The Europeans

A group of Swiss women, all aged 64 and over, made history last week by winning the first ever climate case heard by the European Court of Human Rights. But what does their victory mean for climate policy across Europe? We ring up international courts reporter Molly Quell to find out. We're also talking about an artistic sense-of-humour failure, a Swedish app controversy, and why Polish kids are particularly big fans of the new government. 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/why-the-swiss-womens-climate-victory-is-such-a-big-deal

You can find Molly on Twitter here.

This week's Inspiration Station offerings: 'Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)' - tickets for London's Criterion Theatre; 'Two Strangers' cast recording; the 'Goulash' newsletter.

Producer: Katz Laszlo

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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We all know this continent has major issues with social mobility. But having a rich ancestor from *six centuries ago* shouldn't make it more likely that you're rich today... should it? This week we speak to Guglielmo Barone, one of the economists behind some fascinating research into this question in Florence. We're also talking about Ursula von der Leyen's 'jobs for the boys' scandal and the road to a shared European cycling policy. 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/nepo-great-great-great-grand-babies

Guglielmo is a professor of economics at the University of Bologna. You can find his study on intergenerational mobility in Florence here, and an article he co-wrote about the research here.

This week's recommendations: 'Today in Focus - Should the UK stop arming Israel?' and 'Have You Heard George's Podcast - Francophone Pt. 1'. 

Other resources for this episode: 

Social mobility in Europe across generations - EU Science Hub

Intergenerational mobility in the UK - Institute for Fiscal Studies'

What is the point of inheritance tax?' - The New Statesman'

Von der Leyen accused of playing favourite over EU SMEs envoy nomination' - EURACTIV
The European Declaration on Cycling

'How safe is walking and cycling in Europe' - European Transport Safety Council Eurobarometer - Mobility and transport, 2019 

The Copenhagenize Index
'Paris’s Picasso Museum Will Show Work by Françoise Gilot in Permanent Collection Galleries for the First Time' - ARTnews

Producers: Katz Laszlo and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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This week, music and politics collide. We're talking about Greece's plan to enforce quotas for Greek-language lyrics on the radio, and the racist backlash against Aya Nakamura's rumoured booking for the Paris Olympics. Plus, a great interview with Politico's senior climate reporter Zia Weise about the EU's once-trumpeted nature restoration law. Can the EU still claim to be a world leader when it comes to going green?

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/less-beyonce-more-bouzouki

You can find Zia on Twitter here and read her reporting here.

The soundtrack to this week's episode: 'Doggy' by Aya Nakamura; 'Zari' by Marina Satti; 'White Foxes' by Susanne Sundfør. Also recommended this week: 'Smoke Sauna Sisterhood' and Utrecht's fish doorbell.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

00:22 Velkommen til The Europeans podcast!
02:23 Good Week: Aya Nakamura
10:35 Bad Week: The plan for Greek-language radio quotas
22:38 Interview: Zia Weise on the EU's nature restoration law
35:15 The Inspiration Station: Susanne Sundfør and 'Smoke Sauna Sisterhood'
38:43 Happy Ending: Utrecht's fish doorbell

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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This week, we're heading to a small country with a big bold foreign policy. Czechia, aka the Czech Republic, has won international praise by negotiating a desperately-needed ammunition deal for Ukraine. Why did it succeed where others have failed? And why is its government so much less scared of China than most others in Europe? We ring up Jakub Janda, Czech security expert and author of a certain viral tweet, to find out. We're also talking about a glimmer of hope for some of Italy's rainbow families, and the scandal rocking Finnish journalism. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

Jakub is the director of the European Values Center for Security Policy. You can find him on Twitter here.

Resources for this episode: 
European Tree of the Year https://www.treeoftheyear.org/

Aamulehti's apology for Matti Kuusela's dabblings in fiction https://www.aamulehti.fi/uutiset/art-2000010312503.html 

Jakub's viral tweet https://twitter.com/_jakubjanda/status/1769350483695522197?s=46&t=yPKV1bu1u0kKSIiRrTkIXg 

00:22 Once more with feeling
03:19 Good Week: Padua's rainbow families
09:35 Bad Week: When fact meets fiction in Finland
19:52 Interview: Jakub Janda on 'small ex-Soviet satellite states' and Czechia's bold foreign policy
36:51 Inspiration Station: A tree scandal special edition
41:14 Happy Ending: Germany's extra-relaxed Easter Monday 

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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Scandal-hit Socialists, a surging far-right, and winners that no one can get excited about —  Portugal has just delivered some of this year's trickiest European election results. This week, we ring Politico reporter Aitor Hernández-Morales to untangle the situation. We're also talking about how ChatGPT could speed up Albania's EU membership bid, and Denmark's attempt to fix its horrible gender inequality (when it comes to statues at least). 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/the-portuguese-constitution-is-delicious

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

You can follow Aitor on Twitter here. 

This week's Inspiration Station picks: 'Europapa' by Joost Klein; 'Don't Drink the Milk' 

Other resources for this episode: 

'People in Albania are tired of Brussels' lip service' https://respublica.edu.mk/blog-en/politics/people-in-albania-are-tired-of-brussels-lip-service/?lang=en

'Albania to speed up EU accession using ChatGPT'
https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/albania-to-speed-up-eu-accession-using-chatgpt/

'Irish voters reject bid to rewrite constitution’s view of women and family' https://www.politico.eu/article/irish-voters-reject-bid-to-rewrite-constitutions-view-women-family/

'Five reasons why the Yes side failed and the No campaign won the day' https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/03/09/how-the-government-lost-and-the-no-side-won-the-care-and-family-referendums/

00:22 Fresh and fruity

01:56 Bad Week: Human translators

11:00 Good Week: Denmark steps up on statues

35:28 The Inspiration Station: 'Europapa' and 'Don't Drink The Milk'

40:24 Happy Ending: A blast from the seedy past

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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This week: two referendums and some dodgy criminal reforms. We're talking about Swiss voters' decision to treat themselves to bigger pensions, and Slovakia's battle to stop cronyism under populist prime minister Robert Fico. And ahead of Ireland's vote on International Women's Day, the historian Caitríona Beaumont joins us to ask: why, according to the Irish constitution, is a woman's place still in the home? 

You can follow Cait on Twitter here and read her article for The Conversation about the 'woman in the home' clause here.

This week's Inspiration Station offerings: this Swiss study on the power of live music; Dominic on tour, and the studio cast recording of 'Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)'.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

Other resources for this episode: 

Cultural Deal for Europe: An Open Letter Ahead of the EP Elections https://culturalfoundation.eu/stories/cultural-deal-for-europe-open-letter-ep-elections/ 'Nederland Europees kampioen zitten': TNO https://www.tno.nl/nl/newsroom/2024/02/nederland-europees-kampioen-zitten/ 
Eurobarometer's 2022 report on physical activity across Europe: https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2668IMPACT newsletter https://lesglorieuses.fr/les-newsletters/impact-eng/ Abortion in Europe - Deutsche Welle documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSB6oCza2k8 

00:22 Are you sitting comfortably?

03:33 Bad Week: Robert Fico

12:38 Good Week: Swiss pensioners

21:40 Interview: Caitríona Beaumont on Ireland's sexist constitution

38:35 The Inspiration Station: live music and the 'Two Strangers' cast recording

42:19 Happy Ending: Tiny but very very loud

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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In February 2022, as Russian tanks rolled across the border, the writer and historian Olesya Khromeychuk told us the story of the boots she had bought for her brother, serving at the front in eastern Ukraine. This week, we're sharing her story again. 

Olesya's book, ' The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister', is available in print and as an audiobook. You can find her on Twitter here.

Sound design, mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak. 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/army-boots-feb-2024

Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

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Hungary has seen its biggest anti-government protests in years over the past couple of weeks. But just how dangerous is this moment for Viktor Orbán? This week our favourite Hungarysplainer Viktória Serdült joins us to decipher the scandal that has shaken his government. We're also talking about the legalisation of gay marriage in Greece (finally!) and a Dutch court case that could have far-reaching consequences for the war in Gaza. 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/orbans-biggest-crisis

Viktória is a journalist at hvg.hu. You can find her on Twitter here and her article about Hungary's EU elections can be found here in EUObserver. 

This week's Inspiration Station offerings: 'Navalny' and 'Lost on Me' (Niente di vero) by Veronica Raimo.

The Dutch court ruling can be found here and Euronews' piece on European military supplies to Israel can be found here.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

00:22 Spending *most* of the week reading about Europe

02:29 Good Week: Gay marriage is now legal in Greece

07:47 Bad Week: European defence companies?

17:01 Interview: Viktória Serdült on Hungary's pardoning scandal

32:33 The Inspiration Station: 'Lost on Me' by Veronica Raimo and 'Navalny'

36:33 Happy Ending: Why kids monkey around

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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Poland's rightwing populists are finally out of power. But what happens now? This week, our producer Wojciech Oleksiak and Warsaw-based journalist Claudia Ciobanu join us to explain why restoring Polish democracy is easier said than done. We're also talking about Finland's elections and the EU's much-criticised migration plan. 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/two-parallel-polands

Claudia is the Poland correspondent for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. You can find her reporting here and she's on Twitter here. 

Investigate Europe's reporting on how France and the Netherlands lobbied for child border detentions can be found here. 

This week's Inspiration Station offerings: 'Bitch' by Lucy Cooke and Sanremo 2024. Bonus entry for Amsterdammers, via Producer Katz: Felipe Romero Beltrán's photography exhibition 'Dialect' at Foam, documenting the experiences of young Moroccan migrants in Spain. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

Producers: Katz Laszlo and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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Last weekend, Parisians voted to triple parking fees for SUVs in a bid to remove some of the city's more polluting vehicles. It's just one of many policy ideas that are being tested out in European cities to clean up the air we breathe — but how bad is the problem really, and can we really fix it? This week we ring up Oliver Lord from the Clean Cities Campaign to find out. We're also talking about the exhausting antics of Viktor Orbán and some juicy Italian art theft allegations. 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/toxic-air-and-toxic-politicians

This week's Inspiration Station offerings: 'Mrs Mohr Goes Missing' by Maryla Szymiczkowa, and The European Tree of the Year 2024. 

You can find a video of Vittorio Sgarbi's eyebrow-raising interview on the best account on Twitter, Crazy Ass Moments in Italian Politics.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

Many thanks to our friends at Outside/In for featuring our Oatly mini-series recently. You can find their show ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

00:22 Coming soon, a podcast entirely about disturbing European children's songs

03:32 Good Week: Ukraine's €50 billion aid deal

12:01 Bad Week: From culture minister to art thief?

37:44 The Inspiration Station: Mrs Mohr Goes Missing and The European Tree of The Year 2024

40:49 Happy Ending: Hooray for the HPV vaccine

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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From France to Romania, Germany to Bulgaria, angry farmers have been blocking the roads. What's behind this wave of agricultural protests across the continent? This week we're getting to grips with the policies behind the food on Europe's plates with agriculture correspondent Sofía Sánchez Manzanaro. We're also dishing up some Polish recommendations and a slice of good climate news. 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/why-are-europes-farmers-so-angry

Sofía writes about food, agriculture and sustainability for S&P Global and is about to start a new role at Euractiv. You can find her on Twitter here.

This week's Inspiration Station offerings: Chopin's Nocturnes. played by Idil Beret, and Olga Tokarczuk's interview on the Paris Review podcast. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

Many thanks to our friends at Outside/In for featuring our Oatly mini-series recently. You can find their show ⁠here⁠.

Producers: Katz Laszlo and Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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A lot of us are pretty diligent when it comes to throwing our plastic into the dedicated bin. But how much of that stuff actually gets recycled? This week we're digging into the truth behind Europe's trash with Nico Schmidt, reporter for Investigate Europe. We're also talking about Germany's massive anti-AfD protests, and Saudi sell-out Rafael Nadal. 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/what-actually-happens-to-europes-recycling

Resources for this episode:

'Secret plan against Germany' - Correctiv

‘Everyone, together, against fascism’: protests sweep Germany after exposé of AfD party’s deportation ‘masterplan’ - The Guardian

Wasteland - Europe's plastic disaster - Investigate Europe

‘Queen of trash’ and employees arrested over Sweden’s ‘largest environmental crime’ - The Guardian

On the French border, drowning in a sea of trash - PoliticoHitster'Black Butterflies' by Priscilla Morris

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

Many thanks to our friends at Outside/In for featuring our Oatly mini-series recently. You can find their show here.

00:22 The Europeans: coming to you soon in 200 languages?
02:35 Good Week: Standing up against the German far-right
14:35 Bad Week: Saudi sellout Rafael Nadal
38:58 The Inspiration Station: Hitster and Black Butterflies
41:50 Happy Ending: A 3,000-year-old map of the stars?

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠|⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠|⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠| ⁠⁠⁠⁠hello@europeanspodcast.com

We’re kicking off the new year with a heady mix of urban policy, cake-based scandal and political controversy. Find out which European city ranks as the most ‘liveable’ in Good Week, and dive into the fraud case embroiling Italian mega-influencer Chiara Ferragni in Bad Week. And in this week’s interview, hear from historian Quinn Slobodian about the parallel he sees between the current discourse around Israel-Palestine in Germany, and events 50 years ago. 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/influencer-fraud-liveable-cities-and-the-israel-taboo

Quinn is Professor of History at Boston University. You can follow him on Twitter here and read his New Statesman article, ‘Germany’s new years of lead’, here.

Resources for this episode: 

Report on the quality of life in European cities, 2023 

‘How to define genocide’: an interview with historian Omer Bartov in The New Yorker 

German police statistics on politically-motivated crimes 

‘Oral’ by Björk and Rosalía

Continental Riffs

The Guardian: ‘New “riskier” wave of British musicals to challenge West End’s established order’

Tickets for Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, 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. 

00:22 Happy 2024, listeners!

02:57 Good Week: Europe's most liveable city?

08:17 Bad Week: Italian mega-influencer Chiara Ferragni

20:49 Interview: Quinn Slobodian on Germany's history of 'militant democracy'

40:31 The Inspiration Station: 'Oral' by Björk and Rosalía; Continental Riffs; Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

44:12 Happy Ending: Rodney's helping hand

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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In the winter of 2020, deep into the misery of the global pandemic, Richy Craven lit up the internet with a tale about working at Christmas in a fancy department store in Dublin. His story went viral and we loved it so much that we asked our friend, the writer and podcaster Darach Ó Séaghdha, to read it for us. Producer Katz Laszlo added some audio magic, and a classic episode of The Europeans was born. As a little early Christmas present, here it is again.

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from The Europeans! If you enjoyed this story, please consider donating to Barnados. 

Music by Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin and Ultan O'Brien, as well as Lena Orsa and Timbre on Freesound.

⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠|⁠⁠ Bluesky⁠⁠|⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠| ⁠⁠⁠hello@europeanspodcast.com⁠⁠

In Iceland, the night of December 24 is traditionally spent curled up with a book. Why? Because you're very likely to have been gifted one, given the huge array of literary offerings that get published in Iceland in the run-up for Christmas. In this festive last episode of the year, we're speaking to the writer Hildur Knútsdóttir about the Christmas Book Flood and why Iceland is such a nation of bookworms. We're also talking about Christmas tree diplomacy, a new twist on an old tradition, and an Italian tyre-slashing mystery. 

You can find Hildur here on Instagram and here on Twitter. You can find details of her new book, 'The Night Guest', here on her website. 

This week's Inspiration Station offerings: 'Small Things Like These' by Claire Keegan, 'My Father's House' by Joseph O'Connor, and 'La Ride' by Simon Boileau and Florent Pierre. Hildur's recommendations are 'Shadows of the Short Days' and 'The Shadows of a Midnight Sun' by Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson.

Thanks so much to everyone who's supported us this year. If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it in 2024, 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. 

Producer: Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠|⁠ Bluesky⁠|⁠ ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠| ⁠⁠hello@europeanspodcast.com⁠

In Part 1, you learned how illiberal regimes have used the political tools at their disposal – and their rich friends – to turn the media outlets of democratic European countries into propaganda machines. In Part 2 we’re exploring the legal tools needed to complete the job and talking to local journalists who found themselves on the receiving end of these takeovers. Finally, we’re asking: how can you stop a wannabe autocrat doing this in *your* country? 

This series was funded by Journalism Fund Europe, the Allianz Foundation, and supporters of The Europeans.

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 at⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by⁠⁠⁠leaving us a review⁠⁠⁠ or giving us five stars on Spotify. 

Credits

Reporters: Viktória Serdült, Dimitar Ganev and Wojciech Oleksiak

Writers: Wojciech Oleksiak and Dimitar Ganev

Production, scoring, sound design and mixing: Wojciech Oleksiak

Editors: Adam Zulawski and Katy Lee

Editorial support: Katz Laszlo and Dominic Kraemer

Director of recording sessions: Dominic Kraemer 

Artwork: RTiiiKA

Thanks for talking to us: Vesislava Antonova, Ervin Gűth, Antal Józing, Zuzanna Nowicka, Venelina Popova, Anna Wójcik, Spas Spassov, Marek Twaróg, Ágnes Urbán, and Cezary Węgliński.⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ | Bluesky | ⁠⁠Twitter | hello@europeanspodcast.com

It’s a playbook that’s been used by illiberal governments across Central and Eastern Europe: muzzling the media until it resembles little more than propaganda. But how exactly does one go about dismantling the free press, in a democratic country within the European Union? 

In Part 1 of this two-part special, Viktória Serdült, Dimitar Ganev and our producer Wojciech Oleksiak ask: how the hell did we get here? And how did the local press become such a powerful political weapon?

This series was funded by Journalism Fund Europe, the Allianz Foundation, and supporters of The Europeans.

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 at⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by⁠⁠⁠leaving us a review⁠⁠⁠ or giving us five stars on Spotify. 

Credits

Reporters: Viktória Serdült, Dimitar Ganev and Wojciech Oleksiak

Writers: Wojciech Oleksiak and Dimitar Ganev

Production, scoring, sound design and mixing: Wojciech Oleksiak

Editors: Adam Zulawski and Katy Lee

Editorial support: Katz Laszlo and Dominic Kraemer

Director of recording sessions: Dominic Kraemer 

Artwork: RTiiiKA

Thanks for talking to us: Vesislava Antonova, Ervin Gűth, Antal Józing, Zuzanna Nowicka, Venelina Popova, Anna Wójcik, Spas Spassov, Marek Twaróg, Ágnes Urbán, and Cezary Węgliński.

⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ | Bluesky | ⁠⁠Twitter | hello@europeanspodcast.com

In Spain, an unlikely left-leaning coalition has managed to block the right from taking power; in the Netherlands, the far-right has come out on top. This week we’re talking about two very different political situations with the help of Politico reporter Aitor Hernández-Morales and producer Katz Laszlo in Amsterdam. 

You can follow Aitor on Twitter here and read his reporting here. Our episode about life as an undocumented person in the Netherlands, ‘Mohamed’, is here.

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. 

This week's Inspiration Station offerings: ‘Anatomy of a Fall’, ‘Ordinary People’, and ‘Treasure Islands’ by Nicholas Shaxson. 

Producers: Katz Laszlo and Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠|Bluesky|⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠| ⁠⁠hello@europeanspodcast.com⁠

Ukraine has seen an exodus of foreign journalists in the wake of the terrible conflict in the Middle East. But coverage of the war on this continent remains more crucial than ever. This week we talk to the writer Sasha Dovzhyk about what is happening in Ukraine right now, as well as Ukrainians' complicated feelings around the struggle for international attention. We're also talking about the corruption scandal rocking Portugal's government, and Greta Thunberg's fraught appearance at Amsterdam's huge climate protest. 

Sasha is the editor of theLondon Ukrainian Review. You can read her piece in the New York Timeshere and subscribe to her newsletter, Ukrainian Killjoy Dispatch,here.

The NRC piece on the climate movement's soul-searching over Palestine can be foundhere (in Dutch). And Aitor Hernández Morales’ excellent tweeting on the dramatic events in Portuguese politics can be found here. 

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. 

This week's Inspiration Station offerings: The Deepest Breath' on Netflix andthe Spotify playlist of 'Le Guess Who?' festival in Utrecht (Katz’ top pick: Swedish Ethiopian band BITOI, combining vocals and bass heavily inspired by birdsong).

Producers: Katz Laszlo and Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ |Bluesky |⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠hello@europeanspodcast.com⁠

The Swedish oat milk brand Oatly has taken on some eyebrow-raising investments over the past few years. It insists those investments haven’t changed its proud identity as a climate-saving company – but is that really true? In the third and final episode of ‘The Oatly Chronicles’, we investigate a piggy controversy, why oat milk is so damn expensive, and whether Oatly is acting like a big, bad oat milk monopoly. And we ask: what *should* we be eating, to save the planet?

This series is funded by Journalismfund Europe and the Allianz Foundation.

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 at⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by⁠⁠⁠leaving us a review⁠⁠⁠ or giving us five stars on Spotify.  

Credits: This episode was produced by Katz Laszlo, and reported by Katz Laszlo and Katy Lee. Editing came from Katy Lee, as well as Justine Paradis, visiting from NPR’s excellent podcast, Outside/In. Editorial support came from Margot Gibbs, Dominic Kraemer and Wojciech Oleksiak, and mastering, scoring and sound design also came from Wojciech. 

Artwork came from favourite illustrator RTiiiKA.

Thank you for talking to us: George Monbiot, Fredrik Gertten, Laura Young, Ashley Allen, Lisa van der Velden, Thin Lei Win, Sonalie Figueiras, Sara Berger, and Boris de Lorn. 

Special thanks to lovely neighbours Joris Klingen and Thomas van Dijk, for letting us use their very nice studio. You can find their music under Bovenburen.

Interesting links:

Oatly’s ‘Fuck Oatly’ website: https://fckoatly.com 

‘The Awkward Truth about Oatly and Alpro’: Lisa van der Velden’s reporting in the Financiele Dagblad, December 2022

https://fd.nl/bedrijfsleven/1458366/ongemakkelijke-waarheid-oatly-en-alpro-voeden-intensieve-veehouderij

‘Big Dairy is trying to get Gen Z’ - New York Times, 2023 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/04/dining/milk-dairy-industry-gen-z.html

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Swedish oat milk company Oatly says it's on a mission to defeat the almighty dairy industry and save the planet. To do that, it claims it needs to grow into a massive corporate success — and it’s willing to take on controversial investments to get there.

In episode two of ‘The Oatly Chronicles’, we investigate what makes those investors so controversial. It takes us on a journey from green capitalism being battled out in the coffee shops of Malmö; to enormous housing protests in a post-financial crisis Spain; to… China?

This series is funded by Journalismfund Europe and the Allianz Foundation

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 at⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by⁠⁠⁠leaving us a review⁠⁠⁠ or giving us five stars on Spotify.  

Credits: This episode was produced by Katz Laszlo, and reported by Katz Laszlo and Katy Lee. Editing came from Katy Lee, as well as Justine Paradis, visiting from NPR’s excellent podcast, Outside/In. Editorial support came from Margot Gibbs, Dominic Kraemer and Wojciech Oleksiak, and mastering, scoring and sound design also came from Wojciech. 

Artwork came from favourite illustrator RTiiiKA.

Thank for talking to us: Fredrik Gertten, Lucía Gonzalez Martín, Laura Young, George Monbiot, Max Carbonell, Ben Axler, Brett Christophers, and Gregor Sebastian. 

Special thanks to lovely neighbours Joris Klingen and Thomas van Dijk, for letting us use their very nice studio. You can find their music under Bovenburen.

Interesting links:

‘Change Isn’t Easy’ - Oatly’s statement on the Blackstone investment (August 2022 update) https://community.oatly.com/conversations/news-and-views/change-isnt-easy/62f2f4c91b4bf47dd15fb249 

‘Private Equity Propels the Climate Crisis’ - a report by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, 2021 https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/PESP_SpecialReport_ClimateCrisis_Oct2021_Final.pdf

‘These Photos Show the Reality of Spain's Housing Crisis’ - Time, August 2015 https://time.com/4007349/spain-evictions-housing-crisis/

‘#RavalVsBlackstone. The right to the city versus the finance-real estate-tourism complex’ - European Network of Corporate Observatories, June 2020

https://corpwatchers.eu/en/investigations/cities-versus-multinationals/ravalvsblackstone-the-right-to-the-city-versus-the-finance-real-estate-tourism

‘Activists sour on Oatly vegan milk after stake sold to Trump-linked Blackstone’ - The Guardian, September 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/sep/01/oatly-vegan-milk-sale-blackstone

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In 1994, the world’s first oat milk company was born in Sweden. Three decades later, Oatly is on a high-stakes mission to defeat the dairy industry – by growing into the biggest plant-based brand the world has ever seen. 

Can a start-up from Malmö save us all through capitalism? This is the first episode in a three-part series, ‘The Oatly Chronicles’. This week we’re asking: just how much damage is our dairy addiction doing to the planet? 

This series is funded by Journalismfund Europe and the Allianz Foundation.

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.

Credits 

This episode was reported, written and produced by Katz Laszlo. Editing came from Katy Lee, as well as Justine Paradis, visiting from NPR’s excellent podcast, Outside/In. Editorial support came from Margot Gibbs, Dominic Kraemer and Wojciech Oleksiak, and mastering, scoring and sound design also came from Wojciech. 

Artwork came from favourite illustrator RTiiiKA.

Thanks for talking to us: George Monbiot, Thin Lei Win, Elsa Guadarrama, Sonalie Figueiras, Ashley Allen, and Sofia Ehlde. 

Special thanks to lovely neighbours Joris Klingen and Thomas van Dijk, for letting us use their very nice studio. You can find their music under Bovenburen.

Interesting resources:

https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/what-is-the-climate-impact-of-eating-meat-and-dairy/

https://drawdown.org/news/insights/the-powerful-role-of-household-actions-in-solving-climate-change

https://theoutline.com/post/8384/sweden-milk-war-oatly

⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠hello@europeanspodcast.com

This week, we hear about the controversies surrounding the selection of the EU's climate commissioners, we look into the past, present, and future of the Nagorno Karabakh situation, and enjoy a delightful interview with David Ecker, the person behind the @_DiningCar Twitter/X account, dedicated entirely to the experience of dining while traveling on trains.

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.

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

00:22 A Little Polish Election Update

06:39 Bad Week: Azerbaijan Ducks Peace Talks with Armenia

15:14 Good Week: Hoekstra, the Unexpected New EU Climate Chief

29:16 Interview: David Ecker - Dining on Rail Cars

40:10 Inspiration Station: Mae Martin’s stand-up - ‘SAP’ - on Netflix, Laura Mvula’s song ‘Pink Noise’ (but anything from Laura Mvula really)

42:04 Happy Ending: Barcelona’s BiciBús!

Have you ever been stung by a jellyfish or found yourself unable to take a dip in the ocean because of them? In this week's episode, our guest, Professor Stefano Piraino, will answer the big question: What should we do about the overabundance of jellyfish in European waters? Professor Piraino and Katy Lee take a deep dive into the world of these ancient creatures, uncovering some unexpectedly fascinating quirks about jellyfish, as well as proposing a striking solution to address their burgeoning population.

We're also discussing the shady manoeuvres of the Alicante city council regarding trees and Poland's pivotal election, which is less than two weeks away.

And finally, stay tuned until the very end of this episode for a special surprise – a baby beaver awaits! 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.

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

00:22 AI-powered podcast translations

04:06 Bad Week: Alicante’s tree falling

12:11 Good Week: Poland’s opposition march

22:52 Interview: Stefano Piraino on why jellyfish is your next favorite snack

36:29 Inspiration Station: A documentary about Sinéad O'Connor - ‘Nothing Compares’ and a new season of “Have You Heard George's Podcast’

40:52 Happy Ending: Baby beaver born in London!

Our producer Wojciech has a theory that Central and Eastern Europe, in their broadest sense, share a common trait - they do not tolerate emptiness. Any deficit or shortage is promptly filled by individuals who have come to realize that they cannot always depend on their states to provide essential services. This is precisely the theme of our interview this week, with Ilir Gashi, who shares his story of getting involved in an unofficial courier system between Kosovo and Serbia when the state postal office ceased its deliveries. Against the backdrop of recent tensions between these countries flaring up once again, it provides a poignant glimpse into the daily life on the border of these nations.

We're also talking about Greece’s new left-ish leader Stefanos Kasselakis (and his good-looking dog) and Spain's dealings with its gruesome past under the infamous General Franco. 

This is our first episode of the autumn season and we’ll stay with you until the end of the year! There’s lots to come with some very exciting special episodes coming up! 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. 

You can read Ilir’s piecehere in In The Guardian, we heartily recommend you do!

Hosts: Dominic Kraemer and Katz Laszlo

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

We're on a summer break right now, but here's something to put in your ears while we're away. To celebrate the beautiful visual animation of 'Mohamed' winning Germany's prestigious CIVIS Prize, we're re-releasing the original audio podcast, one of our all-time favourite episodes.

'Mohamed' is a story about a young man living in limbo while trapped in a labyrinth of bureaucracy. You can watch the animated version here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAg-fJcU0iw&t=2s 

This was the fourth episode in our series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like: intimate stories from young Europeans across the continent.

Producers: Katz Laszlo and Mohamed Bah

Art Direction & Motion Design: Studio Mélody Da Fonseca

Motion Design & Illustration Assistants: Andréa Reille & Rafaelle Fillastre

Mixing and Mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Sound design: Katz Laszlo

Editor: Katy Lee

Editorial support: Dominic Kraemer and Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel To Be Free, covered by Bahghi; Ancore une Staggione by Bottega Baltazar; Blurry by Curtis Cole; Kongo by Trio Particular; Coco Bread by Wearethegood; Mas Feliz Del Mundo by Ofir Atar; Fandanguillo also by Ofir Atar; No One Is Out Here by Yehezkel Raz. Theme music by Jim Barne. SFX from Freesound.org.

This series is co-produced with Are We Europe and made in cooperation with the Allianz Foundation.

Once upon a time, European powers drew up borders in Africa as part of their colonisation of the continent. These days the EU is increasingly interested in those borders again — including the idea of placing its own agents there to stop migrants heading towards Europe. This week we hear from investigative journalist Andrei Popoviciu about how EU funds are being used to police West African borders, often with a disturbing lack of scrutiny. We're also talking about Italy's #10secondi outrage, France's plan to subsidise clothing repairs, and artistic revenge in the 16th century.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/what-is-europe-up-to-on-africas-borders

This is our last episode of the summer but we'll be hard at work until our return in September, preparing episodes for the autumn. 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. 

You can read Andrei's investigation here in In These Times, and we'll post a link to the French version in Le Monde as soon as it's out. You can follow Andrei on Twitter here.  

The episode we made with Andrei last year about EU border agency Frontex can be found here. The graphics Katy mentioned on how Europeans dispose of unwanted clothes can be found here, and the Guardian's exclusive report about Dürer's sassy revenge on his boss is here. 

And if you have a few minutes to spare, we'd be really grateful if you could fill in a quick survey to help us improve the podcast. You can find it here: https://iter.ly/fcmgq 

00:22 Go away, Heatwave Charon

03:41 Bad Week: Italy's 10-second assault case

08:11 Good Week: France's discounts for clothes repairs

18:43 Interview: Andrei Popoviciu on the EU's migration policy in Africa

32:37 Isolation Inspiration: Maro's Tiny Desk Concert and Afropop

36:32 Happy Ending: Revenge on bad bosses, 16th century-style

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

How much sway do giant interest groups have over the way our food gets grown? This week we're delving into the murky world of farm lobbying with Thin Lei Win, one of the reporters behind a fascinating investigation into the highly influential Copa-Cogeca group. We're also talking about the mass FOMO outbreak resulting from Threads' absence from the EU and what the hell is going on with Europe's electricity prices right now.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/threads-solar-and-giant-farming-lobbies

We're running a survey to help us improve the podcast! If you've got five minutes to spare, we'd be really grateful if you could answer a few questions here: https://iter.ly/fcmgq 

You can find Lighthouse Reports' investigation into Copa-Cogeca here, with links to their partners' coverage in six languages. You can sign up to Thin's excellent newsletter on food and the climate here. 

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Songs from Spain and microfiber make-up remover cloths.

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. 

00:22 Sunny days watching the Dutch government collapse

04:25 Bad Week: Threads FOMO in Europe

16:42 Good Week: Bountiful solar power

27:45 Interview: Thin Lei Win on the outsized influence of Europe's giant farm lobby

42:08 Isolation Inspiration: Songs from Spain and microfiber make-up cloths

45:38 Happy Ending: Underwhelming but very very old

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

How can cartoon dogs help fight Russian disinformation? This week, hybrid warfare expert Robert van der Noordaa gives us a crash course on the #NAFOfellas movement and why Ukraine has been so good at using internet humour since last year's invasion. We're also talking about France's riots and the Dutch king's apology for the Netherlands' role in slavery.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/fighting-putin-one-meme-at-a-time

Robert is an analyst at Trollrensics and tweets here. You can watch the heartwarming video of Jolien Boumkwo running the 100m hurdles here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: R.M.N., rugelach and sfogliatelle. 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. 

00:22 A big announcement!

04:07 Bad Week: France's riots

17:32 Good Week: The Dutch king's slavery apology

27:13 Interview: Robert van der Noordaa on Ukraine's meme-armed internet warriors

37:41 Isolation Inspiration: RMN, rugelach and sfogliatelle

41:40 Happy Ending: Jolien Boumkwo, champion of our hearts

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Being able to move freely around 27 countries is one of the biggest benefits of living in the EU. In reality, this is pretty hard if you’ve got a disability. This week we speak to Alejandro Moledo, deputy director of the European Disability Forum, about plans to start addressing that. We’re also diving into Greece’s elections and, with the help of producer Katz Laszlo, the decision to halt Iceland’s summer whale-hunting season.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/greeces-elections-whales-and-disability-rights

You can follow Alejandro on Twitter here and find the EDF's podcast mini-series here. The reports Alejandro mentioned can be found here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'The Employees' by Olga Ravn and 'Fanfic' on Netflix. Bonus: best-selling whale song album 'Songs of the Humpback Whale'.

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. 

00:22 Busy busy busy, hot hot hot

02:52 Good Week: Iceland's whales

12:19 Bad Week: Greek leftwingers

22:42 Interview: Alejandro Moledo on the EU's (lack of a) disability policy

34:03 Isolation Inspiration: 'The Employees' and 'Fanfic'

37:57 Happy Ending: A bunch of things to celebrate this Pride Month

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

It's easy to feel doomed when it comes to climate change. In her latest book, the Italian political scientist Nathalie Tocci makes the case for cautious optimism about Europe's climate and energy policies. We chat to her this week about the opportunities and challenges of the European Green Deal, as well as how to interpret the death last week of Silvio Berlusconi. We're also talking about a push to ban unpaid internships across the EU, and whether or not we should be blaming Beyoncé for stubbornly high inflation in Sweden.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/beyonc-inflation-and-the-case-for-climate-optimism

Nathalie is the director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome. You can follow her on Twitter here and find more information about her latest book, 'A Green and Global Europe', here.

We are over the moon that the animated version of our episode 'Mohamed', made with our friends at Are We Europe, has won a CIVIS prize! You can watch the beautiful animation here on YouTube.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: ⁠roasted fennel⁠ and 'The Council of Egypt' by Leonardo Sciascia. 

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. 

00:22 Amsterdam heat and breakfast tears
03:44 Good Week: Interns
10:49 Bad Week: Beyoncé
21:31 Interview: Nathalie Tocci on the case for climate optimism in Europe
36:32 Isolation Inspiration: Roasted fennel and The Council of Egypt
40:02 Happy Ending: (Everyone's) Free-To-Wear Sunscreen

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Last week, dozens of NATO peacekeepers were injured after violent protests broke out in northern Kosovo. What is going on, and why do Kosovo's problems seem so hard to fix? This week we dig into the deeper context behind the unrest with political analyst Agon Maliqi. We're also talking about why much of Europe is antsy about who's going to be steering the EU next year, and a bizarre dispute in the art world.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/why-is-it-so-hard-to-fix-kosovos-problems

You can follow Agon on Twitter at @AgonMaliqi.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Turn of the Tide and Fatma Aydemir: The State of European Literature at the Forum on European Culture, De Balie.

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. 

00:22 The sunny side of the continent
02:14 Bad Week: Looming EU presidencies
12:37 Good Week for Dutch art trolls?
23:20 Interview: Agon Maliqi on why it's so hard to fix the Kosovo-Serbia relationship
35:46 Isolation Inspiration: Turn of the Tide and the Forum on European Culture
40:36 Happy Ending: The magic of Enhanced Rock Weathering

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

The last time we interviewed the physicist Meganne Christian, she was working on the French-Italian research base on Antarctica. Now she has her eye on outer space. We ring her up to find out more about her new life as a reserve astronaut for the European Space Agency, and Europe's role in the new commercial space era. We're also talking about Pedro Sánchez's Spanish election gamble and a hopeful court verdict for same-sex Romanian couples.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/europes-place-in-outer-space

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. 

You can follow Meganne here on Twitter and Instagram, and the ESA here and here. The report on Europe's future role in space exploration can be found here, and you can find out more about the ESA astronaut selection process here. Some other links you might want to check out:

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'The [Queer] Politics of Eurovision' from verilybitchie, and This Is Love: The Museum of Broken Relationships.

00:22 Welcome to the western-most peninsulas of Eurasia
03:28 Bad Week: Spain's Socialists
11:36 Good Week: LGBT couples in Romania
20:53 Interview: Meganne Christian on life as a reserve astronaut and what Europe is up to in space
32:53 Isolation Inspiration: The Queer Politics of Eurovision and The Museum of Broken Relationships
35:09 Happy Ending: Cheers to you, Gert-Jan

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

We usually see young people as the face of climate activism. This week, we find out how 2,000 Swiss women, all over the age of 65, took their government to court in a case that could change climate laws across Europe. And along the way, we figure out once and for all how the European Court of Human Rights actually works.

This is a special episode made in cooperation with theAllianz Foundation, one of several podcasts we're making this year about sustainability with their support. Stay tuned later in the year to hear more.

You can find out more about the KlimaSeniorinnen here. 

Listening from Amsterdam? The Forum on European Culture runs at De Balie from May 31-June 4, with a ton of great speakers on the line-up. Find the full programme here: https://cultureforum.eu/programme-2023 

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. 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/the-biggest-climate-case-that-ever-was

Reporter and producer: Katz Laszlo

Editor: Katy Lee

Editorial support: Dominic Kraemer and Wojciech Oleksiak

Sound design, mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music by Jim Barne, Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

We've been glued to the Turkish elections over the past week. But what does Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's victory in the first round mean for the country, and for Europe as a whole? This week we ring up political scientist Ahmet Erdi Öztürk to find out. We're also talking about a big boost in Germany's support for Ukraine, a fake tan controversy, and the teeny tiny bridge behind the Mona Lisa.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/the-naughty-child-of-nato

You can follow Erdi on Twitter @ahmeterdiozturk.

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. 

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Cautionary Tales: 'The Man Who Bet His House on a Pop Song - A Eurovision Tale' and 'The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared' by Jonas Jonasson

00:22 Together again

03:31 Good Week: Is Germany's Ukraine 'turning point' actually here?

11:27 Red-faced over orange-face 

19:26 Interview: Ahmet Erdi Öztürk on the Turkish elections

28:23 Isolation Inspiration: 'The Man Who Bet His House on a Pop Song' and 'The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared'

33:19 Happy Ending: A Mona Lisa mystery solved?

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

This week is a bonanza for fans of Europe's two favourite competitions: the Champions League football tournament and the Eurovision Song Contest. Both are held up as events that bring Europeans together, but which one does the job better? This week we aim to settle the debate once and for all with a face-off between sports commentator Barbara Barend and Eurovision historian Dean Vuletic. We're also talking about a €300-million EU pension black hole and France's first rap awards.

Do you live in Europe, and do you enjoy this podcast? If so, you can celebrate democracy and fund our show at the same time, by signing up to join the Capital of European Democracy jury. It only takes a few clicks and it's a huge help to us! Sign up here before May 15: https://join.capitalofdemocracy.eu/europeanspod

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/eurovision-vs-the-champions-league

The Eurovision vs. Champions League debate was part of a special event for Europe Day hosted by the European Cultural Foundation. You can find out more about this year's celebrations at europeday.eu.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'King Charles III's Secret Kingdom' and 'If Found'. You can find the article Katy mentioned on the Flamme awards here in the Guardian, and the ECF's Radio Europe Day playlist here on Spotify. 

00:22 Beyoncé in the Brussels bubble

03:49 Bad Week: A €300m pensions black hole

13:25 Good Week: France's first rap awards

18:39 Help us out by joining the European Capital of Democracy Jury!

20:23 The ultimate debate: Eurovision vs The Champions League

37:46 Isolation Inspiration: 'King Charles III's Secret Kingdom' and 'If Found'

40:54 Happy Ending: Aurimas Valujavičius's epic journey

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. 

Producer: Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

The EU is a lot of things. But is it funny? And would Europe be a better place if we *could* find it funny? This week we're talking to Lise Witteman, one of the co-founders of live comedy show The Schuman Show, about finding humour in the Brussels machine. We're also talking about Pope Francis' face-off with Viktor Orbán and the Italian tourism campaign that spawned a thousand memes.

Do you live in Europe, and do you enjoy this podcast? If so, you can celebrate democracy and fund our show at the same time, by signing up to join the Capital of European Democracy jury. It only takes a few clicks and it's a huge help to us! Sign up here: https://join.capitalofdemocracy.eu/europeanspod

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: ⁠https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/brussels-that-well-known-comedy-goldmine⁠

You can find out more about the Schuman Show at https://www.schumanshow.eu.

The final visual version of the episodes in our series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like, produced by our friends at Are We Europe, can be found here. 

This week's Isolation Inspiration: The Allusionist's Eurovision episodes and 'The Curious Case of Columbo's Message to Romania'

00:22 King's Day and erotic fiction penned by a finance minister

03:53 Good Week: The Pope v Viktor Orbán

11:44 Bad Week: Open to Meraviglia!

18:12 Help us out by joining the European Capital of Democracy Jury!

20:26 Interview: Lise Witteman on making the EU funny

31:58 Isolation Inspiration: The Allusionist's Eurovision episodes and 'The Curious Case of Columbo's Message to Romania'

35:53 Happy Ending: Gamefy The Dam Removal

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. 

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak 

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Mapping our genes has already allowed humanity to make huge strides in medicine. But the vast majority of the genomes we’ve decoded are those of people of white European heritage. Why is that a problem, and how do we fix it? This week we talk to the Nigerian geneticist Segun Fatumo about fixing the genome gap. We’re also talking about Andalucía’s bid to protect flamenco, and why Europe’s most powerful media mogul is in hot water.

Segun is an associate professor of genetic epidemiology and bioinformatics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He tweets @SFatumo.

You can find a video of flamenco performers celebrating Andalucía’s new law here, and watch the latest visual podcast in our series with Are We Europe, 'Andrea', here. We are delighted that the visual version of an earlier episode of This Is What A Generation Sounds Like, 'Mohamed', has been nominated for the CIVIS Prize! Watch it here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: this interview on the European Space Agency's Jupiter mission; How To Sell Drugs Online (Fast); World Leader or My Friend's Dad? and Luis Sal's Parisian croissant review. 

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. 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/how-racial-bias-is-messing-with-dna-research

00:22 Make Europe Digestible Again

02:23 A Good Week for protecting flamenco?

09:22 A Bad Week for Axel Springer's CEO

19:30 Interview: Segun Fatumo on the European bias of genomic studies

30:24 Isolation Inspiration: Juice, 'How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)', World Leader or My Friend's Dad, croissant reviews

34:59 Happy Ending: 500 days of reading and knitting (in a pitch-black cave)

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak 

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

What comes to mind when you imagine a library? Rows of books, probably. But across the continent, libraries are transforming into places that serve communities in all sorts of other ways. This week we hear from two very different libraries about how they're doing just that: Bojana Grujic of the Novi Sad City Library in Serbia and Myrto Tsilimpounidi from the Feminist Library at the Feminist Autonomous Centre in Athens. We're also talking about the fallout from Macron's trip to China, the international fight against Hungary's homophobic law, and the hallucinogenic adventures of early Europeans.

Bojana and Myrto's libraries are taking part in the European Cultural Foundation's Europe Challenge. The hunt for new participants begins soon; keep an eye on the ECF's website for updates, or subscribe to their newsletter.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Birdsbesafe cat collars, available via the Royal Belgian League for the Protection of Birds, and 'The Shadow King' by Maaza Mengiste. Bonus: Katy's amazing Notion template. 

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. 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/libraries-the-safest-spaces-we-have

00:22 No Easter eggs for Dominic

02:43 Messy / Bad Week: Macron and von der Leyen's trip to China

14:47 Good Week: The fight against Hungary's anti-LGBTQ law

23:06 Interview: Bojana Grujic and Myrto Tsilimpounidi on the reinvention of Europe's libraries

35:51 Isolation Inspiration: Birdsbesafe cat collars and 'The Shadow King' by Maaza Mengiste

40:59 Happy Ending: Early Europeans' psychedelic dabbling

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak 

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Trillions of euros — trillions! — are currently invested in 'sustainable' investment funds across Europe. But how green really are these funds? This week we ring up El País journalist Daniele Grasso, part of the international team of reporters behind the Great Green Investment Investigation, to find out. We're also talking about Sanna Marin's defeat, Italy's move to ban ChatGPT, and courgette flowers.

You can find Follow The Money's investigation on green investigation funds here, with links to reporting from Daniele and the rest of the team at the bottom of the page. The TechCrunch piece on the ramifications of Italy's ChatGPT ruling can be found here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: courgette flowers with garlic butter and oats; 99% Invisible - The Panopticon Effect.  

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. 

00:22 British lads and the correct way to enjoy a marathon

04:21 Bad Week: Sanna Marin

09:55 Good Week: Italy vs ChatGPT

20:28 Interview: Daniele Grasso on Europe's not-so-green investment funds

32:19 Isolation Inspiration: Courgette flowers and 99% Invisible: The Panopticon Effect

35:31 Happy Ending: Congratulations, Ryyan!

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak 

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

If you've claimed welfare benefits in Europe lately, there's a decent chance that authorities have used an algorithm to assess whether you might be trying to scam the system. The problem? All kinds of discrimination are baked into these calculations. This week we speak to Gabriel Geiger, one of the journalists behind an international investigation into these ‘suspicion machines’. We’re also looking back at a week of highs and lows for Europe’s climate policy, and celebrating Pompeii’s fluffy new recruits. 

You can find the various pieces published as part of Lighthouse Reports’ ‘suspicion machines’ investigation here and follow Gabriel on Twitter here.

The Guardian graphic that Dominic mentioned, explaining why it’s so hard to power ships with electricity, can be found here.

This week’s Isolation Inspiration: 'Lessons' by Ian McEwan, Traute Lafrenz's obituary, and 'A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived' by Adam Rutherford.

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. 00:22 The highs and lows of modern technology
02:52 Good week: Europe's maritime fuel deal
10:45 Bad week: The great combustion engine flop
19:33 Interview: Gabriel Geiger on Europe's suspicion machines
36:11 Isolation Inspiration: 'Lessons' by Ian McEwan, Traute Lafrenz's obituary, and 'A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived'
40:05 Happy Ending: Pompeii's fluffy new recruits

Producer: Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Last year, conservationists deliberately flooded a Slovakian forest. Why would you do such a thing? This week we ring up the co-founder of one of the organisations behind the project, Duarte de Zoeten of Mossy Earth, to find out. We're also talking about Italy's rainbow families, a kind-of-sort-of deal between Kosovo and Serbia, and Europe's first wild river national park.

You can find Mossy Earth's YouTube channel here and their latest video about the Danube project here. Find out more about their Slovakian partners, Broz, here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Vrij Spel (NPO) - Arnout, Dominic, Felix & Timo vs. Purcell; Stanley Tucci - Searching for Italy. 

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.

00:22 Rats and Covid
03:12 Bad week: Milan's rainbow families
09:39 Good week (ish): Serbia and Kosovo
19:03 Interview: Duarte de Zoeten on flooding a Slovakian forest
32:05 Isolation Inspiration: Arnout, Dominic, Felix & Timo vs. Purcell, and 'Searching for Italy'
37:45 Happy Ending: Europe's first wild river national park

Producer: Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

There've been a bunch of worrying reports from Moldova in recent weeks, from claims that Russia is fuelling street protests to fears of a coup d'etat. What exactly is going on, and what does Moscow have to do with it? This week we speak to Ivana Stradner, a specialist in Russian information warfare, to try to get to grips with Putin's strategy in the wider region. We're also talking about a teenager who may or may not have set up a non-existent airline, and what makes Swiss chocolate Swiss.

Ivana is a special correspondent at the Kyiv Post and a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. You can follow her on Twitter here.

Read more about the strangest story in German aviation here on One Mile At A Time.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Tár, 'The Instrumentalist' by Zadie Smith, Aftersun, and Rádio Olisipo.

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.

00:22 Viral cucumbers
03:13 Bad week: The teenager behind Germany's non-existent airline
09:48 Good week: Protecting Brand Switzerland (aka 'let's talk about Toblerones')
19:10 Interview: Ivana Stradner on Russian information warfare in Moldova and beyond
33:24 Isolation Inspiration: Tár, 'The Instrumentalist' by Zadie Smith, Aftersun, and Rádio Olisipo
38:08 Happy Ending: The opposite of burgling

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

We're deep into the selection process for the world's most ridiculous music competition, with artists across the continent vying to be chosen as their nation's Eurovision entry. But what happens to the songs that don't actually make it to the contest? This week we've got a joyful interview with Monty Moncrieff, whose podcast Second Cherry gives some love to the nearly-Eurovision hits that still deserve a listen. We're also talking about Elly Schlein, Italy's new leader on the left, and an eyebrow-raising decision by Malta's prison service.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'Euphoria' and 'Tattoo' by Loreen; 'The Last Soviet', and bonus entry 'Email to Berlin' by Double Date.

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.

00:23 Continental drama and bird noises
02:36 Good Week: Elly Schlein
12:13 Bad week: Malta's prison service
22:09 Interview: Monty Moncrieff on nearly-Eurovision hits
34:50 Isolation Inspiration: Loreen and 'The Last Soviet'
38:44 Happy Ending: A Roman dildo?

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

An overnight career change. Switching the language you love in. This week, how war transforms your life in ways you’d never expect.

This is the final instalment of our award-winning mini-series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like, a co-production by The Europeans and Are We Europe, made in cooperation with theAllianz Foundation. You can find the other episodes, which take us from Italy to Belarus, here.

Our regular show will be back next week. Thanks as ever to the listeners who support this podcast so that we can keep making it. You can chip in at patreon.com/europeanspodcast.

Thanks for listening.

Producers: Katz Laszlo and Valeria Fokina

Sound design: Katz Laszlo

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Editor: Katy Lee

Editorial support: Wojciech Oleksiak and Dominic Kraemer

You can find Valeria on Instagram here.

Music: The Kiffness x Boombox - Remix of Andrii Horolski singing ‘Oy u luzi chervona kalyna’; коники by Tik Tu; Vesna, Baby and Alambari by DakhaBrakha; Valeria Fokina covering ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor; When It Hits You and The Final Cut from Epidemic Sound. Theme music byJim Barne. SFX from Freesound.org.

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

There's been a steady drip-drip of revelations for months now that an alarming number of people in Greece have had their phones tapped. Who is behind this mass snooping, and why are they doing it? This week we call up our favourite Greek-splainer Nick Malkoutzis to unravel a complicated scandal. We're also talking about oil and gas companies' bonanza profits, and the wolf that killed Ursula von der Leyen's pony.

Nick is the co-founder and editor of MacroPolis. You can find The Agora, his excellent podcast on Greek politics, here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Cunk on Earth and The Making of Modern Ukraine (on Youtube here and on Spotify here).

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.

00:23 Duolingo fraud
02:22 Bad Week: Ursula and the Wolf
08:03 Good week: Filthy-rich oil and gas giants
18:35 Interview: Nick Malkoutzis on Greece's snooping scandal
30:48 Isolation Inspiration: 'Cunk on Earth' and 'The Making of Modern Ukraine'
34:25 Happy Ending: Hercules rises from the sewer

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Germany’s government has faced international criticism in recent weeks for dithering over whether or not to send tanks to Ukraine. The Leopard 2s are finally on their way —  but why is Europe’s richest country so reluctant to look like a military leader? This week we’re diving into the psychology of Germany’s foreign policy with Sophia Besch, Europe fellow at the Carnegie Endowment. We’re also talking about Czechia’s anti-populist new president, and a bitter row over wine labels.

You can follow Sophia on Twitter here and find out more about her work here.

This week’s Isolation Inspiration: Stromae’s Tiny Desk Concert and ‘The Door’ by Magda Szabó.

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.

00:00 Good Week, Fast Week
02:50 Good Week: Bye-bye Babiš
11:08 Bad week: The Great Wine Label Row
22:00 Interview: Sophia Besch on how Germany sees its place in the world
39:27 Isolation Inspiration: Stromae’s Tiny Desk Concert and ‘The Door’ by Magda Szabó
41:33 Happy Ending: Sharks in Liverpool

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

When legendary Copenhagen restaurant Noma announced that it's planning to close its doors, its star chef René Redzepi said that producing his kind of elite cuisine had become 'unsustainable'. The restaurant, and others like it, have faced vocal criticism over working practices ranging from exploitative unpaid internships to gruelling 16-hour days. This week we speak to Lisa Lind Dunbar, an industry veteran and critic of Denmark's restaurant working culture, to try to understand how fine dining went so wrong. We're also talking about Polish bison, why Turkey is blocking Sweden's NATO bid, and the Irish president's vision of a blissfully homework-free childhood.

You can follow Lisa on Instagram here. This week's Isolation Inspiration: Paolo Sorrentino's 'Hand of God', and 'Ukraine: Under the Counter', reported by our very own Katz Laszlo for Rough Translation / Radiolab.

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.

00:00 The Europeans, brought to you by ChatGPT
03:49 Good Week: A proposed homework ban in Ireland
10:15 Bad week: Why Turkey is blocking Sweden's NATO bid
20:55 Interview: Lisa Lind Dunbar on Denmark's broken restaurant industry
39:03 Isolation Inspiration: 'The Hand of God' and 'Under the Counter'
42:07 Hooray for Polish bison

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

This week, a story about being incredibly sure you’re right about something, and then realising you weren’t. We’re heading to Cyprus for the latest instalment of our award-winning mini-series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like.

This series is a co-production by The Europeans and Are We Europe, made in cooperation with theAllianz Foundation. You can find the other episodes, which take us from Italy to Belarus, here.

Our regular show will be back next week! Thanks as ever to the listeners who support this podcast so that we can keep making it. You can chip in at patreon.com/europeanspodcast.

Thanks for listening.

Producers: Wojciech Oleksiak and Andrea Solomonides

Scoring, sound design and mixing: Wojciech Oleksiak

Editors: Katz Laszlo, Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer

Music by Blue Dot Sessions. Theme music byJim Barne.

With special thanks to Eleni Tzialli and Hilmi Tekoglu.

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

*Content warning: This episode contains some colourful language and a discussion of what happens to letters to Sinterklaas* 

It's our final episode of 2022! This week we're getting into the festive spirit with Berlin-based historian Kathrin Schwarz, creator of an entire series of Christmassy European podcasts. We're also talking about Belgium's Sinterklaas postal failure, and why a 1970s Eurovision hit has gone viral in Ukraine. 

This episode was recorded live on Zoom in front of an audience of our supporters! Thank you so much to everyone who chips in so that we can keep making The Europeans. You can join us 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.

Kathrin's podcast, available in German, is called 'Have yourself a very European Christmas - Adventskalenderpodcast'. You can find all 24 episodes here on Spotify, as well as on Apple. You can also follow Kathrin on Twitter here or Instagram here, and find her latest work on witches in Brandenberg here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: @balthazar_theblackmagus and 'Limbic' by Peter Scapello.

04:01 Good Week: Goeiemorgen, morgen

09:56 Bad Week: The great Sinterklaas postal failure

18:03 Kathrin Schwarz on Christmas in the EU

29:13 Isolation Inspiration: @balthazar_theblackmagus and 'Limbic' by Peter Scapello

31:11 Happy Ending: Fighting loneliness at the supermarket checkout

Thanks for listening! We'll be back in January.

Hosts: Dominic Kraemer and Katy Lee

Producers: Katy Lee, Wojciech Oleksiak and Katz Laszlo 

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Kathrin's Recipe: Sardine sandwiches with Christmas cognac

Ingredients

    200 ml béchamel sauce*

    4 slices of toast

    50 g grated Gruyère cheese

    1 tin of sardines in olive oil (115 g)

    1 teaspoon mustard

    1 tablespoon lemon juice

    1/4 teaspoon chopped thyme

    salt

    black pepper

*Melt butter, mix with flour, then steadily milk in at medium temperature

Preparation

Bring the béchamel sauce to boil in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Add the mustard, thyme, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir only briefly and remove from the heat. Place 2 slices of toast in a small ovenproof dish.

Spread half of the resulting mixture on the toast slices in a bowl, then arrange the drained sardines and half of the grated cheese on top.

Top with the remaining slices of toast and pour over the remaining béchamel sauce and grated cheese.

Place in the oven preheated to 220 °C and bake for 10-15 minutes until the surface is lightly browned and the cheese melts.

Tip

Before baking, place a lemon slice on each sandwich as a garnish or sprinkle with chives.

In 1932, Poland became one of the first countries in Europe to decriminalise homosexuality; today it's one of the most hostile on the continent when it comes to LGBTQ rights. This week historian Kamil Karczewski joins us to discuss Poland's little-known history as a queer pioneer, and what has changed since. We're also talking about France's crackdown on domestic flights and Ireland's amazingly successful experiment with the four-day week. Oh, and we pay a visit to the EU metaverse, so that you don't have to.

You can follow Kamil on Twitter here, and visit the EU's Global Gateway metaverse site here. Good luck, and let us know if you make it inside!

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Règle 30, TechTrash, and Inside the Mind of a Cat. You can follow the Savitsky Cats on Instagram here.

Don't forget to sign up to support the podcast this week if you'd like to join the live recording of our Christmas episode on December 12! We're hugely grateful to everyone who chips in so that we can keep making the show. You can join us at patreon.com/europeanspodcast, and many currencies are available. 

Thanks for listening!

02:22 Good Week: France's crackdown on domestic flights
09:36 Bad Week: The EU's metaverse fiesta flop
22:23 Interview: Kamil Karczewski on Poland's little-known queer history
38:16 Isolation Inspiration: Règle 30, Tech Trash, and 'Inside the Mind of a Cat'
42:22 Happy Ending: Ireland's four-day working week is a roaring success

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak 

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

When reports emerged of Chinese 'police service stations' operating in Europe, alarm bells began ringing across the continent. But what exactly is going on at these sites, and how worried should we be about them? This week we ring Yuan Yang, Europe-China correspondent at the Financial Times, to get a better understanding of how China works beyond its borders. We're also talking about Viktor Orbán's controversial scarf and the right not to be 'fun' at work.

You can follow Yuan on Twitter here and read her reporting on China's offshore police stations here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'The White Lotus', Season 2, and The Playlist. Our interview with newly-minted astronaut Dr Meganne Christian, from February 2019, can be found in this episode: The Most Isolated Place on Earth'.

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.

03:04 Bad Week: Scarfgate

08:09 Good Week: The right to not be fun

15:35 Interview: Yuan Yang on China's 'overseas police stations'

29:20 Isolation Inspiration: Season 2 of 'The White Lotus' and 'The Playlist'

32:22 Happy Ending: Europe's new astronauts

Producer: Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

The first episode of The Europeans aired five years ago this week! To mark this very special occasion, producers Katz and Wojciech join Katy and Dominic to look back on how Europe has changed in the half-decade we've been making this podcast.

Many thanks to the amazing people who've taken the time to speak to us over the years. In this episode you heard:

Franz Kubacyk - 'Translating Trump, Defending Deneuve', January 2018
Katz Laszlo - 'How the hell do you make an EU law?', February 2020
Tom Moylan - 'President of the European what now?', December 2019
Pasi Sahlberg - 'Finnish Lessons', April 2021
Andrei Popoviciu - 'Pushbacks', November 2019
Remco Yizhak Cooremans - 'It takes more than two, baby' - June 2022
Grace Ly - 'France's Invisible Asians', November 2020
Patrick Gathara - 'Eurafrica', February 2020
Natalie Lamprou - 'Cheese Diplomacy' - April 2021
Sara (episode 3 in our series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like) - November 2021

And thank you 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.

A video of friendly wolves can be found here.

04:10 Good Five Years: Solar energy
10:48 Bad Five Years: Western naivety
15:55 Good Five Years: Wolves
21:46 Bad Five Years: Media freedom in Central and Eastern Europe
33:42 An ode to governments that came and went
35:32 Franz Kubacyk on Translating Trump
38:46 Tom Moylan on the secrets of the European Commission building
39:53 Pasi Sahlberg on Finland's education system
42:14 Frontex and Fortress Europe
43:48 Remco Yizhak Cooremans on recognising rainbow families in the Netherlands
44:51 Grace Ly on France's Invisible Asians
45:45 Patrick Gathara on Eurafrica
47:34 Natalie Lamprou on halloumi diplomacy in Cyprus
49:47 Sara: trahana, and three Albanias

Artwork for this episode by our lovely listener, Luisa Balaban.

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

As the COP27 climate talks wrap up in Egypt, we’re turning our attention to an issue that got less attention at the summit than you might expect: the growing number of people having to flee their homes as a result of climate change. What role does Europe have to play in all this, both in terms of finding solutions and as a major driver of climate change in the first place? This week we find out with the help of Alexandre Porteret of the European Commission’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department, and François Gemenne of the Hugo Laboratory, the world’s first interdisciplinary research centre focusing on how climate change impacts migration.

This episode was supported by the European Commission, with coordination from Are We Europe.

Producer: Katz Laszlo

Scoring and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: BlueDot Sessions and Epidemic Sounds

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.

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This week we're wrestling with a big idea: time, and the lack of it. Most Europeans have experienced burnout, or felt close to it, at some point in their lives. What if we redesigned policies to give citizens their time back? To find out more, we called up Ariadna Güell Sans, one of the coordinators of the Barcelona Time Use Initiative, about how the city is using time to try to make life easier and fairer. We're also talking about incomprehensible euro-speak, and healing Franco-German relations with train tickets.

You can find Christian Rauh's study on the European Commission's unintelligible press releases here and Sarah Wheaton's reporting on it here in Politico. The European burnout survey can be found here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'Something to Do' from Zadie Smith's 'Intimations', and Katy's Notion planner.

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.

02:35 Bad Week: Impenetrable euro-speak
10:46 Good Week: French and German young'uns
19:12 Interview: Ariadna Güell Sans on giving Barcelona's citizens their time back
34:57 Isolation Inspiration: 'Something To Do' by Zadie Smith, Notion and Rádio Olisipo
38:36 Happy Ending: The Netherlands' high school mayo dealers

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Last weekend, we took over the European Parliament (kind of) along with more than 1,000 young activists from across the continent. This week we hear from some of those activists as well as from President Roberta Metsola, in a conversation recorded live on stage inside the Hemicycle. We're also talking about Germany's plans to legalise cannabis, and how to steal a Polish tram.

Katy and Dominic were hosting Level Up!, a two-day activism bootcamp organised by the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Youth Forum, whose president Silja Markkula also spoke to us on stage.

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.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Greta Thunberg in conversation with Björk on the New Statesman's World Review podcast, and Adam Buxton in conversation with the Irish novelist Marian Keyes.

02:58 Good Week: Germany's plans to legalise cannabis
09:44 Bad Week: Poland's stolen tram
15:03 Our takeover of the European Parliament with 1,000 young activists
34:20 Isolation Inspiration: Greta Thunberg and Björk in conversation; Adam Buxton and Marian Keys in conversation
37:50 Happy Ending: The upside-down Mondrian

Producer: Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. You can find the first chapter 'Mohamed' here, and more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

What does it feel like to know that your government has been able to access every single message on your phone? Last year, the Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi found out that he'd been hacked using Pegasus spyware. This week we hear about his latest investigation, which looks at how the Orbán government managed to get hold of this incredibly powerful surveillance tool in the first place. We're also talking about last weekend's mysterious German train sabotage and growing European protests against World Cup hosts Qatar.

You can follow Szabolcs on Twitter here and read the inside story of how Pegasus was brought to Hungary here via Direkt36. A background read on the spyware scandal currently rocking Greece can be found here.

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.

This week's Isolation Inspiration:

The latest visual episode in This Is What A Generation Sounds Like, our series with Are We Europe: Denisa

Scottish crime drama Karen Pirie

'Les années' (The Years) by Annie Ernaux

00:22 Welcome!
02:49 Bad Week: The Great German Train Sabotage Mystery
10:22 Good Week: Europe's growing World Cup protest movement
24:39 Interview: Szabolcs Panyi on being hacked by the Hungarian government
36:06 Isolation Inspiration: 'Denisa', 'Karen Pirie', and 'The Years' by Annie Ernaux
40:39 Happy Ending: Waxworms, gross but good

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

With fourteen governments and a three-person presidency, Bosnia and Herzegovina's political system is often described as the most complicated in the world. It's a system that was designed to keep the peace after a devastating war. But three decades on, is it still working? This week we give Aleksandar Brezar the near-impossible task of untangling the weekend's elections for us. We're also talking about Malta's golden passports and a chess scandal involving anal beads. Yes, you heard that correctly.

Aleksandar is a journalist mostly covering the Western Balkans. You can find him on Twitter here.

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.

This week's Isolation Inspiration:

'Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War', by Howard W. French

The ZOE podcast: 'How to control blood sugar spikes', with Jessie Inchauspé

02:42 Good Week: A challenge to Malta's golden passport scheme

09:33 Bad Week: Anal bead scandal strikes the chess world

18:44 Interview: Aleksandar Brezar on the Bosnian elections

30:46 Isolation Inspiration: 'Born in Blackness' and Jessie Inchauspé on the ZOE podcast

34:41 Happy Ending: The power of cow poo

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

This week saw a political earthquake in Italy — albeit one that had been widely predicted. With Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy poised to lead the new government, just how scared should we be? We ring up the philosopher Lorenzo Marsili to help us understand what just happened. We're also talking about fair pensions for Swiss women, and a Spanish lagoon that can now call itself a person.

Lorenzo is the founder of the progressive civil society movement European Alternatives. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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.

This week's Isolation Inspiration:

'Flying to LA' by Maro feat. Lisa Oduor-Noah

'I'll Come Too' by James Blake

'Broken Greek' by Pete Paphides and the accompanying Spotify playlist

02:18 Good Week: The Mar Menor

06:43 Bad Week: Swiss women

13:57 Interview: Lorenzo Marsili on the Italian elections

28:16 Isolation Inspiration: Maro and Broken Greek

32:07 Happy Ending: We can't wait for Rail Baltica 

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

Between those of us who grew up before the internet and those who've never known a world without it, there's a generation of people who came of age *with* the web. This week we chat to the French-Moroccan journalist Marie Le Conte about 'Escape', a book that reflects on the vibrant, chaotic days of the early internet and what has changed since then. We're also talking about Viktor Orbán's money woes and why psychiatrists in Brussels are prescribing museum visits for mental health.

Marie tweets at @youngvulgarian. 'Escape: How a generation shaped, destroyed and survived the internet' is out now.

You can read about how Hungary's elite made a fortune from EU subsidies here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: The Politalia newsletter and 'Druk' (Another Round).

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.

02:47 Bad (ish) Week: Hungary's billions

10:34 Good Week: Brussels' 'museum therapy' initiative

18:57 Interview: Marie Le Conte on 'Escape' and growing up on the early internet

30:18 Isolation Inspiration: The Politalia newsletter and 'Druk' ('Another Round')

32:59 Happy Ending: Happy Birthday, Spider-Man

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

We're back after our summer break, and celebrating a milestone this week: our 200th episode! To mark the occasion, we're joined by a special guest, former Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb. Now that he's training the next generation of leaders at the European University Institute in Florence, we asked him to grade the current batch on their handling of everything from the war in Ukraine to the energy crisis. We're also talking about Sweden's election, an ill-advised decision by Bosnian football bosses, and how sheep can help to fight forest fires.

Alexander Stubb is Director of the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute.  You can follow him on Twitter here.

Back in 2020 we interviewed another former Finnish PM, 16-year-old Aava Murto, after she held the job for a day. You can check out that conversation in this episode.

And Aleksandar Brezar's reporting on Bosnia and Herzegovina's planned friendly against Russia can be found here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration:

'Take A Chance' - DOMi & JD BECK, feat. Anderson .Paak

'Thou Wilt Keep Him In Perfect Peace' - Samuel Sebastian Wesley

'The short unhappy life of Elizabeth Windsor' - Politico Europe

Thank you so much to all the listeners who have helped us reach 200 episodes. 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.

00:22 We're back, and it's our 200th episode!

03:36 Good Week? Sweden's elections

20:27 Interview: Alexander Stubb grades Europe's leaders on their handling of various current crises

36:33 Isolation Inspiration

41:04 Happy Ending: Firefighting sheep and goat(s)

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

This week, we heard that 'Josh and Franco', one of our all-time favourite episodes, has been nominated for the equivalent of an Oscar in the European podcast world: the Prix Europa. We are over the moon and thought this was a good moment to re-release the episode.

It was the first episode from our series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like and if you are watching on Spotify, you will be able to watch this podcast as it was our first attempt at creating a 'Visual Podcast', in collaboration with our friends at Are We Europe. If you are not listening on Spotify, then you can experience the visual episode on Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/areweeurope/joshandfranco

Podcast Credits:

Producers: Katz Laszlo and Josh Prezioso

Editorial support: Dominic Kraemer, Katy Lee, Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar

Video Credits:

Visual & Motion Design: Eddie Stok
Project Coordination: Mick ter Reehorst
Translation: Giosuè Prezioso
Subtitles: Marco Mingolla

Music:

Tarantella del Gargano by Marco Beasley & represented by Out Here Music; Italian Opera by UV Protection; Andante (Italian Concerto) written by Bach and performed by Catrina Finch; Amore Mio by Mina with Warner Music Italy; Tomb by Veshza; La Luna E Fisarmonica by Ziv Moran; Disco Ball by Evgeny Barduzha, and Jim Barne.

Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions: Kilkerrin by Scalcairn; Sylvestor by One Such Village; Angel Academy by Marc Oakley; Toby or not Toby by Mark Oakley.

SFX from Freesounds.org:  Wescwave;  GeorgeHopkins;  suonidigallipoli;  samararaine;  cmusounddesign;  suonidibologna;  wolkenunddreck;  ancorapazzo;  soundforest.

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

This series is co-produced in co-operation with Allianz Kulturstiftung, an independent not-for-profit cultural foundation committed to strengthening cohesion in Europe using the tools of art and culture. Find out more at kulturstiftung.allianz.de.

In the final episode before our summer break, we dive into a cheese-based conflict between Greece and Denmark and a homophobic Hungarian law that is finally being challenged by the EU in court. Plus, we ring up Una Hajdari, roaming reporter in the Western Balkans, to try to untangle why North Macedonia has had such a rough ride on its path to EU membership. And in a special pre-holiday edition of Isolation Inspiration, we've got a bumper crop of European summer reads and a chat with Gregory Warner from NPR's Rough Translation about work culture around the world.

You can follow Una on Twitter here and Szabolcs Panyi, the Hungarian journalist Dominic mentioned, here.

The Europeans' Summer 2022 Reading List is here and you can check out Rough Translation's new season, 'Work', at https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510324/rough-translation.

Thanks for listening! We'll be back on September 15.

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.

00:22 Welcome!

02:33 Good Week: Slovenia legalises gay marriage and adoption

08:25 Bad Week: The Uber Files

19:43 Interview: Janez Potočnik on Europe's food supplies

33:03 Isolation Inspiration: 'Techtopia' and 'Standing Up'

36:25 Happy Ending: Old bones in Spain

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

Russia's assault on Ukraine is driving a global food crisis, and there are calls for Europe to dramatically increase its own supplies in response. But can we do that without damaging the environment? This week we speak to former EU environment commissioner Janez Potočnik about how to ensure our food security without sacrificing ambitious climate and biodiversity plans. We're also talking about the #UberFiles, Slovenia's move to legalise same-sex marriage, and an extremely old Spaniard.

Janez is the co-chair of the UN International Resource Panel and a partner at SYSTEMIQ. You can follow him on Twitter here.

Isolation Inspiration: This episode of Techtopia on a massive ransomware attack in Germany; Standing Up on Netflix.

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.

00:22 Welcome!

02:33 Good Week: Slovenia legalises gay marriage and adoption

08:25 Bad Week: The Uber Files

19:43 Interview: Janez Potočnik on Europe's food supplies

33:03 Isolation Inspiration: 'Techtopia' and 'Standing Up'

36:25 Happy Ending: Old bones in Spain 

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

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

More and more European police forces are using facial recognition technology. Under an EU proposal they'd be able to share access to the millions of images they've collected – creating what critics say amounts to one of the most extensive biometric surveillance systems in the world. This week we speak to Domen Savič, head of Slovenian digital rights NGO Državljan D (Citizen D), about the tricky balance between fighting crime and protecting our privacy. We're also talking about Seville's plans to name its heatwaves and the French response to the US Supreme Court's abortion ruling. Plus, a recording of Dominic's doorbell disaster.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Bionic reading, Nicola Coughlan on Off Menu, DakhaBrakha,Jamala, Kalush and Go_A.

You can check out Državljan D's monthly podcast on tech ethics here.

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.

02:34 Good Week: Seville's plan to name its heatwaves

11:52 Bad Week (or Good Response To A Bad Week): France's response to the US Supreme Court ruling

18:20 Interview: Domen Savič on the EU's facial recognition plans

30:33 Isolation Inspiration: Bionic reading, Nicola Coughlan on Off Menu, and Glastonbury's Ukrainian offerings

34:42 Happy Ending: Rock, paper, scissors on wheels

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

When Remco Yizhak Cooremans moved home to the Netherlands after many years abroad, the authorities told him something shocking: his son wasn't legally his son. This week, we hear about Dutch plans to bring the law up to date with the realities of 21st-century parenting. We're also talking about Roman trash and minimum wages you can actually live on.

Remco is the chairman of Meer dan Gewenst. If you're interested in the multi-parenting law, you can catch him speaking at De Balie in Amsterdam on June 16, and it's being streamed online too. Details here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Navalny, and Rough Translation's episode on France's forbidden desk lunches.

We're taking a break next week so that Katy can go stand in a muddy field. While we're away, check out this beautiful episode from Belarusian poet Hanna Komar, reflecting on the meaning of freedom.

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.

02:41 Good Week: Minimum wages you can actually live on

08:54 Bad Week: Messy Rome

18:06 Interview: Remco Yizhak Cooremans on the Netherlands' planned multi-parent law

32:33 Isolation Inspiration: 'Navalny' and Rough Translation's French lunch episode

34:23 Happy Ending: Congratulations, Candida!

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

In the EU's complicated efforts to present a united front on Ukraine, Viktor Orbán stands out like a sore thumb. Why is Orbán cosying up to Vladimir Putin? This week, we catch up with longtime Orbán-watcher Viktória Serdült on what game the Hungarian leader might be playing. We're also talking about the toxic row engulfing Germany's documenta fifteen festival, and a gamechanger for annoying customer service calls in Spain.

Viktória is a journalist at HVG, one of the few remaining bastions of independent media in Hungary. You can follow her on Twitter here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: On Spec and Season 3 of Derry Girls.

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. 

03:07 Bad Week: documenta fifteen

14:06 Good Week: Spain's amazing customer service bill

20:18 Interview: Viktória Serdült on Viktor Orbán's latest antics

31:16 Isolation Inspiration: On Spec and Derry Girls

34:09 Happy Ending: Pompeii DNA

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

Moldova represents a prime example of social media giants' failure to tackle disinformation in smaller and less wealthy countries ⁠— in this case, with hugely dangerous potential consequences. This week we speak to civil society activist Diana Filimon about the propaganda war that Russia has been waging in countries neighbouring Ukraine. We're also talking about Germany's €9 transport experiment, the morality of a lockdown for cats, and scallop discothèques.

You can find out more about Diana's work at Forum Apulum here and read Philip Oltermann's reporting on racism claims against Berlin ticket inspectors here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: The Truffle Hunters, and the New York Times' reporting on the legacy of Haiti's reparations to enslavers. You can read more about the methods used for the NYT's reporting here and more on reactions to the story here. A video of dancing scallops can be found here.

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. And this week, why not #TellASwede about this podcast's existence?

02:51 Good Week: Germany's €9 transport experiment

09:40 Bad Week: Walldorf's lockdown for cats

17:12 Interview: Diana Filimon on disinformation in Moldova

33:06 Isolation Inspiration: 'The Truffle Hunters' and the NYT's reporting on Haiti's reparations to enslavers

38:19 Happy Ending: Scallop disco

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak, with thanks to Katz Laszlo

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Kris de Decker's balcony in Barcelona is nice and sunny. Which is just as well, because a website depends on it. This week we chat to Kris, co-founder of Low-Tech Magazine, about why he built a solar-powered website and how human history can inspire modern environmental solutions. We're also talking about foie gras, faux gras, and bringing EU and non-EU Europe together.

You can check out the solar-powered version of Low-Tech Magazine's website here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'Today in Focus - The Wagatha Christie case'; 'Multiples: 12 stories in 18 languages by 61 authors'; this vegan foie gras recipe; Impact from Les Glorieuses, a feminist newsletter in English and French.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

03:23 Good Week? Macron's big new idea
12:09 Bad Week: Foie gras
20:09 Interview: Kris De Decker on building a solar-powered website
34:38 Isolation Inspiration: 'Today in Focus - The Wagatha Christie case' and 'Multiples'
38:04 Happy Ending: Italy's women footballers go pro

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak, with thanks to Katz Laszlo 

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

We know, we know, not everyone loves Eurovision — but we think you'll enjoy this week's interview even if you're not as nuts about the annual celebration of euro-kitsch as we are. Dr Dean Vuletic is the world's pre-eminent Eurovision historian, and we were delighted to talk to him about how the contest came into being and why it's always been so political. We're also talking about the EU's Russian oil embargo, a row over WWII reparations in 2022, and a first for wind power in the Mediterranean.

We'll be running a Eurovision sweepstake for our Patreon supporters on the night of the finals, May 10! More details soon at patreon.com/europeanspodcast.

Financing Putin's war: you can find the real-time tracker of EU fossil fuel imports here and read the Atlantic Council's research on replacing Russian gas here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'Young Mungo' by Douglas Stuart, the photography of Wolfgang Tillmans, and Russian Doll, Season 2.

02:26 (Tentative) Good Week: The EU's Russian oil embargo
10:24 Bad Week: Italy, Germany, and WWII reparations
15:57 Interview: Dean Vuletic on the history of Eurovision
32:45 Isolation Inspiration: 'Young Mungo', Wolfgang Tillmans and Russian Doll, Season 2

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

Producer: 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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Every year, Europeans chuck away millions of tons of clothing. The EU has a new plan to tackle the huge environmental impact of the fashion and textile industry — but can it make a difference? We asked the model and activist Nimue Smit to take a look. We're also talking about the UK's extremely controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and a legal leap forward for Spain's single parents.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Lithuanian clothing exchange Vinted, and Belgian Netflix comedy 'Soil' ('Grond').

A few things Nimue mentioned that listeners might want to check out: 'Consumed' by Aja Barber, Depop, Vestiaire Collective, Sustainable Fashion Giftcard, Rank A Brand.

02:17 Bad Week: UK asylum policy
13:44 Good Week: Spain's single parents
19:49 Interview: Nimue Smit on fixing the fashion industry
34:02 Isolation Inspiration: Vinted and Grond
36:28 Happy Ending: Teaching teens to love natural history

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

Producer: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak, with thanks to Katz Laszlo

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Iiiiit's French election week! Katy spent the big night at Le Pen HQ. This week, in a Europeans first, Dominic and Katz turn the microphone on our resident French person to ask: what just happened? And could Marine Le Pen really become France's first far-right president?

We're also talking about the soaring cost of housing (again) and the European microstate that just pulled off an LGBTQ+ world first.

You can listen to Cody Hochstenbach calling for a revolution in housing policy here and find the latest figures from Eurostat here. And you can read here about why microstates have often been slow to catch up on LGBTQ rights.

Isolation Inspiration: 'Free' by Lea Ypi and Große Freiheit (Great Freedom).

02:07 Bad Week: Housing costs up AGAIN
04:49 Good Week: San Marino's world-first LGBTQ+ head of state
10:22 Interview: Katy on the French election
28:09 Isolation Inspiration: 'Free' by Lea Ypi and Große Freiheit (Great Freedom)
30:31 Happy Ending: Making the most of the Greek sunshine

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

Producer: Katy Lee, with thanks to Katz Laszlo 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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

We're back! And we're headed into the classroom. Kids across Europe have very different experiences of school depending on where they live and how rich their parents are. One country that's been praised for getting public education right is Finland. This week we speak to education professor Pasi Sahlberg about what the world can learn from the Finnish way.

We're also talking about Orbán's victory, bridging Europe's North-South divide, and a particularly special edition of El Clásico.

Pasi is Professor of Education at Southern Cross University. You can read more about his work here and follow him on Twitter here.

You can read the joint Spain-Netherlands paper here and find Politico's reporting on it here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Flee, Talking France, and Paroles de France(s).

02:50 Bad Week: Hungary's opposition

11:48 Good Week: Bridging the North-South divide

20:46 Interview with Pasi Sahlberg

34:56 Isolation Inspiration: Flee and French election podcasts

38:39 Happy Ending: A very special Clásico

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Joanna and Catinca were born in Romania during the final years of the dictatorship of Nicolai Ceausescu, a regime that combined elements of The Hunger Games, The Handmaid's Tale and North Korea.

Our regular episodes return next week. While Dominic wraps up work on his new show, here’s the second of two special guest appearances from Millennial History, a podcast series that relives moments in recent world history, as seen through the eyes of people who were children when they happened.

In interviews with musical journalist Andrea Voets, they reflect on the far-reaching consequences of the events on their lives and societies. Andrea and composer/sound designerLuke Deane have combined these testimonies with music donated by more than sixty bands to create a unique form of ‘musical journalism’.

Producers: Andrea Voets and Luke Deane

Special thanks to: Cosima Opartan, Surorile Osoianu, Subcarpati, Karpov not Kasparov, Musai Soundworks, Diana Rotaru, Temple Invisible, Alex Simu & quintet, Robin & the Backstabbers, Andrea Voets

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

A cooperation of Resonate Productions - creating musical journalism - and Are We Europe.

For more episodes, subscribe to Millennial History.

www.millennialhistorypodcast.com || www.facebook.com/musicaljournalism

Aki grew up in Sicily. On May 23, 1992, the mafia blew up the highway behind his grandmother’s house, killing a judge named Giovanni Falcone.

Since Dominic is away right now, we’re bringing you the first of two very special guest appearances from Millennial History, a new podcast series reliving impactful moments in recent world history, as seen through the eyes of people who were children when they happened.

In interviews with musical journalist Andrea Voets, they reflect on the far-reaching consequences of the events on their lives and societies. Andrea and composer/sound designer Luke Deane have combined these testimonies with music donated by more than sixty bands to create a unique form of ‘musical journalism’.

Producers: Andrea Voets and Luke Deane

Special thanks to: Alfio Antico, Giulia Tagliavia, Francesco Guaiana, Salvatore Bonafede

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

A cooperation of Resonate Productions - creating musical journalism - and Are We Europe.

For more episodes, subscribe to Millennial History.

www.millennialhistorypodcast.com || www.facebook.com/musicaljournalism

Before the war, Vladimir was a film producer and Yuriy was a journalist. Daria works in marketing, Andrii is a musician, and Anna is a human resources manager for an IT company. This week we asked five Ukrainians to send us some voice messages, documenting their thoughts and feelings since the world turned upside down on February 24.

You can donate to the International Committee of the Red Cross's Ukraine appeal here.

Many thanks to Daria Barakhta, Andrii Kovalov, Yuriy Matsarsky, Anna Tolstaia, and Vladimir Yatsenko for sharing their thoughts with us. Vladimir continues to film footage of the war; you can follow his posts here.

This episode was produced by Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak, with editorial help from Katz Laszlo. Sound design by Wojciech Oleksiak. Music by Jazzpospolita and Jim Barne.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

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

We're struggling to process what has happened on this continent over the past week. With events moving incredibly fast on the ground, we wanted to reflect on the human cost of conflict in Ukraine. The writer and historian Olesya Khromeychuk, director of the Ukrainian Institute London, joins us to read an excerpt from her book 'A Loss', about her brother's death on the frontline in 2017. We also hear from our producer Wojciech Oleksiak about how the Russian invasion feels different if you're following the news from Central or Eastern Europe compared to further West. Plus, the sound of Europeans standing with Ukraine, from London to Lisbon, Berlin to Minsk.

This week's recommendations: 'A Loss'; '1944' by Jamala; 'Grey Bees' by Andrey Kurkov.

You can support the Kyiv Independent on Patreon here, and donate to a range of different Ukrainian media organisations here. More information on ways to help can be found here.

Many thanks to the Ukrainian Village Voices choir for giving us permission to play this beautiful recording of 'O Bozhe'.

#StandWithUkraine

Producers: Katy Lee, Wojciech Oleksiak and Katz Laszlo

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

This week, the case for culture: keeping it free, and keeping it funded. We're talking about the state of artistic freedom in Poland; plus, the state of Europe's live music industry, with Elise Phamgia of Liveurope and Janine Cathrein of Swiss indie folk band Black Sea Dahu. Also on the agenda: what to do with problematic statues in Brussels.

Black Sea Dahu are touring again! You can find tour dates and more on their website, and listen on Spotify.

Isolation Inspiration: Liveurope's artists to watch out for in 2022; Ukrainian war literature in translation; Édouard Louis, 'Qui a tué mon père'. Bonus recommendations: Black Sea Dahu's new album, 'I Am My Mother', and 'Empireland' by Sathnam Sangera.

02:43 Good Week, or 'Constructive Ideas Week': Brussels' report on colonial-era monuments
12:17 Bad Week: Krzysztof Głuchowski and artistic freedom in Poland
21:53 Interview: Elise Phamgia and Janine Cathrein on the state of Europe's live music industry
34:21 Isolation Inspiration: Liveurope's new music for 2022; the new Ukrainian war literature; Édouard Louis, 'Qui a tué mon père'
37:46 Happy Ending: a boat trip

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

From Ireland to Croatia, the cost of housing has been shooting up across this continent, leaving rising numbers of people homeless and millions struggling to pay the rent. This week Amsterdam city geographer Cody Hochstenbach, whose new book Uitgewoond argues for a revolution in housing policy, is here to explain how we ended up in this mess — and what we might do to fix it. We're also talking about Spanish orcas, lost teeth, and a Europe without Facebook and Instagram.

You can read El País' long read on the changing face of Spain's drug trade here, and check out Bruno Le Maire's unsmiling mug shots here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Beautiful World, Where Are You and The Summit of the Gods

02:39 Bad Week: Meta in Europe
12:33 Good Week: Spain's orca drug plot busted
20:14 Interview: Cody Hochstenbach on fixing the housing market
33:08 Isolation Inspiration: Beautiful World, Where Are You and The Summit of the Gods
36:53 Happy Ending: Paul and his teeth, reunited

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

What do nuclear energy and whale-hunting have in common? They're both at the heart of controversial debates about whether they can ever be described as 'sustainable'. This week we delve into a questionable EU anti-greenwashing effort, as well as Iceland's mooted plan to put a ban on commercial whaling. We're also looking at the revamp of one of Venice's most historic buildings, the Procuratie Vecchie. Emma Ursich, whose NGO The Human Safety Net will be among its new occupants, is here to explain why the building is opening its doors after half a millennium closed to the public.

You can check out Influence Map's investigation into the EU gas lobby here, and listen to our producer Katz Laszlo's beautiful piece 'Whale Fall' here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: The Trojan Horse Affair and Glória.

03:01 Bad Week: Gas, nuclear and the EU taxonomy
11:56 Good Week: Whales off the coast of Iceland
22:01 Interview: Emma Ursich on remaking the Procuratie Vecchie
31:53 Isolation Inspiration: The Trojan Horse Affair and Gloria
34:29 Happy Ending: amazing Swiss scientists

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Taryn de Vere set herself a joyful challenge in January: to dress up each day as a household object, from a bottle of toilet cleaner to a sack of potatoes. This week, the person dubbed Possibly The Most Colourful Woman in Ireland joins us to make the case for injecting a little more fun into our wardrobes. We're also talking about ghost flights, a relaxing Berlin transport initiative, and whether Italy's 80-year-old president will ever be allowed to retire.

You can follow Taryn on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'Into Eternity' and 'Courage'.

This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

When the European parliament elected a new president last week, many of the headlines focused on one thing: the fact that she's against abortion. But Roberta Metsola's public stance is not at all unusual in a country with one of the strictest abortion bans in the world. This week we're asking: where does this incredibly strong taboo come from? Researcher and activist Liza Caruana-Finkel is here to fill us in. We're also talking about Chinese influence at European universities, and the case of a toilet that went all the way to Italy's Supreme Court.

'Why it is vital to decriminalise abortion: the case of Malta' - The Conversation

China's Magic Weapon - BBC

Excellent tweets about embarrassing mistakes in a second (or third or fourth) language

This week's Isolation Inspiration: The Investigation (Efterforskningen); Atlas Linguae

This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

We're back for a brand new year of stories from across the continent. Top of the agenda is an issue that's been worrying a lot of Europeans: eye-wateringly expensive energy bills. Energy expert Marine Cornelis is here to explain why this is happening and what can be done about it. We're also catching up on Ukraine and a transatlantic cheese dispute.

Marine is the founder of Next Energy Consumer and the host of the Energ'ethic podcast.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Young Royals, Stromae's new single, and Angèle.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review.

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

We threw a little party for our last episode of the year! Producers Katz Laszlo and Wojciech Oleksiak join Katy and Dominic from Amsterdam and Warsaw to discuss elephant retirement, tree fraud, and festive traditions around Europe. Local snacks included.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Women at War, Draumalandið by Valgeir Sigurðsson, The Way Home: Tales from a Life Without Technology by Mark Boyle, and Are We Europe: Online Lies, Offline Lives. 

Thank you so much for listening to The Europeans in 2021. We'll be back on January 20. If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it into next year, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review.

This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com.

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

It's that time of year when reindeer start cropping up on all kinds of Christmassy consumer goods, from snowglobes to Advent calendars. But for the indigenous Sámi people of northern Europe, herding these remarkable animals is a way of life — and one that is increasingly under threat. This week we speak to Sámi herder and climate change expert Jannie Staffansson about her community's intimate and profound relationship with reindeer. It's an animal-themed episode this week, so we're also talking about a bee miracle in the Canary Islands, and how a European sheep can somehow be rare and a threat to biodiversity at the same time.

This week's Isolation Inspiration was brought to you courtesy of Arte. Check out their series Re: European Stories here. Dominic enjoyed this episode on tea farming in Georgia, while Frederic recommends you check out this episode on village shops.

You should also check out the latest episode of NPR's Rough Translation podcast! It includes a version of 'Sara', one of the episodes from our mini-series 'This Is What A Generation Sounds Like', co-produced by our very own Katz Laszlo with Adelina Lancianese.

This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review.

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Millions of us have spent this pandemic bingeing on international films and television, transported far away through the magic of the screen. But there's an underappreciated army of workers who make it all possible: the subtitlers. This week we chat to Russian subtitler Max Deryagin about how Netflix has shaken up the industry and why things sometimes get lost in translation. We're also talking about the new Germany, the failures of Britain's asylum policy, and the woman on Romania's new 20 lei banknote.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Steve Rosenberg's interview with Alexander Lukashenko, this episode of the BBC's Media Show podcast, and Lords of Scam. You can also check out this Twitter thread about a key problem with Netflix subtitles.

This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review.

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Senior producer: Katz Laszlo

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

'Move fast and break things' was Facebook's corporate philosophy in its early days. Europe now wants to do the opposite when it comes to the harmful effects of social media: move fast and fix things. This week we're taking a look at the EU's plan to rein in the tech giants with the help of one of our favourite European tech nerds, Guillermo Beltrà of the Open Society European Policy Institute. We've also got a special Outer Space edition of Good Week Bad Week.

This podcast was produced in collaboration with the Open Society European Policy Institute. You can find out more about their work here and check out an episode we previously made with them about Europe's climate policy here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: The Unlikely Murderer (Den osannolika mördaren) and Tear Along the Dotted Line (Strappare lungo i bordi).

This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review.

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Senior producer: Katz Laszlo

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

It’s dawn in the Aegean Sea. A dozen asylum seekers are crammed into a rubber dinghy, hoping to land on the Greek island of Lesbos. They are already within EU waters — and they have the right, under international law, to claim asylum. But a huge ship is blocking their way.

This week we are looking at the phenomenon of pushbacks: illegal efforts to push people back across a border so that they cannot claim asylum. And we’re looking at mounting evidence that the EU’s border agency, Frontex, has witnessed or even participated in these pushbacks.

We recommend that you check out Lighthouse Reports' investigations on Europe's borders.

This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review.

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

Reporter and producer: Andrei Popoviciu

Editorial support: Katz Laszlo, Katy Lee, Dominic Kraemer, Wojciech Oleksiak 

Senior producer: Katz Laszlo

Sound design: Andrei Popoviciu and Wojciech Oleksiak

Editor: Katy Lee

Mixing: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne, Bluedot Sessions, Artlist.io

Sound effects: Freesound.org

Fit for 55 sounds like a plan to get middle-aged people to exercise, but it is in fact one of the most ambitious climate policies on the planet. But is it enough to make a difference? This week, in collaboration with the Open Society European Policy Institute, our favourite climate explainer Emily Stewart breaks down Europe's plan for us. Is Fit for 55 fit for purpose? And can Europe turn it into a reality without sparking a continent-wide social revolt?

You can follow Emily on Twitter here and find out more about OSEPI's work here.

This episode was produced and sound designed by Wojciech Oleksiak, with editorial support from Katy Lee, Dominic Kraemer and Katz Laszlo.

Music by Jim Barne and Blue Dot Sessions.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review.

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

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Wondering why everyone is suddenly talking about the prospect of a 'Polexit'? This week we're talking to excellent Polandsplainer Jakub Jaraczewski about why the government in Warsaw has just got itself into a huge legal mess. We're also talking about the downfall of Austria's Wunderkind, why so many young Spaniards live with their parents, and the mysterious power of the European chestnut.

Jakub is a research coordinator at Democracy Reporting International. You can follow him here on Twitter.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: the Earthshot Prize on Saturday, October 16, and 'On Time And Water' by Andri Snær Magnason. You can also watch his video for TED here.

This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review.

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Senior producer: Katz Laszlo

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

This week we're delving into the Czech PM's secret purchase of a French château, an extremely bold Danish artistic experiment, and, oh yes, Wally the Walrus' tour of the European coastline. Plus, political scientist Arndt Leininger is here to decrypt the German election for us.

For excellent German politics nerdery you can follow Arndt on Twitter here, and for a Pandora Papers deep-dive into Andrej Babiš and his French château, head to the ICIJ.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Anna Learns A New Language; Darknet Diaries

Got a better name for our Isolation Inspiration segment? Answers on a postcard please: hello@europeanspodcast.com

This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com.

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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review.

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Senior producer: Katz Laszlo

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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

It's our first ever live show! Recorded live at the Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam. And what could be a more appropriate discussion than the fact that this city will one day be underwater? We promise that's a less depressing conversation than it sounds, because the person who's here to talk about it is husband of the show Thomas Lamers, a member of the documentary theatre collective Collectief Walden. They spent this summer asking an intriguing question: if Amsterdam only has around 250 years left, what should they look like?

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney and The Hidden Life of Trees. You can also watch a video about Collectief Walden's Eiland project here and listen to their podcasts here.

Thank you so much to the Lieven and the whole team at the Podcastfestival for having us, and to Katz Laszlo, Mick ter Reehorst and Stefano Montali for their help on the night. 

And thank you 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 euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review.

Music: Jim Barne, Ed Bahonie 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 | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com