The long-awaited accession process of the Western Balkan countries to the EU is on the EU agenda. This episode of the "Grassroots view" is focusing on EU enlargement, discussing the principle of gradual and progressive integration and the perspective of the region to integrate in the EU family.

What are the similarities and differences between the first great enlargement of the EU to 10 new countries in 2004 and the membership process for the Western Balkan countries? What is the attitude of the civil society in these countries to EU integration? Will the EU's increased focus on Ukraine affect the decision to negotiate with the Western Balkans?

All these questions will be answered by our guests, often witnesses of the EU negotiation process, such as Ionut Sibian, EESC member and president of the Western Balkans follow-up Committee, whose country Romania joined the EU in 2007 or Jaroslaw Pietras, a former senior European Union and Polish government official, engaged in the Polish EU accession process. Dafina Peci, secretary-general of the National Youth Congress of Albania shared with us Albanian civil society hopes for joining the European family.

Two journalists, Camille-Cerise Gessant from Agence Europe and Erisa Zykaj, an EU correspondent for Western Balkans media in Brussels, give a journalistic view of relations between the EU and the Western Balkan countries queuing up to become members of the EU.