EU Confidential

Johannes Hahn, European commissioner for enlargement negotiations and neighborhood policy, talks us through the Western Balkans. It's a region whose countries desperately want into the EU club, but which still has a lot of work to do in overcoming the legacies of the wars of the 1990s, including corruption and organized crime.Hahn warns against China using countries like Montenegro as a Trojan Horse to get into EU decision-making, and pushes back against Emmanuel Macron's view that the EU needs to focus on cleaning up and renovating its own house, rather than enlarging.Did you know? Hahn, like President Donald Trump, takes Coca-Cola at the meeting table and holidays in Scotland. (But the similarities end there.) His job will also grow with Brexit: the U.K. will become part of Hahn's remit as a "third country" in Europe's own neighborhood.Trump and Juncker's love-in: Our podcast panel weighs in on peace breaking out at the White House, Steve Bannon's plan to conquer Europe and the latest satellite launches for Europe's Galileo program. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amélie de Montchalin, a French member of Parliament with Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche party explains why its undemocratic to finalise the EU’s next seven-year budget ahead of the 2019 EU election. European agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan talks about how farming needs to change, Brexit, and trade deals. The panel discusses the EU's €4.3 billion fine against Google, and how to handle a leader when they stumble, literally and politically. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A special defense-themed episode take you inside this week’s tense NATO summit and discusses the new specialism of 24/7 POTUS management. The stellar line-up includes United States Ambassadors Alexander Vershbow and Daniel Fried; Beatrice Fihn who leads ICAN an anti-nuclear and Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaign group; Brookings Institution’s Constanze Stelzenmüller and journalist Paul Taylor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A bumper episode featuring NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg who’s got a present for Donald Trump ahead of next week’s NATO summit in Brussels, and Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who has presided of the sacking of 27 Polish judges this week, but who is at pains in our interview to explain what he likes about the EU and Jean-Claude Juncker. The podcast panel discussing a whirlwind of good deeds, hypocrisy and protest at the European Parliament this week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s summit week: crammed with migration and Trump and eurozone and Brexit and will-Merkel-stay-or-go drama.One man who could benefit greatly from Merkel going is Wolfgang Schäuble, her long-time rival and finance minister, now president of the Bundestag, the German Parliament. He’s our first interview guest, followed by Danny McCoy, the head of the Irish business lobby Ibec, who talks Brexit and why Ireland has upped its lobbying game in BrusselsThe podcast panel tries to unpack why so much of what EU leaders are saying about migration is either unrealistic or not addressing some of the key problems. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s theme is Women Rule! Our feature interview is withPhumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of U.N. Women, who’s got passionate views about violence, #MeToo and more.Mlambo-Ngcuka spoke to POLITICO reporter Ginger Hervey, who joins us to put the conversation in context.Our podcast panel gets into the World Cup spirit with a series of "EU kick-offs" and "EU red cards" as we chew over the Italian government’s views on its Roma communities, and the political strategy of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Helle Thorning Schmidt, the former Danish PM who's now head of Save the Children International, is our main guest. Host Ryan Heath asks her about tackling populism and who should lead Europe.Ryan also talks to Jaume Duch, who runs communications for the European Parliament and is in charge of spending a whopping €30m to tell people about next year's election.And our podcast panel debates the rights and wrongs of denying the right to dock to the Aquarius, the ship carrying 629 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A blockbuster episode, our 50th, in which three guests from the world of NGOs talk about the joys of their work and their frustrations at dealing with the EU and national governments.Our first 50 episodes featured nine current national leaders, eight European commissioners and lots of other senior politicians: now it’s time to hear from the other side. Jana Hainsworth is the president of Social Platform, a network of 170 NGOs, and secretary-general of one of its members, Eurochild; Patrick Gaspard is the president of the Open Society Foundations, founded by George Soros; and Evelyne Paradis runs ILGA Europe, an LGBTI advocacy group.Also this week, our podcast panel discusses a new generation of politicians who’ve brought the average age of EU leaders under 50 for the first time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon talks to host Ryan Heath in an interview recorded in front of an audience at POLITICO's Brussels HQ. Sturgeon shares her views on Brexit, the chances of Britain remaining in a customs union with the EU, and another Scottish independence vote.Our podcast panel discusses a Ukraine WTF — the faked murder of a journalist — and looks back on the Irish referendum that gave women the right to choose an abortion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a tech special this week — but you don’t have to be a geek to understand any of it. Host Ryan Heath talks to Tristan Harris, who spent three years as a design ethicist at Google and has been called “the closest thing Silicon Valley has to a conscience.” He’s the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, an organization with a bold mission: “to stop technology hijacking our minds.”Ryan also speaks to Paul Jordan of the International Association of Privacy Professionals about Europe’s new blockbuster data privacy regulation, the GDPR. Paul explains what all those messages clogging up our inboxes mean for governments, companies and individuals.Switching from tech fact to tech fiction, Ryan chats to Giuseppe Porcaro, author of a new book, Disco Sour, which presents a dystopian view of the future where politics is governed by a Tinder-style app.And our podcast panelists, Lina Aburous and Alva Finn, debate the big event in Brussels this week: Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance at the European Parliament — and how what should have been an EU Thumbs Up turned into an EU WTF. We also talk about a physical attack on a Greek mayor and the embellished CV of Italy’s likely new prime minister. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices