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The Europeans is a fresh and entertaining weekly podcast about European politics and culture, recorded each week between Paris and Amsterdam with fascinating guests joining from across Europe. This multiple award-winning podcast fills you in on the major European politics stories and other European news of the week, as well as fun and quirky nuggets that have been missed by most media outlets.
Hosted by Katy Lee, a journalist based in Paris, and Dominic Kraemer, an opera singer in Amsterdam, The Europeans covers everything from elections and climate policy to the best new European films and TV shows. We also produce investigative podcasts about everything from the European farming lobby to oat milk. Yes, oat milk.
Katy and Dominic are old friends, and the warmth and intimacy of their conversations will soon make you feel like you’ve known them a long time too. They approach topics with a light and humorous tone that makes The Europeans stand out from other European news podcasts, while remaining journalistically rigorous and meticulously fact-checked. The Europeans has been recommended by The New York Times, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, The Financial Times, and many other outlets.
Katy Lee, a British-French reporter, has written for major outlets including The Guardian, Politico Europe, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Foreign Policy and The New Statesman for more than a decade, covering French and European politics and more recently, climate change. Dominic Kraemer, a British-German opera singer, performs across Europe when he is not co-hosting The Europeans, with roles recently at the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Dutch National Opera and the Münchener Biennale. The Europeans’ team is completed by producers Katz Laszlo in Amsterdam and Wojciech Oleksiak in Warsaw. You’ll hear them joining Katy and Dominic from time to time, particularly during investigative episodes like ‘The Oatly Chronicles’ and ‘The Big-Agri Bully Boys’.
The Europeans’ breezy, informal approach to covering European news has won awards such as a Covering Climate Now award for an episode about the Swiss women who sued their government at the European Court of Human Rights demanding more climate action; Germany’s prestigious CIVIS Media Prize for ‘Mohamed’, an episode that explores the everyday life of a young undocumented man in Amsterdam; and best LGBTQIA+ short at the MiraBan UK Film Awards for ‘Josh and Franco’, the coming-of-age story of a father and son, both gay.
Our guests have included everyone from major figures in European politics such as Alexander Stubb, now the President of Finland, and Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, to star chefs Asma Khan and Christian Puglisi, celebrated illustrator Christoph Niemann, and environmentalist George Monbiot. Since launching in 2017, we’ve talked about everything from elections in France, Italy and many more countries besides, to the politics of halloumi cheese in Cyprus, to why Donald Trump is so hard for TV interpreters to translate.
We pride ourselves on covering European politics, European news and European culture from a pan-European perspective. You’ll often hear stories on The Europeans from parts of the continent that don’t usually receive enough attention from major international media outlets, especially Central, Eastern and Southern Europe.
You might enjoy The Europeans if you also enjoy one of these other podcasts: The News Agents, On the Media, Today in Focus, Inside Europe, The Journal, EU Confidential, The Daily, The Globalist, Reasons to be Cheerful, The Media Show, Power Play, and The New Statesman. Whether you’re already a European news nerd, or simply someone who’d like to be better informed about what’s happening across Europe, The Europeans is the podcast for you.
Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/europeanspodcast
Hosted by Katy Lee, a journalist based in Paris, and Dominic Kraemer, an opera singer in Amsterdam, The Europeans covers everything from elections and climate policy to the best new European films and TV shows. We also produce investigative podcasts about everything from the European farming lobby to oat milk. Yes, oat milk.
Katy and Dominic are old friends, and the warmth and intimacy of their conversations will soon make you feel like you’ve known them a long time too. They approach topics with a light and humorous tone that makes The Europeans stand out from other European news podcasts, while remaining journalistically rigorous and meticulously fact-checked. The Europeans has been recommended by The New York Times, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, The Financial Times, and many other outlets.
Katy Lee, a British-French reporter, has written for major outlets including The Guardian, Politico Europe, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Foreign Policy and The New Statesman for more than a decade, covering French and European politics and more recently, climate change. Dominic Kraemer, a British-German opera singer, performs across Europe when he is not co-hosting The Europeans, with roles recently at the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Dutch National Opera and the Münchener Biennale. The Europeans’ team is completed by producers Katz Laszlo in Amsterdam and Wojciech Oleksiak in Warsaw. You’ll hear them joining Katy and Dominic from time to time, particularly during investigative episodes like ‘The Oatly Chronicles’ and ‘The Big-Agri Bully Boys’.
The Europeans’ breezy, informal approach to covering European news has won awards such as a Covering Climate Now award for an episode about the Swiss women who sued their government at the European Court of Human Rights demanding more climate action; Germany’s prestigious CIVIS Media Prize for ‘Mohamed’, an episode that explores the everyday life of a young undocumented man in Amsterdam; and best LGBTQIA+ short at the MiraBan UK Film Awards for ‘Josh and Franco’, the coming-of-age story of a father and son, both gay.
Our guests have included everyone from major figures in European politics such as Alexander Stubb, now the President of Finland, and Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, to star chefs Asma Khan and Christian Puglisi, celebrated illustrator Christoph Niemann, and environmentalist George Monbiot. Since launching in 2017, we’ve talked about everything from elections in France, Italy and many more countries besides, to the politics of halloumi cheese in Cyprus, to why Donald Trump is so hard for TV interpreters to translate.
We pride ourselves on covering European politics, European news and European culture from a pan-European perspective. You’ll often hear stories on The Europeans from parts of the continent that don’t usually receive enough attention from major international media outlets, especially Central, Eastern and Southern Europe.
You might enjoy The Europeans if you also enjoy one of these other podcasts: The News Agents, On the Media, Today in Focus, Inside Europe, The Journal, EU Confidential, The Daily, The Globalist, Reasons to be Cheerful, The Media Show, Power Play, and The New Statesman. Whether you’re already a European news nerd, or simply someone who’d like to be better informed about what’s happening across Europe, The Europeans is the podcast for you.
Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/europeanspodcast
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It’s our second week of “cucumber season” programming, and fair warning: we’re really leaning into the late-summer goofiness. This week, we go hard on German gastronomy, with a deep dive into Europe’s declining alcohol consumption and a recap of the utterly absurd row over the origins of Bratwurst.
Because we don’t want you to think we’ve totally lost the plot, we also had a perfectly civilised conversation with Robert Winder, the prolific author and sometime editor of The Independent and Granta whose new book, Three Rivers, comes out next week. Robert spoke with our producer Katz about the waterways that shape Europe as we know it—and about their future in a warming climate. You can purchase the book here on 28 August.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations are the Danish film The Guilty and the audio recordings of Colm Tóibín’s novels Brooklyn and Long Island. Our Happy Ending comes from Helsinki, which managed to go an entire year with no traffic fatalities! You can read more about the milestone achievement here and how they did it here.
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.
00:00:47 Welcome back to cucumber season!
00:03:09 Good Week: European livers
00:16:29 Bad Week: Bratwurst ensnared in national feud
00:31:16 Interview: Robert Winder reconnects us with the poetry of rivers
00:44:00 The Inspiration Station: the film The Guilty and Colm Tóibín’s novels Brooklyn and Long Island
00:49:11 Happy Ending: Helsinki successfully stamps out road deaths
Producers: Morgan Childs, Katz Laszlo, and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Welcome back! We’re easing back into the swing of things after our summer holidays with a bit of “cucumber season” fare. It’s our regularly scheduled programming, just a little bit…sillier.
This week, we take a peek into the world’s first “sourdough library” with Karl De Smedt, head of the Puratos Sourdough Institute. Karl gives us a taste of his unconventional career preserving breadmaking biodiversity and explains why the starters in his library are a little like Europeans themselves. Plus: we learn why the Aalborg Zoo in Denmark is encouraging people to bring in unwanted pets and how Dominic “gave” Daniel Radcliffe his career(!).
You can take a virtual tour of the Puratos sourdough library here and check out Karl on Instagram here.
And if you want to find out more about the Stop Killing Games campaign, watch this video.
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations are two books, Patrick Radden Keefe’s spellbinding history of the Troubles, “Say Nothing,” and the novel “Second Best” by French author David Foenkinos.
00:00:00 First things first: WTF is up with strawberry pasta in Poland?
00:04:25 Good Week: The Stop Killing Games movement
00:16:01 Bad Week: The pets of Aalborg, Denmark
00:25:47 Interview: Karl De Smedt gives us permission to eat more bread
00:41:50 The Inspiration Station: “Say Nothing” by Patrick Radden Keefe and “Second Best” by David Foenkinos
00:46:57 Happy Ending: Jellyfish believed extinct makes Scottish comeback
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
This year’s Budapest Pride was banned in March under the Orbán government’s contentious “child protection” law. Demonstrators were threatened with hefty fines for participating, and the government said it would employ facial-recognition technology to identify and potentially prosecute those who turned out to take part at the march on 28 June.
Did the ban work? Not in the slightest. In fact, more people than ever in the 30-year history of Budapest Pride showed up to celebrate their rights as LGBTQ+ human beings.
The massive Pride march brought a glimmer of hope to some Hungarian citizens, including this week’s guest, writer Krisztián Marton. We spoke with Krisztián about the lead-up to the event, the thrill of being on the ground last Saturday, and what might be next for Hungary, now that Viktor Orbán finally has a formidable challenger in Péter Magyar. We also chatted with Dominic’s husband, Thomas Lamers, a philosopher and dramaturg who hit the streets for us, mic in hand. (Thanks, Thomas, we owe you!)
Krisztián Marton is a screenwriter and novelist. You can follow him on Instagram here and read an excerpt in English of his Margó Prize-nominated novel Crybaby here. You can donate to Thomas’s fundraiser to pay some of the fines that may be incurred by Pride attendees here.
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not do it without you. If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (in many different currencies!), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: the recent episode of Zakia Sewell’s Radio 6 series Dream Time, “Solstice selections…with Zakia,” and the Ukrainian band The Sixsters, winners of the European Emerging Bands Contest.
00:00:46 A sweltering hello and a tick PSA
00:03:44 Bad Week: Venetians overrun by billionaire wedding
00:11:45 Good Week: Owners of Danish faces (and their copyrights)
00:21:13 Interview: Thomas Lamers on Budapest Pride and Krisztián Marton on the present and future for LGBTQ+ people in Hungary
00:49:57 The Inspiration Station: the BBC Radio 6 Dream Time episode “Solstice selections…with Zakia” and the Ukrainian band The Sixsters.
00:53:12 Happy Ending: Cannes caps cruise-ship tourism
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Depending on where you are in Europe, your right to a safe abortion — and reproductive care in general — can vary dramatically. This week, we speak to pioneering abortion activist Rebecca Gomperts about why she's hopeful that we can fight back against these inequalities as well as crackdowns on abortion access in other parts of the world. We're also talking about a rebel campaign in Germany to defeat a draconian Nazi-era law, and some disturbing research into the weedkillers used by many of the farmers who grow our foods.
Note: We updated this episode's audio on June 20, 2025. The original version incorrectly stated that glyphosate is sprayed directly on many European crops, which is not the case.
You can find out more about Women on Waves here and Women on Web here. Read about the mifepristone study here.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: Secrets We Keep (Reservatet) and The Outlaw Ocean Podcast. Bonus entries: Vessel, a 2014 documentary about Women on Waves; A Sense of Quietness, Eleanor McDowall's audio documentary about abortion in Ireland; and Tending Grief by Camille Sapara Barton.
Other resources for this episode:
'Carcinogenic effects of long-term exposure from prenatal life to glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides in Sprague–Dawley rats' - Environmental Health, June 10, 2025
'Revealed: Monsanto’s secret funding for weedkiller studies' - The Guardian, March 12, 2020
'Europe likely to miss most green targets for 2030' - Politico Europe, February 20, 2025
'EWG’s 2025 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce' (USA) - Environmental Working Group, June 11, 2025
'Here’s why some people still evade public transport fares – even when they’re 50 cents' - The Conversation, February 13, 2025
00:00:46 Is it a Smörgåsbord? Is it a charcuterie board? No, it's The Europeans
00:04:56 Bad Week: Glyphosate
00:21:41 Good Week: Germany's freed fare-dodgers
00:35:22 Interview: Rebecca Gomperts on the state of reproductive rights in Europe
01:01:46 The Inspiration Station: Secrets We Keep and The Outlaw Ocean Podcast
01:07:10 Happy Ending: Beavers are back in Portugal
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
The EU supposedly has some of the world's toughest laws regulating big tech. So why does it still feel like Europeans are being sucked into increasingly polarised online communities, and manipulated during our elections? Can we do anything about it? This week's guest, the Irish internet campaigner Johnny Ryan, argues that a pretty radical solution is within the EU's reach. We're also talking about the Dutch government's collapse, and why bear meat may soon be on the menu in Slovakia.
Johnny is the Director of Enforce. You can follow him on Bluesky here and read his article calling on the EU to switch off social media's algorithms here in The Guardian. A longer version of our interview with Johnny is available on our YouTube channel.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: Last One Laughing UK, LOL: Qui rit, sort, and 'The Mars House' by Natasha Pulley. Bonus: our interview in February with Jean Chalaby about the international TV format trade.
Other resources for this episode:
'Bears stray into political territory in Romania and Slovakia' - BalkanInsight, April 21, 2025
00:00:46 People, politics and peculiarities
00:02:45 Good Week: Dutch leftwing and centrist parties?
00:22:01 Bad Week: Bear meat on the menu in Slovakia
00:36:43 Interview: Johnny Ryan on why Europe's supposedly tough tech regulation isn't nearly tough enough
00:55:53 The Inspiration Station: Last One Laughing UK, Qui rit sort and 'The Mars House' by Natasha Pulley
01:00:52 Happy Ending: A condom masterpiece
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Serbia’s government has come under intense pressure since a deadly disaster at Novi Sad’s main railway station last November. Student-led protests have spiralled into a nation-wide resistance movement and for months, Serbians have been speaking out against corruption, a lack of accountability, and a culture of impunity in Aleksandar Vučić’s regime. But if you’re listening to this from Western Europe, or indeed much of the rest of the world, the odd headline is probably all you’ve seen.
What are these protests really about? And what makes them different? This week, an in-depth conversation about what it’s like to be living through a potential turning point in Serbian history.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
Co-hosts: Wojciech Oleksiak and Katy Lee
Editorial support: Morgan Childs, Dominic Kraemer and Katz Laszlo
Production, scoring and mixing: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music by Jim Barne, Mobygratis and Epidemic Sounds
With thanks to Nikola Radić
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Asparagus, lesbian family rights and Viktor Orbán’s latest power plays: like all good meals, this podcast episode is perfectly balanced. German food writer Ursula Heinzelmann joins us to explain the ‘Spargelzeit’ phenomenon that sees foodies going nutty for asparagus at this time of year. We’re also taking a look at LGBTQ rights in Italy and unpacking the Hungarian government’s plans to ‘starve and strangle’ civil society. Can Orbán be stopped?
You can find out more about Ursula’s work on her website and follow her on Instagram here.
Thanks for listening. If you have any spare cash this week, please consider donating to Hungarian civil society groups and independent media outlets before the planned passing of the ‘starve and strangle’ law in mid-June. UNITED for Intercultural Action, the NGO run by our former guest Philip Pollák, would be extremely grateful for your donations; you can also donate to any of the organisations on this list of Hungarian NGOs (get in touch if you have ideas of organisations to add to this list).
Still got some spare cash? If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: Rita Payés’ Tiny Desk Concert and CMAT.
Other resources for this episode:
The Convention on the Rights of the Child - United Nations, November 20, 1989
Sentenza 68/2025 (Italy’s constitutional court ruling on lesbian couples and IVF) - Corte Constituzionale - May 22, 2025
‘A Threat to the Core: Why the New Hungarian Transparency Bill is an Attack on the Foundations of the European Union’ - Verfassungsblog, May 21, 2025
00:46 The Europeans: Pouring asparagus straight into your ears
02:49 Good Week: Lesbian mothers in Italy
12:47 Bad Week: Hungary's 'starve and strangle' law
37:10 Interview: Ursula Heinzelmann on the magic of Spargelzeit
49:58 The Inspiration Station: Rita Payés and CMAT
54:10 Happy Ending: Portugal's clever teen media strategy
Producer: Morgan Childs
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Romania, Poland, Portugal... and of course, most importantly of all (?), Eurovision. It's been a huge week of voting across Europe! This week we're mostly diving into Romania's election drama with Codruţa Simina, a journalist with an extremely helpful specialism in online misinformation and disinformation. We're also tackling the controversy over Israel's continued participation in Eurovision, as well as the Pfizergate scandal: will we ever get to read the text messages Ursula von der Leyen sent to one of the world's most powerful pharmaceutical bosses?
Codruţa's excellent newsletter, Misreport, can be found here.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: The EU's personal carbon footprint calculator and 'Apeirogon' by Column McCann. You can find McCann's conversation with Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan, recorded in November 2023, here.
Other resources for this episode:
'Politics by WhatsApp? Even "Pfizergate" won’t end that' - Politico Europe, May 14, 2025
'The maths behind the public votes at Eurovision 2025' - RTE, May 18, 2025
'Wasted love?: broadcasting and fandom at a crossroads after Eurovision 2025' - Catherine Baker, May 18, 2025
'Why doesn't the EBU kick Israel out of Eurovision?' - Overthinking It, May 8, 2025
'Coal produces less than half of Poland’s power for first time' - Notes from Poland, May 13, 2025
00:00:46 An election bonanza hangover
00:06:58 Bad Week: Pfizergate
00:21:50 Good Week (?): Austrian Eurovision winner JJ
00:45:12 Interview: Codruţa Simina on Romania's election drama
01:02:51 The Inspiration Station: The EU's personal carbon footprint calculator, and 'Apeirogon' by Colum McCann
01:07:00 Happy Ending: Is Poland finally kicking its coal habit?
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
1This week, a not-so-classic 'girl meets boy' story. Başak Layic, storyteller extraordinaire, reflects on what the European Dream looks like from the outside.
This story was recorded live at SPUI25 in Amsterdam as part of 'Europe Up For Grabs?', an event organised for Europe Day 2025 by DutchCulture and the European Cultural Foundation. You can watch a livestream of the whole event here.
You can find out more about Başak's work on her website and follow her on Instagram here.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
Producers: Morgan Childs and Katy Lee
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
In theory, the government's guy looks set to win Poland's presidential election, making life a hell of a lot easier for Donald Tusk as he attempts to undo eight years of destructive authoritarian rule under the previous rightwing populists. But might a pregnant nun swoop in and change everything at the last minute? For an explanation of this metaphor (and yes, it is just a metaphor), listen in to this week's great interview with Poland's best political YouTubers, Dominika Sitnicka and Agata Szczęśniak. We're also digging into Sweden's plans to crack down on porn influencers, and celebrating the sweeter side of last week's mass blackouts in Spain and Portugal.
Dominika and Agata are reporters at OKO.PRESS and co-hosts of its YouTube show, Program Polityczny (which can be watched with English auto-subtitles).
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' (especially the Ankh-Morpork City Watch series), and Carême. Bonus recommendations: 'The Butterfly Effect' and 'The Last Days of August'.
We'll be at two events in Amsterdam for Europe Day on May 9! You can buy a ticket to EuropaNacht at Paradiso here; tickets to the earlier event, at SPUI25, are available here. With many thanks to our friends at the European Cultural Foundation, DutchCulture and De Kiesmannen.
Other resources for this episode:
'In the Madrid power cuts, I saw patience and common sense – but we were woefully unprepared' - María Ramírez, The Guardian, April 29, 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/29/madrid-power-cuts-blackout-radio-internet
'In case of crisis or war' - Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), November 2024 https://rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf
'The EU Commission's survival kits - fearmongering or necessary preparedness?' - Euronews, April 2, 2025 https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/04/02/the-eu-commissions-survival-kits-fearmongering-or-necessary-preparedness
00:00:46 Smoke, bureaucracy and extra outfits: get ready for May in Europe
00:03:51 Good Week: Blackout behaviour
00:22:22 Bad Week: OnlyFans influencers in Sweden
00:38:20 Interview: Dominika Sitnicka and Agata Szczęśniak on Poland's upcoming presidential election
01:03:14 The Inspiration Station: Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' and Carême
01:07:51 Happy Ending: An off-the-pitch win for Norway's women's team
Producers: Morgan Childs and Katy Lee
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
The world is in flux. What's Europe's place in it, exactly? This week, we're bringing you something different: a big, sprawling conversation with leading European historian Timothy Garton Ash. Can anything good come from Trumpism for this continent? What can be done to stop autocrats like Viktor Orbán from undermining the EU from the inside? And does it matter if we talk about different things when we talk about Europe?
Timothy is Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford. 'Homelands' is now available in more than 20 languages; you can find all the available editions here.
We'll be at two events in Amsterdam for Europe Day on May 9! We've got two pairs of tickets to give away to the late-night EuropaNacht event at Paradiso. Email hello@europeanspodcast.com for a chance to win them. If you're too late, you can buy a ticket here; tickets to the earlier event, at SPUI25, are available here. With many thanks to our friends at the European Cultural Foundation, DutchCulture and De Kiesmannen.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
Producers: Wojciech Oleksiak and Morgan Childs
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
We've got a veritable smörgåsbord for you this week on The Europeans, from human rights in Hungary to the sorry tale of two Danish sustainability influencers whose eco-resort business went spectacularly wrong. We discuss why Viktor Orbán is concentrating so much effort on bullying the LGBTQI community at a time when Hungary has major problems to fix, and whether anything can be done to stop him. Plus, Daria Verbytska calls in from Kyiv to explain how an army of volunteer online sleuths helps Ukrainian authorities use open-source intelligence to fight back against Russia.
Daria is the executive director and cofounder of the Molfar Intelligence Institute. You can find out about the wider Molfar company on their website and read their investigations here.
This week's Inspiration Station offerings: LA NIÑA and Den stora älgvandringen ('The Great Moose Migration' on Sweden's STV).
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
Other resources for this episode
'Hungary's ban on Pride has little to do with being gay' - BalkanInsight, March 27, 2025 https://balkaninsight.com/2025/03/27/hungarys-ban-on-pride-has-little-to-do-with-being-gay/
'Anti-spying phone pouches offered to EU lawmakers for trip to Hungary' - Politico Europe, April 16, 2025 https://www.politico.eu/article/lawmakers-offered-anti-espionage-phone-pouches-in-hungary/
00:00:46 Welcome to Europe, land of toxic eggs and tomatoes
00:06:50 Bad Week: Hungary gives constitutional backing to its Pride ban
00:22:59 Good Week (?) for Guatemala-bound tourists
00:44:51 Interview: Daria Verbytska on how OSINT is being used to help Ukraine's fightback against Russia
00:59:55 The Inspiration Station: LA NIÑA and Den stora älgvandringen ('The Great Moose Migration')
01:03:07 Happy Ending: The amazing cross-border teenagers tackling antibiotic resistance
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
We're away this week, but you're in good company: our friends at Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany's international broadcaster, are here to fill in for us. On this special edition of DW's weekly podcast Inside Europe, the team takes a break from the news to explore grief as a lens for understanding global events. Author Sarah Jaffe joins host Kate Laycock to unpack how loss — from COVID to deindustrialisation — shapes politics, protest, and our shared humanity. A powerful journey through mourning, memory, and hope.
You can find Inside Europe at pod.link/insideeurope.
The Europeans will be back next week. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting us. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here.
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
We're taking the Schadenfreude approach to the chaos that Trump's tariffs have unleashed upon Europe (and the rest of the world). This week, our favourite Luxembourger Nina Lamparski joins Dominic to explain why sales of Elon Musk's Tesla cars have already plunged in Europe and could now fare even worse thanks to his best bud's trade policies. We're also joined by Turkish political scientist Ezgi Başaran to discuss why President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is feeling liberated in a time that's been dubbed 'springtime for autocrats' — and whether the huge protests against him could change that. Plus, is Spain's clever new food waste law as good as it sounds?
This episode was recorded on Tuesday night, before the EU's announcement of retaliatory tariffs... and before the White House's announcement of a 90-day pause on higher tariffs for dozens of countries. At any rate, at the time of publication the world economy is still looking decidedly chaotic, so we hope you still find this an enjoyable and useful listen.
Thanks for listening. After some rather troubling financial news, this independent podcast needs your support more than ever. If you enjoy our work, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting us. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: 'Criminal Record' and 'Rural Fictions', an essay in The Dial by Bartolomeo Sala. Nina's bonus recommendations: 'Inspector Ellis' and 'The Bay'.
00:33 Moien, a wëllkomm bei den Europäer
05:09 Bad Week: Tesla in Europe
19:28 Good Week: Spain's new food waste law
33:03 Interview: Ezgi Başaran on Turkey's protests
49:25 The Inspiration Station: Criminal record and Bartolemo Sala's essay on farming in European fiction
54:33 Happy Ending: Hooray for shingles vaccines
Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for the French presidency after this week's bombshell court ruling finding her guilty in a huge embezzlement case. But does she have any chance of a comeback? And could the far-right win the presidency without her? This week we're discussing the earthquake in French politics, as well as Europe's space ambitions. Plus, a delightful interview with Greek podcaster and hungry man Thom Ntinas, about what ancient Europeans ate.
Thom is the host of The Delicious Legacy podcast. Find it here, or wherever you're listening to this.
Thanks for listening. After some rather troubling financial news this week, this independent podcast needs your support more than ever. If you enjoy our work, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting us. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: @forkranger on Instagram and 'How Stockholm Stuck' from Radiolab.
00:33 Damn clocks
03:43 Good Week: Marine Le Pen's enemies
20:36 Bad Week (?): The Spectrum rocket launch
33:59 Interview: Thom Ntinas on what the Ancients ate
46:27 The Inspiration Station: @forkranger and 'How Stockholm Stuck'
49:55 Happy Ending: The best place to lose your wallet
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Europe is set to spend an eye-wateringly huge amount of money on building up its militaries over the next few years, after That Guy In The White House signalled he's no longer that interested in helping us defend ourselves against Russia. But where is all this money supposed to come from? And does it matter if some countries are more enthusiastic about this plan than others? This week we call defence expert Marina Henke to figure out what this spending bonanza actually involves. We're also talking about a Czech-led plan to save Radio Free Europe from Trump's cuts, and why ChatGPT falsely accused a Norwegian man of murder.
Marina is a professor of international Relations at the Hertie School in Berlin and director of the Centre for International Security. You can watch the full version of her interview here on our YouTube channel and follow her on Bluesky here.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: 'And Then We Danced' and The Bittersweet Life.
Other resources for this week's episode
'Trump’s decision to cut Radio Free Europe comes at a great cost to democracy' - Muhammad Tahir, editorial for MSNBC, March 24, 2025 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-voice-of-america-radio-free-europe-rcna197367
'Malfunction: the Hungarian Radio (Silence) on Chernobyl' - Archivum, April 26, 2021 https://www.archivum.org/entries/blog/malfunction-the-hungarian-radio-silence-on-chernobyl
'EU privacy body weighs in on some tricky GenAI lawfulness questions' - TechCrunch, December 18, 2024 https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/18/eu-privacy-body-weighs-in-on-some-tricky-genai-lawfulness-questions/
The EU's White Paper for European Defence: Readiness 2030 - March 19, 2025 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_793
00:34 Deep breath: it's time for another episode of The Europeans
04:47 Good Week: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
18:41 Bad Week: The Norwegian man who ChatGPT falsely accused of murder
31:41 Interview: Marina Henke on Europe's huge new defence plan
56:23 The Inspiration Station: 'And Then We Danced' and 'The Bittersweet Life'
59:45 Happy Ending: Petko Gantsjev Is Very Much Alive
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Europe and Canada have a lot in common, from their headaches over Donald Trump to a shared belief in welfare states. If Australia can be a part of Eurovision, is there anything stopping us from welcoming our Canadian friends into the EU?! This week we talk to Stanley Pignal, The Economist's semi-Canadian Brussels bureau chief, about what would be in it for both sides. We're also looking at the escalating political crisis in Bosnia, and the places in Europe where you're likely to live the longest.
You can read Stanley's article about the case for Canadian EU membership here and find his Charlemagne column on European politics here. He posts on Bluesky here.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: 'The Agency' and writing a letter to a Russian political prisoner via OVD-Info (an initiative discovered via this essay in The Dial by Francesca Mastruzzo).
Other resources for this week's episode
'The Economics Show' podcast by the Financial Times: 'Can societies age gracefully?' - January 13, 2025 https://www.ft.com/content/8ce0571d-06f0-40de-8579-4446d1fb07f3
'The EU needs a proactive approach in Bosnia' - editorial in Politico Europe by Arminka Helić, March 17, 2025 https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-bosnia-western-balkans-europe-war-bih-crisis-serbia/
00:34 Spring Is Real
02:50 Good Week: Europeans are living longer
15:00 Bad Week: Bosnia and Herzegovina
28:54 Interview: Stanley Pignal on the case for Canadian EU membership
45:38 The Inspiration Station: The Agency and letters to Russian political prisoners
50:46 Happy Ending: Germany's economy could be wurst
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Thousands of kilometres from the devastating war it's been waging in Ukraine, Russia has involved itself in a swathe of other conflicts that attract much less attention: in Africa. Why? This week we speak to Beverly Ochieng, a self-described Wagner Group stalker, about what Russia is playing at. We're also talking about a foul-mouthed (?) Eurovision controversy, and why none of the world's big bad tech giants come from Europe.
Beverly is a senior analyst for francophone Africa at Control Risks and a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. You can follow her here on Bluesky and here on Mastodon. Check out our full conversation with Beverly on our YouTube channel.
Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: Codenames and The Economist's Glass Ceiling Index.
Other resources for this week's episode
European Alternatives - euro-companies making all kinds of digital products: https://european-alternatives.eu/
Jitsi, the great Zoom alternative created by a swing-dancing Erasmus student: https://jitsi.org/
'The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World' by Anu Bradford: https://academic.oup.com/book/36491
Fact-check: Does the EU really buy 80% of its weapons from overseas? (No, no it doesn't.) Bluesky thread by The Economist's Stanley Pignal, March 9, 2025: https://bsky.app/profile/spignal.bsky.social/post/3ljxd4r4cos25
Miriana Conte - Kant (‘Singing’); National Final Performance, Eurovision Song Contest 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qNK1tt6L5k
00:33 Smellovision and feminist babies
03:32 Bad Week: Skype
25:19 Good Week: Language prudes
37:39 Interview: Beverly Ochieng on Russia's African antics
53:40 The Inspiration Station: Codenames and The Economist's Glass Ceiling Index
56:44 Happy Ending: Easier breathing for Londoners
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Producers Katz and Wojciech join Katy and Dominic to share a couple of nuggets of exciting news for The Europeans.
You can find out all about our new partners at Euranet Plus, a network of radio stations across Europe, here.
And you can read all about our crowdfunded mini-series 'Who Does It Best?' — and contribute, if you'd like! — here.
Maja and Uršula's show, Šala za starše, can be found here and you can find Jasmin's work here.
Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here.
Producer: Katy Lee
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
Germany just staged one of Europe's most crucial elections this year. The results are simultaneously shocking and not-shocking: shocking because the far-right made huge gains; not shocking because they are likely to deliver a coalition between the country's two legacy mainstream parties. So, to what extent should we be freaking out right now? In this election special, we ring up Germanysplainer extraordinaire Tarik Abou-Chadi to unpack that question. Plus, we speak to the writer and activist Emilia Roig about what it feels like to be a long-term immigrant in Germany right now — and how to think about the fightback.
Tarik is a professor of European politics at the University of Oxford. You can follow him on Bluesky here.
You can find out more about Emilia's work here and follow her on Instagram here.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work in 2025. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here.
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
03:50 Tarik Abou-Chadi untangles the German election results for us
27:34 Emilia Roig on how to think about the fight against the far-right
YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | hello@europeanspodcast.com
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This was great! I particularly found interesting what Alexander said about the future generation of politicians and that there isn't one single career goal to achieve. Looking forward to hearing more of this podcast!
Great episode. I hope all gets better for. Mohamed.
For someone who is supposed to know about the EU - you confuse Lithuania and Latvia when talking about president Dalia Grybauskaite..
12:22 Missed opportunity for "Bannondwagon".
Lame centrist ramblings from thoroughly uninteresting middle class British people on gap year in Paris.
Very informative but also fun. Katy and Dominic sound lovely and enthusiastic. Really enjoying it.