia Besch talks to Elisabeth Braw and Ethan Corbin about security challenges in the Arctic and how Russia and Europe could co-operate in the region.

CER podcast: Strategic co-operation and competition in the Arctic

The Centre for European Reform is a think-tank devoted to making the European Union work better and strengthening its role in the world. The CER is pro-European but not uncritical.

CER Podcast: How is the EU's role in European defence changing?

Centre for European Reform

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