EU Confidential

We discuss the implications of Italy's election last weekend and what its probable next prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, could mean for Europe. Our special guest is Stavros Lambrinidis, the EU's ambassador to the United States.POLITICO's Suzanne Lynch and our team covering Italy's election on Sunday, Jacopo Barigazzi in Brussels and Hannah Roberts in Rome, break down all you need to know about Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party and presumed next prime minister. We also dig into how Brussels and other European capitals are reacting to the election of Italy's most right-wing government since World War II.Jacopo also shares the reaction in Brussels to the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines and what might be the EU's next move.And our special guest is Stavros Lambrinidis, the EU's ambassador to the United States. He speaks to POLITICO's Lili Bayer in Washington, about Russia's war in Ukraine, Europe's energy crisis, the U.S. mid-term elections and relations between Washington and Brussels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coming to you from New York City, this bumper edition of EU Confidential brings you the highlights of the U.N. General Assembly and gets reaction from European leaders on Russia's recent threat of military escalation.POLITICO's Suzanne Lynch sits down with our team in New York covering the world's annual diplomatic jamboree. Nahal Toosi, our senior foreign affairs correspondent, breaks down U.S. President Joe Biden's speech and discusses the chances of a breakthrough on Iran this week.U.N. Playbook co-author Ryan Heath speaks to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez about the EU's energy crisis. And we hear from our team traveling with European leaders. Clea Caulcutt, POLITICO's senior France correspondent, speaks to President Emmanuel Macron about President Vladimir Putin's move to mobilize more Russian troops to bolster his forces in Ukraine. And Esther Webber, senior U.K. correspondent, gives us a flavor of Liz Truss' first big international foray as prime minister.Suzanne speaks exclusively to EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell about the bloc's support of Ukraine and whether we can expect a breakthrough with Iran. We also hear from Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský on the escalation of the war in Ukraine.And Suzanne also catches up with Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod on his country's bid to secure a seat on the U.N. Security Council in 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coming to you from Strasbourg, EU Confidential breaks down this week's big EU moment: the State of the Union address delivered by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. And we convene a panel of MEPs to debate which policies hit the mark, and where the speech fell short.POLITICO's Suzanne Lynch, chief Brussels correspondent and your new host, is joined by technology reporter Clothilde Goujard in Strasbourg and energy reporter Victor Jack in Brussels to bring you the highlights from the speech and analyze what big policies were announced and which ones didn't make the cut.Then, members of the European Parliament Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou (EPP), Katalin Cseh (Renew) and Niels Fuglsang (S&D) weigh in on von der Leyen's plan for the year ahead.For more State of the Union analysis, you can join our Pro Briefing call on Friday, September 16 at 10:00 a.m. CET to learn from our POLITICO experts Esther King, Karl Mathiesen, America Hernandez, Pieter Haeck and Joshua Posaner. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New host Suzanne Lynch digs into the EU's plans to address its energy crisis. And Canadian Ambassador to the EU Ailish Campbell explains how Europe is turning to her country for solutions to its energy woes and lifts the lid on sexism in European diplomacy.POLITICO's Chief Brussels Correspondent Suzanne Lynch makes her podcast debut as the new host of EU Confidential. She's joined by Brussels Playbook author Jakob Hanke Vela, who explains the EU's emergency plans being debated this week to address soaring energy and electricity costs. And Chief Europe Correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig explains what Europe and its leaders can expect to face over the long-term.Ailish Campbell, Canada's ambassador to the EU, sits down with Suzanne and Senior Trade Correspondent Barbara Moens to discuss how Canada could potentially help the EU with its energy troubles and lifts the lid on her viral tweet calling out sexism she's experienced in her daily diplomatic interactions in Brussels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Europe's #1 politics podcast returns on Thursday, September 8 with our new host, Chief Brussels Correspondent Suzanne Lynch. Every week, POLITICO journalists in Brussels and across the Continent give their unvarnished takes on the week’s big stories and interview the key players shaping EU policy.Follow EU Confidential on any major podcast platform, sign up to receive our email alerts when new episodes are published every Thursday, and be sure to check out our show notes on POLITICO’s website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this bumper edition before the summer break, we explain the monkeypox outbreak in Europe and the EU's response. We also preview the biggest lobbying battle brewing in Brussels between Big Tech platforms and telecom operators.POLITICO's Samuel Stolton, who covers competition and tech policy, hosts this week's episode, which kicks off with a discussion about the spread of monkeypox in Europe. Health care reporter Helen Collis explains which countries are seeing a rise in infections, and the race to secure vaccines. Helen reveals that the European Commission is re-thinking how it buys vaccines and drugs for the bloc — thus far failing to come through with adequate monkeypox shots to fill demand.Then we preview one of the biggest Brussels lobbying battles you can expect to witness over the coming months. Our lobbying guru Sarah Wheaton and chief technology correspondent Mark Scott set the stage for this debate between Big Tech platforms and telecoms operators over whether platforms should have to pay the telecoms industry for the infrastructure they need to build in order to compensate for the masses of data their users consume across platforms like Google, Meta, Netflix and Amazon.Sam then hosts a lively debate between the top representatives of each side.On the telecoms side, is Alessandro Gropelli from the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO), which represents the likes of Deutsche Telekom, Orange and BT. Joining his side of the debate is Jan-Niklas Steinhauer, head of policy and regulatory affairs at the German Broadband Association (BREKO).On the Big Tech side, is Christian Borggreen from The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) representing the likes of Apple, Google, Meta and Amazon. And he's joined by Thomas Lohninger, executive director of the digital rights NGO epicenter.works.Programming note: We are off for a summer holiday, but we'll be back in your podcast feed on Thursday, September 8 with our new host, Suzanne Lynch, currently the co-author of POLITICO's Brussels Playbook. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We debate what the EU and its leaders can do to counter Russian propaganda, particularly in Africa, about the global food crisis. And we tell the story of Umeå, Sweden, which has become a trailblazer in incorporating gender equality into urban design.Aitor Hernández-Morales, author of POLITICO's Living Cities newsletter, is joined by agriculture reporter Eddy Wax to explain the recent U.N.-brokered deal struck in Turkey between Ukraine and Russia to allow for exports of millions of tons of grain through the Black Sea. Clea Calcutt in Paris breaks down French President Emmanuel Macron's trip to Africa this week, and Brussels politics reporter Ilya Gridneff addresses Russian propaganda about the EU's role in the food crisis and why the bloc is struggling to combat it.Then POLITICO's Giovanna Coi takes us on her recent trip to Sweden to explain how the city of Umeå has become a test case for other European cities — tackling both climate change and urban equality by re-designing itself for women. The story is part of POLITICO's Living Cities series, which you can sign up for here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We dive into the politics of this week's hot topic — Europe's response to a devastating heat wave and how that impacts current energy troubles. We also look into a debate over crypto currencies and how they should be regulated across the EU.POLITICO's Bjarke Smith-Meyer hosts this week's episode, which kicks off with a heated discussion on this week's devastating heat wave across Europe. Karl Mathiesen, our senior climate correspondent, explains why natural disasters like this can be expected more often and shines a light on the disparity between Europe's efforts to cope with climate change compared to other parts of the world.Aitor Hernández-Morales, author of POLITICO's Living Cities newsletter, tells us which cities in Europe have been most effective at helping their residents deal with the heat — and why Southern Europeans feel left behind by Brussels' policies to address the issue. And Zia Weise, our reporter covering climate policy, explains how policymakers are trying to balance climate policies with the current issues Europe is facing when it comes to energy.Then we turn our focus to crypto currencies and the EU's attempt to regulate this uncharted territory of new-age finance. We hear from Faryar Shirzad, the chief policy officer of Coinbase, which is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. Also joining the podcast is Ernest Urtasun, a Spanish member of the European Parliament from the Greens. He weighs in on the EU's newly-passed legislation regulating cryptocurrencies, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation (known in Brussels as MiCA). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our POLITICO mobility team takes over this episode — unpacking the issues facing the travel industry this summer and what European policymakers can do to address them.Joshua Posaner, POLITICO's senior policy reporter based in Berlin, talks to Chief Europe Correspondent Matt Karnitschnig about the EU's aim to phase out the combustion engine by 2035 and whether Germany's Finance Minister Christian Lindner can do anything to stop it. And Matt recommends this timely beach read for our listeners.The rest of POLITICO's mobility team, Hanne Cokelaere and Mari Eccles, join Josh to explain why Europe's summer travel season has been so chaotic — and whether there's any hope for a reprieve soon.We then speak with Wizz Air CEO József Váradi to better understand why so many flights are currently being canceled around Europe. And the team brings us a debate over staff shortages and strikes at airports with Olivier Jankovec, director general of the European Region of the Airports Council International, and Livia Spera, general secretary of European Transport Workers' Federation.Finally, we catch up with well-known European affairs blogger and consultant Jon Worth during his 40-day train journey around the EU to discuss the state of European rail travel and what policymakers can do to improve train journeys around the Continent. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As drama unfolds across the English Channel, we look at where things stand with the EU's migration policy and examine EU-Australian relations. We also review a revealing new documentary on Emmanuel Macron's international diplomacy efforts and explain why interpreters in the European Parliament are upset with their post-COVID working conditions.Brussels Playbook co-author Suzanne Lynch hosts this episode, which begins with our French politics reporter Clea Caulcutt giving us the skinny on a new behind-the-scenes documentary on Macron’s diplomatic efforts to stop the war in Ukraine. Clea also explains the political calculus behind Macron's recent Cabinet reshuffle and what it means for Brussels. And POLITICO's Maïa de La Baume joins the discussion to explain the latest tangle between the EU and its all-important interpreters.Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, joins Suzanne on the podcast to discuss the EU's migration policy — what progress has been made since unveiling its plan in September 2020 and where the sticking points remain. She also highlights the challenges for EU countries from taking in over 3 million Ukrainians fleeing war in recent months.And we welcome a delegation of visitors from Australia to hear about the state of relations with the EU. Stuart Lau, our EU-China correspondent, sits down with Professor Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University and a thought leader on the Indo-Pacific, and Professor Duncan Lewis, an imminent military and security expert who has held senior roles in the Australian military and public service, including as former ambassador to the EU, Belgium and NATO. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices