'Britain will feel the pain of being excluded': the countries clamouring to join as UK exits the EU

As Britain prepares for Brexit day on Friday, we visit the countries that are desperate to join

"I sometimes think that those who are inside the European Union don't realise how cold it is outside," said Zoran Zaev, who in April will stand for re-election as North Macedonia's prime minister. For Zaev, watching the Brexit saga play out has been a bemusing experience as he pushes to take his country in the other direction.

The western Balkans nations have been promised an EU future for more than a decade, but expectations of a formal start to accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania were dashed late last year when the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said that given Brexit and other challenges, the bloc should reconsider how it goes about enlargement.