The EU is getting a very rude awakening from its next-door neighbors.

Turns out not everyone is as excited to be in our exclusive club as we thought.

Moldovans voted last week to stay the course on trying to join the EU by a margin of just half a percent.

With the war in Ukraine and the West's reluctance to fully support its fight,

people in countries like Moldova and Georgia,

where voters go to the polls this weekend,

are starting to think that aligning with Russia might be a safer bet.

And if they didn't come to that conclusion organically, well, the Kremlin is showing its power

to shove them in that direction.

Moldova faced an unprecedented interference campaign from Russia, with as many as 20% of the

ballots tainted by vote-buying and outright lies.

It doesn't sound so different from the info wars that happened a decade ago, when Ukrainians took

to the streets to demand closer links to the West in the Euro-Midon revolution.

So whose side are the voters of Moldova and Georgia really on? For that matter, how's it going Ukraine?

Is the country at the front lines still feeling like it's been worth resisting Moscow? And is Brussels

to blame for losing its grip on its own neighborhood? I'm Sarah Wheaton, host of EU Confidential.

Later, I'll hand over to my colleague, policy editor Joanna Roberts, who recently moderated Politico's ProConnect event with our senior editors.

It's an insider's look at what we can expect from the new commission.

Policies, challenges, and of course, the ever-elusive magic money tree.

These sessions are usually off the record, but we've got special permission to share a portion with you,

so stick around for that.

But first, Moldova, Georgia, and the tug of war between the EU and Russia with my Politico

...