Ukraine and Moldova have been granted candidate status to join the EU. It's a major moment in the messy process of knitting this continent together — but is a bigger European Union automatically a better one? This week we chat to Dr. Ilke Toygür about what this all means for Ukraine, Moldova and the EU itself. We're also talking about Venice's new entry fee for day-trippers, sexy Swedish waste disposal, and why Greece and Turkey are fighting over a made-up word.

Ilke is a professor of political science at the University Carlos III of Madrid and a fellow at the Centre for Applied Turkey Studies at SWP Berlin. You can follow her on Twitter here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'Borgen - Power & Glory' and 'She Rides Like The Wind - the story of Alfonsina Strada' by Joan Negrescolor.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

02:20 Good Week? Venice's fee for day-trippers 08:50 Bad Week: The Great Greek-Turkish Portmanteau Row 16:52 Interview: Ilke Toygür on growing the EU 32:13 Isolation Inspiration: 'Borgen' and 'She Rides Like The Wind' 35:11 Happy Ending: Malmö's smutty bins

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com