Talking Europe

Jan 31 2025 24 ep. 12 mins 869
Talking Europe Podcast artwork

Politicians, activists and researchers debate the issues facing the EU and a 'guest of the week' offers their insight in a long-format interview that gets to the heart of the matter. Saturday at 7:15pm.

RSS feed Share
Copy RSS


Subscribe on Podcast Addict


'A coalition with the far right in Germany is unthinkable': EPP leader Manfred Weber

Jan 31 2025 12 mins  
The countdown is on to what is perhaps Europe's most important election of this year. On February 23, Germans go to the polls in a parliamentary vote, following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition in November. The conservative CDU-CSU is the favourite, but no party looks likely to win a majority, and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling strongly.

Taking stock of Brexit, five years later: Opportunities grow for UK-EU ties

Jan 31 2025 12 mins  
It's not the first time that the UK and the EU have expressed their readiness for a "reset" in relations. But now, five years after Britain left the European Union, there appears to be more momentum for making a reset happen, particularly with US President Donald Trump's threat of trade tariffs hanging over the European continent, and the future of NATO and EU defence up in the air

Georgians demand a return to the European path: Georgia’s 5th president Salomé Zourabichvili

Jan 24 2025 12 mins  
Talking Europe hosts Georgia’s fifth president, who maintains that she is still the legitimate holder of that post, despite the swearing-in of a new president on December 29th. Salomé Zourabichvili explains why she believes that the inauguration of Mikheil Kavelashvili was illegitimate, and why Georgia is facing such a stark choice of either going back into the Kremlin’s orbit

An EU presidency full of pitfalls: Poland takes the helm amid global turmoil

Jan 24 2025 12 mins  
Mainstream EU leaders have breathed a sigh of relief. After a Hungarian presidency marked by what they saw as damaging freelance diplomacy, the torch has now passed to Poland, which holds the reins for six months at a particularly turbulent time. There are huge questions in the EU about how to handle Donald Trump, about western support for Ukraine, about international trade, Europe

There is a 'backlash against gender balance everywhere': EU Commissioner for equality

Jan 17 2025 12 mins  
For our first Talking Europe interview with the new crop of EU Commissioners, we host Hadja Lahbib, who is in charge of preparedness and crisis management, as well as equality. Lahbib, a former foreign minister of Belgium, talks about the challenges of her extremely broad portfolio, covering Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan. A common thread is the difficulties faced by w

Musk, a pro-populist thorn in the EU's side: Concerns grow over 'foreign interference'

Jan 17 2025 12 mins  
He has called the German chancellor an "incompetent idiot" and the country’s president an "anti-democratic tyrant". Perhaps such invective would not matter if Elon Musk did not have the influence that he does. But Europe is a key market for the tech billionaire, and it includes electric cars, space technologies and satellites – currently the topic of discussions between Musk's

'Poland is a benchmark for Europe on defence': France's ambassador to Warsaw

Jan 10 2025 12 mins  
Talking Europe sits down with France's top diplomat in Warsaw, just as Poland takes up the rotating presidency of the EU in turbulent geopolitical times. Étienne de Poncins was previously French ambassador to Ukraine and got out of Kyiv just in time when it was encircled by the Russian army in 2022. He wrote about that experience in his book "Au Cœur de la Guerre" – "At the Hea

Security, competitiveness, Trump: Will 2025 be make-or-break for Europe?

Jan 10 2025 12 mins  
2025 looks like a year full of dangers for the European Union. Even before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to office, his unpredictability is on full display as he tells NATO ally Denmark that he needs Greenland for US national security purposes – prompting a strong rebuke from France, which says the EU will not tolerate threats to its borders. And this is before Trump ev

'You need peace' to send EU troops to Ukraine: Belgian FM Quintin

Dec 20 2024 12 mins  
Preparing to support Ukraine 'in all scenarios' – that’s how the head of the EU Council summarized the key takeaway from the final European summit of the year, ahead of Donald Trump’s potential return to the White House. We delve into the EU’s preparedness with Belgian Foreign Minister Bernard Quintin, who addresses the complex issue of possible European troop deployments i

Erasmus programme, consumer protection, online safety: What the EU gets right

Dec 20 2024 12 mins  
Things may look bleak for the European Union in the depths of winter, with challenges across the board: the threat of a trade war with the US, weakened political figures in Germany and France, European farmers menacing protests about the Mercosur deal, an uncertain outcome for the conflict in Ukraine, plus budgets being tightened for households and governments across the bloc. But