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Growing pains: Can the EU handle enlargement?

Growing pains: Can the EU handle enlargement?

Update: 2025-11-14
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Russia’s war in Ukraine has given new momentum to EU enlargement — and raised a bigger question: Is the bloc itself ready to grow? 


This week, host Sarah Wheaton examines the EU’s growing pains — not just the politics and geopolitics of enlargement, but also the cultural and emotional questions of identity and belonging.  
 
She speaks with Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, head of Europa Nostra, about why Europe won’t feel complete until its whole cultural family is reunited; and with Icelandic politics professor Eirikur Bergmann on why his country may be revisiting its European path — more than a decade after freezing its EU bid. 
 
There's also a conversation led by POLITICO’s Gordon Repinski with Kosovo’s president, Vjosa Osmani, who reflects on her country’s long wait for membership. 

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Growing pains: Can the EU handle enlargement?

Growing pains: Can the EU handle enlargement?

POLITICO