Politico's Eu Confidential

EU politics this week was all about shrinkage and enlargement. The shrinkage of course is Brexit, with the U.K. government again failing to set out its negotiating position and Michel Barnier sweeping through London to explain the EU's red lines. EU Confidential's featured guest this week is former U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. The enlargement — or potential enlargement — comes from the Western Balkans. The European Commission Tuesday issued a strategy that opens the way for top-performing countries in the region to join the EU in 2025. There's a catch: the Commission all but said none of the Western Balkans countries will be ready by then, because of endemic corruption, organized crime and fragile democratic institutions. Highlights from the show: Nick Clegg says U.K. government is "a bunch of muppets": "I think it is impossible to exaggerate the level of a cluelessness and incompetence now at the heart of British government." He said the current government has torn up the U.K.'s reputation for comp