https://video.echelon.pl/videos/watch/996cd0bd-f8db-472a-8fd9-ffbbf0040058 Ukraine and Moldova opened the first EU membership negotiations clusters earlier this week. But that is only the beginning of a long road to joining the bloc. “Opening clusters is just one step. And it’s kind of the easiest step to do. (...) The bigger step is closing the chapters and the clusters,” said TVP World’s Political Editor, Stuart Dowell, referring to the unanimity requirement. Another issue are the possible costs of integrating Moldova and Ukraine, estimated at €500 billion, at a time when some members would like to see the EU budget reduced or reallocated. “We see a split between the frugal North and West of Europe, (who) want a smaller budget and they want that money spent on innovation, on improving competition, on improving industrial capacity, on modernization,” contrasting it with newer members in the bloc’s east and south, who “like the old arrangements of huge cash piles for cohesion and regional funds.” But there's a catch: “By bringing in such a large country, it changes all the balances within the Union. Countries that have been comfortable receiving funds, like Poland (...) could become net contributors to the budget, not net recipients. And that’s a hard thing to sell.” Join News in Depth’s host, Marie Cato, and her guest, as they discuss the hurdles that await Ukraine in its accession protests, including what issues might Ukraine’s membership create for Poland and France, and why the idea of an “associate membership” touted by German Chancellor Merz was never a good solution for anyone. 🔴 Watch our 24/7 livestream - https://youtube.com/live/9RY46AUtIl4 Bringing you all the latest daily news and updates, TVP World is Poland's first English-language channel where you can find world news as seen from the Polish perspective and the latest news from the CEE region. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. https://tvpworld.com/ https://www.facebook.com/tvpworldcom https://twitter.com/TVPWorld_com https://www.instagram.com/tvp_world/ https://www.threads.net/@tvp_world https://bsky.app/profile/tvpworld.bsky.social https://www.tiktok.com/@tvpworld.com https://t.me/tvp_world #Ukraine #EU #Europe Sun, 28 Jun 2026 01:54:41 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://video.echelon.pl https://video.echelon.pl/client/assets/images/icons/icon-1500x1500.png https://video.echelon.pl/videos/watch/996cd0bd-f8db-472a-8fd9-ffbbf0040058 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://video.echelon.pl/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.