The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

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.

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Episodes

The joys of the early internet

Thursday Sep 22, 2022

Thursday Sep 22, 2022

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

Thursday Sep 15, 2022

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

Josh and Franco

Friday Sep 09, 2022

Friday Sep 09, 2022

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.

Bad laws and feta wars

Thursday Jul 21, 2022

Thursday Jul 21, 2022

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

Farmers, fossils and files

Thursday Jul 14, 2022

Thursday Jul 14, 2022

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

The bigger the better?

Thursday Jul 07, 2022

Thursday Jul 07, 2022

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

Your Face Looks Familiar

Thursday Jun 30, 2022

Thursday Jun 30, 2022

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

It takes more than two, baby

Thursday Jun 16, 2022

Thursday Jun 16, 2022

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

What is Orbán playing at?

Thursday Jun 09, 2022

Thursday Jun 09, 2022

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

Hanna

Thursday Jun 02, 2022

Thursday Jun 02, 2022

From Minsk and London, a story about the meaning of freedom. Hanna Komar, a poet, was jailed for her activism in Belarus. This week, she tells us what it’s like to move from a place where people have to fight for basic rights, to a place where people take them for granted.
This is the fifth episode in our series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like: intimate stories from young Europeans across the continent.
A beautiful visual version of this podcast will be available later this year. In the meantime, check out the first visual podcast in this series: Josh and Franco.
This series is co-produced with Are We Europe and is made in cooperation 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.
Producers: Katy Lee and Hanna Komar
Sound design: Katz Laszlo and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Editors: Katz Laszlo and Dominic Kraemer
Music: ‘Girl in White’ by Naviband, ‘Ballerina’ by Yehezkel Raz, ‘Ballerina Remix’ by Yehezkel Raz and Lalinea, ‘Магутны Божа’ by Volny Chor; ‘Looking for You’ by Christof Waters; Blue Dot Sessions; and Papa Bo mixing tracks by Meute, live during the protests in Minsk. Theme music by Jim Barne. SFX from Freesound.org.
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 | hello@europeanspodcast.com

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