Which Country Will Join the EU Next?

After years of enlargement fatigue, it seems there's renewed interest in expanding the European Union and adding new members. So with 10 applications on the table, which country is making the most progress towards becoming the newest member state?

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00:00 Introduction
01:07 Context
02:08 Countries Send Their Bids
03:31 Candidate Status
04:41 Accession Negotiations
08:55 Politics and Controversies
11:31 Brilliant

[petarvsgaming]

What you said about Montenegro is not true. It is not led by a caretaker government right now, a proper coalition and goverment was formed after the recent elections. Also the person shown at 6:45 is the current Prime Minister, who explicitly stated that his number one goal is EU integration. Please take more caution when doing research for your videos.

[RichardAB]

It's not a race, it's the ability to align and commit to the EU's norms written into articles 2 & 3 of the Treaty.

[MegaSavvis]

At 3:50 you say that Montenegro, Albania, and North Macedonia were NATO member before receiving candidate status, but Montengro joined Nato in 2017, and North Macedonia in 2020, so they were not nato members when they received EU candidate status

[BenchFox_]

Montenegro formed an actual government in October. We just have to see how long it lasts.

[jormungandrtheworldserpent]

the biggest problem the eu needs to solve before enlargement is that its currently way to easy for a single member to stall everything by vetoing major decisions with no real way to eject problem countries its actually kinda incredible that in all the years its existed they never considered what happens if somebody undesirable takes power in a member country or how vetos can be abused

[S]

As per usual, the best salesman for international alliances (EU, NATO) is Russia.
And then they complain that they have no friends.

[excentrik]

I am not sure how do you expect Kosovo to join EU when FIVE of its members dont even consider it a real country

[stormruner]

I 100% stand by EU expansion, but with the current decision making and voting system, it'll lead to an even more chaotic situation than the present one. I hope they find a way to solve this.

[filipe]

I don't know why everyone is throwing numbers like mid or late 2020s for some countries' entry when the EU already stated that their objective is to be ready for expansion by 2030. That should be read that only after 2030 will new members be accepted, which makes perfect sense considering the pace of the current reforms, both in the EU and in the candidate countries.

[boborock]

I honestly don't think Turkey stands a chance atleast not under the present president

[dancahill]

In light of Hungary and other countries who have backslid since joining, you'd think they'd work on procedures to boot countries from the EU before they added more. They already have countries that probably subtract more value from the EU than they add.

[Elongated_Muskrat]

"Enlargement Package" must be compensating for something.

[giantWario]

Regardless of the fact that Montenegro has made the most progress, they are just the most uncontroversial applicant by far. I don't know what's with some people in the EU seriously thinking that they can ''fast track'' Ukraine and Moldova when some Russian allies have been elected in some EU countries. Slovakia and Hungary's current government in particular are just never letting Moldova and Ukraine join, not unless Russia actually loses the war.

[cosmindvd]

A huge chunk of Moldovan citizens have already european citizenship because of Romania, so that’s not a problem, the accession would help Moldova develop economically like Romania had and it’s still is, one of the fastest growing economies on the continent.

[i.m.]

With the exception of Montenegro, I don't think any of these countries have a realistic chance of joining anytime soon. They all have pretty serious internal and also external problems that are unlikely to get resolved within the next 20 or even 30 years.

[ricardo]

I believe countries won’t be accepted one by one but rather in small bunches.

[eminemeatingmmswithotherem]

I think Montenegro and then Albania is more likely. Montenegro is very close to eu values at the moment also has euro which will make the integration into the union more easily

[Yaaacar]

we applied in 2004, and entered 2013. So about 9 years (Croatia). But we haven't entered Schengen or Eurozone before 2023. Honestly Montenegro, Bosnia&Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Kosovo are way too dysfunctional to make much progress. Serbia and Albania could, but their governments are preoccupied with mostly populism to take the admission procedure seriosly. So I honestly doubt seeing any new Balkan members in the next decade. But I hope I'm wrong

[mkb]

Probably Montenegro will join first, Albania and NM will follow. They have developed a culture, that completing the chapters is beneficial for themselves, so they have the willingness to join.

[speeddemon]

i been to Albania and being in Albania is no difference then being in italy greece or spain to me albania was not only similar but better and cheaper the best warm people i have ever meet all across europe they will open their house doors and welcome you in