Episode 1: The plan to get Ukraine into the EU

Brussels Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.4 • 204 Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2026

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to the first edition of the Brussels Playbook Podcast! In the debut episode, Zoya Sheftalovich and Ian Wishart break down two big questions facing Brussels: How far is the EU willing to go to bring Ukraine into its fold? And can Europe finally get serious about fixing its economy? First, Ukraine and enlargement. EU officials are quietly exploring unconventional options to move Kyiv closer to the bloc — potentially as early as next year — as talk of a possible peace deal grows and uncertainty around the U.S. deepens. Then, competitiveness. Ahead of a closed-door leaders’ retreat later this week, EU capitals are under pressure to revive Europe’s sluggish economy and cut internal barriers that have held growth back for years. Ian and Zoya also ask what the recent closure of Irish pubs Kitty O’Shea’s and De Valera’s — two key Brussels institutions for talking shop over a beer — means for the informal spaces where EU politics has long been done. And we’d love to hear from you — where are people now going instead? Send us your pub tips, memories or voice notes. We may play some of them in a future episode. Messages can be anonymous. Our WhatsApp number is: +32 491 05 06 29 **A message from Amazon: Across Europe, businesses are growing with the AWS Cloud to build innovative, scalable products. From Europe’s largest enterprises and government agencies to the continent’s fastest growing startups, learn more about how AWS Cloud is helping businesses across Europe grow at AWS.eu.** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's episode is presented by Amazon. Across Europe, businesses are growing with the
0:05.9	AWS Cloud to build innovative, scalable products. From Europe's largest enterprises and government
0:11.8	agencies to the continent's fastest growing startups, learn more about how AWS Cloud is helping
0:17.7	businesses across Europe grow at aWS.
0:26.7	It's Tuesday, February 10, and this is the Brussels Playbook podcast.
0:29.8	Your guide to what's driving EU politics.
0:36.7	The vibe today, it's creative because the EU is trying to find a way to get Ukraine into the block.
0:54.5	Also on the table, competitiveness is back again. And is this the last call before Brussels' Irish pubs disappear? No. Oh no, I know. All right, I'm Zoya Shafdanovich, Politico's chief EU correspondent. And with me in the studio today is our senior EU politics editor and my boss,
0:58.2	Ian Wishart. Hey, Ian. Hi, Zoya. Good morning, everyone. And you know what I've been thinking,
1:03.4	Zoya? Go on then. I think Brussels has been crying out for a breezy, energetic 15-minute podcast looking ahead to the days of EU news. What do you think? I think breezy and energetic
1:07.6	are my middle names, Ian. Let's get on with it then. Let's do it.
1:21.4	Our first story today, it's about Ukraine and how the EU is quietly exploring some pretty unconventional ways to bring Kyiv into the fold.
1:24.3	As soon as maybe even next year, hey Ian.
1:27.1	Yeah, you've been discussing this with diplomats and officials for the last few days.
1:31.9	And we break this story on our homepage and in playbook this morning.
1:37.0	And you say there's basically five points that the commission are working on,
1:40.7	sort of a plan to get Ukraine into the EU.
1:42.9	Do you want to just briefly spell out what
1:44.5	those five points are? So what they are is, firstly, it's getting Ukraine ready. And that's the super
1:50.5	important one, Ian, because no one's talking about shortcuts or not meeting the benchmarks it
1:54.5	needs to meet. They really want Ukraine to do the homework now. Step two, it's kind of creating
1:59.5	this EU membership light phase where countries
	...

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