Why rich countries want to join the EU 

For two decades, aspiring EU members wanted to join the bloc to get richer. Now, that’s changing.

With conflicts raging at Europe’s doorstep and NATO shaky under Donald Trump, even rich countries want to join the bloc, hoping it’ll help them feel safer. Zoya and Nick unpack this shift on today’s episode.

Also on the show, we trace Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s political journey from a liberal dissident to MAGA darling. As the leader continues to antagonize the EU, we ask what options the bloc has to minimize his influence in European political decision-making if he’s reelected in the upcoming election.

Finally: Russia is recruiting informants to spy on dissidents abroad. POLITICO got its hands on a cache of text messages and recordings between two intelligence agents and a student blackmailed into spying for the Kremlin. We discuss what the correspondence tells us about Moscow’s efforts to infiltrate opposition groups in Europe.

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