

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture
Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer
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
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 20, 2018 • 32min
August 21: The G-Spot of Europe
This week, sex and the internet. For once it's not us making the filthy innuendos, although Dominic does his best. It's Lithuania's capital Vilnius! We ask tour guide Agneta Ladek (https://bit.ly/2BBRNyi) if her city is really 'the G-spot of Europe — nobody knows where it is, but when you find it, it's amazing'. Dimi Dimitrov is on the line to explain why changes to the way we regulate the internet in Europe would have made life harder for Wikipedia and more boring for everyone else. And one woman is on a quest to bring some ancient Norman sass to modern-day Guernsey.
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Aug 13, 2018 • 25min
August 14: The traces they leave
This week, something a little different: Deborah Cole, a Berlin-based reporter since 1995, reads us her beautiful piece about the race to collect the memories of elderly Germans who lived through some of the most tumultuous events in modern history. Follow Deborah on Twitter @doberah, she's our favourite person tweeting from Merkel Land.
Also: an airborne mishap, an ingenious Spaniard, and irony, Slovenian-style, explained with the help of the brilliant Aljaž Pengov Bitenc (aka @pengovsky).
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Aug 6, 2018 • 32min
August 7: Piss and Populism
As you'll see in this week's episode, we're warming to two themes this season: urine, and the far-right.
Timo Lochocki (@TLochocki), an expert on populism in Europe, is on the line from Berlin to talk about why we SHOULDN'T talk about Steve Bannon's new venture on this side of the Atlantic. On a brighter note, Adrian Murphy's here to talk about Europeana, a lovely EU culture project that is currently collecting personal stories about migrating around the continent. Check it out at https://www.europeana.eu.
Also: good times for cash-strapped Berlin parents, bad times for Shakespearean amateur voiceover artists, and a disaster averted in Katy's hometown.
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Jul 30, 2018 • 34min
July 31: HEAT
We're back! What's cooking, Europe? Apparently the whole continent. Greece has just suffered Europe's deadliest forest fires in a century, part of a spate of extreme weather all over the northern hemisphere. Just back from Athens, we ask incoming AFP science correspondent Patrick Galey (and his dog) whether this is the new normal. Follow @patrickgaley for the angriest climate tweets in town.
Things have been heating up in Germany too, in the form of a huge debate over identity politics. Dicle Akar, a teacher at the Berlin International School, gives us her thoughts on Turkish identity in Germany and the row over football star Mesut Özil.
Plus: how the summer's been going for Europe's biggest political egos, and the bright side of the forthcoming apocalypse.
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Jun 11, 2018 • 30min
June 12: Waxy smiles
Smiling may not come easily to Russians, as you'll hear about on this episode. But here at The Europeans we've got plenty to smile about this week:
1) Katy's at a pig farm
2) Dominic's latest opera is going great
3) We have fantastic guest Aljaž Pengov Bitenc on the line to talk about what we can learn from Slovenia's recent election. Follow him at twitter.com/pengovsky and hear us on his podcast Evropska četrt: https://bit.ly/2sUjkDk
4)Spain's Mr Handsome is off to a good start and the US ambassador to Germany is off to a bad one
5) We're going on holiday! We'll be back in a few weeks. Please stay subscribed because we won't be gone long and we'll likely be dropping by to say hello!
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Jun 8, 2018 • 29min
BONUS EPISODE: Akbar Ahmed on Islam in Europe
A longer version of our conversation with Akbar Ahmed on his book 'Journey into Europe' about Islam's role in the continent.
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Jun 4, 2018 • 32min
June 5: Changing PMs at 103 BPMs
In Europe our clocks may be slow (see our March 13 episode) but our politics moves fast. Two new governments in a week! Katy and Dominic get you up to speed on what's been happening in Spain and Italy.
Our guest this week is Akbar Ahmed, one of the world's leading experts on Islam, who has just published a major new study on Europe's Muslims. We enjoyed our conversation so much that we'll be releasing it in full as a bonus episode, so look out for that later in the week.
Plus: how Spain's trashiest 1990s dance hit could save your life.
Muchas gracias for listening! Please leave us a review if you liked the show, it helps new listeners find us: apple.co/2Ez2KN8
We're supported by Stackry, the global leader in parcel forwarding from the US. Use our special link & coupon EUROPEANS: bit.ly/European3
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May 28, 2018 • 34min
May 29: Five Stars, Ireland
What a week. There’s been wonderful news from Ireland and so much drama in Italy that we actually had to re-record part of this week’s show at the last minute. Speaking of Italian thrillers: we’ve been chatting to Giuseppe Porcaro, author of brand-new sci-fi novel DISCO SOUR (https://amzn.to/2IVCi7s), about why he decided to set it in a parallel European universe. And Katy’s been talking to Sweden-based Florian Tirnovan about his great project organizing a talent show for deaf people from all around the continent.
Plus: a thunderstorm, a requisitioned towel, and an unlikely friendship in the most beautiful (?) corner of Europe.
Please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts if you liked the show, it helps other people find us! apple.co/2Ez2KN8
We're supported by Stackry, the global leader in parcel forwarding from the US. Use our special link & coupon EUROPEANS: bit.ly/European3
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May 21, 2018 • 38min
May 22: A wedding and no funeral
This week we're going back to the 1970s to look at two great mysteries: an unsolved murder in Norway, and Britain's ever-enigmatic relationship with Europe.
Norwegian investigative journalist Marit Higraff joins us to talk about Death In Ice Valley, the true crime podcast from the BBC and NRK hoping to uncover the truth behind a woman's death half a century ago.
Also delving into the past is British comedian Kieran Hodgson, whose new show looks for laughs in the unlikeliest of places: the story of how Britain ended up joining the EU.
Plus: Cold comfort for the Balkans, Amsterdam's war on 'mono-culture', and the secret to living a very, VERY long life. Oh, and the tiniest mention of a certain wedding.
We're supported by Stackry, the global leader in parcel forwarding from the US. Use our special link & coupon EUROPEANS: bit.ly/European3
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May 19, 2018 • 9min
Hello, new listeners!
A big warm European welcome to the many new listeners who've joined us over the last few weeks! Here's a little bonus episode in which Dominic and Katy introduce themselves and suggest a few favourite episodes you may want to check out.
Our guests are amazing people from all around Europe: chefs, designers, athletes, scientists... Here are the highlights mentioned in this show:
May 7: Making a living from gambling on Eurovision
March 27: A Michelin-starred chef on pizza and national identity
March 20: Vogue's international editor on euro-fashion
Feb 6: The philosophy behind IKEA
Feb 20: Juggling a hairdressing career with Olympic curling
Jan 16: The trouble with translating Donald Trump
Jan 30: A beginner's guide to Viennese waltzing
Dec 19: The lack of diversity in EU institutions
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