2019 was supposed to be a landmark year for the Balkans, with the EU due to give the green light to accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. Yet because of a de facto veto by French President Emmanuel Macron at a summit in October, the Balkans now looks as far from an EU embrace as it has for years.

Malta’s prime minister is set to resign amid questions about his handling of the investigation into the 2017 murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The scandal has cast a harsh light on Malta’s role as an offshore financial center, while exposing systemic vulnerabilities to corruption across the EU.