Sergiu Miscoiu: Either the EU will be social, or there will be no EU

Cross-border Talks interviewed the Romanian political scientist and expert on EU affairs Sergiu Mișcoiu in the context of the renewed discussions for EU reform, following the completion of the deliberations, called Conference for the Future of Europe. We discussed: - how much of a success is the announced opening to the public for consultations, called Conference for the Future of Europe; - why the EU continues to be elites-led and the conference mostly reaffirmed the already followed agenda; - how should Emmanuel Macron's proposal for concentric circles of integration or European political community, opened to non-member from the neighbourhood be seen - as encouragement for the non-member to engage the EU or as a discouragement for their efforts to become full members; - how should we perceive the efforts of Western Europe to impose reforms on EU's East in fields such as energy transition, anti-corruption and EU defense; - what can EU's East learn from Western Europe on the issue of rising energy prices and EU as a market; - what could be the future role Romania and Bulgaria play within the EU.