Issue 551 | May 2022

The May edition of The Parliament Magazine is now available to read online for free.

It’s getting hot and balmy in Brussels. As the days grow longer and we readjust to seeing the lower half of each other’s faces again, we’re also coming to terms with some dramatic geopolitical changes unfolding across our continent. Finland and Sweden appear poised to join Nato, a move that seemed very far away indeed just a few months ago. Meanwhile, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova have submitted their bids to become Member States of the European Union. 

As always, we bring you thoughtful commentary on the major issues transpiring across Europe. MEP and AFET Committee Chair David McAllister offers strong words on the urgent need for increased EU-Nato cooperation, while MEP Markéta Gregorová discusses ways the EU can aid Moldova during this extremely vulnerable moment. MEP Dragoş Tudorache and political scientist Piotr Buras are in agreement that Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova deserve the EU’s warm welcome, but they offer contrasting recommendations for how the bloc should respond to these countries’ accession bids.

I’m very proud to complement our policy commentary this month with some powerful stories from the field. From an industrial fruit farm outside Moldova’s capital, journalist Mădălin Necșuţu reports on how the war next door means some frantic reshuffling for that country’s agriculture sector. From Tbilisi, photographer Tako Robakidze brings us a beautiful photo story highlighting a migration route connected to but mostly overshadowed by Russia’s war in Ukraine: the exodus of young Belarusians to Georgia. 

All of this and more awaits you in the pages of this month’s magazine.