Just days into his country's rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán again stunned other European leaders by setting off on a series of visits to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing, styling himself as a peace negotiator with a mandate from Brussels. Host Sarah Wheaton and POLITICO's chief EU correspondent Barbara Moens discuss Orbán's rough-and-tumble diplomacy tour and reactions it has provoked among the bloc's politicians and diplomats. But beyond an...
Jul 12, 2024•35 min•Ep 378•Transcript available on Metacast France has voted and the results are in — our POLITICO team in Paris discusses the surprising results of the final round of the parliamentary election in this special episode of EU Confidential. Host Nicholas Vinocur is first joined by POLITICO's Victor Goury-Laffont to break down the results and explain how President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists and the left-wing alliance mobilized to stymie Marine Le Pen’s far right National Rally. POLITICO's executive editor in France, Marion Solletty, joins t...
Jul 08, 2024•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Just days before the final round of France's snap parliamentary elections, we discuss possible scenarios for what could emerge from the messy political situation in Paris: shiny new leaders, a shaky new government, rocky cohabitation — or even more chaos. Host Sarah Wheaton talks to POLITICO's senior correspondent in Paris, Clea Caulcutt. Later she's joined by former U.S. Ambassador to the EU Anthony Gardner and the director of the German Marshall Fund's Berlin office, Sudha David-Wilp. They bre...
Jul 05, 2024•34 min•Ep 377•Transcript available on Metacast Straight from the European Council summit, we bring you the latest news and analysis on a range of tough issues on the leaders' agenda. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by POLITICO colleagues Barbara Moens and Aitor Hernández-Morales to discuss how EU leaders agreed on who they want to lead the top EU institutions over the next five years. With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a special guest at the summit, EU leaders also talked about Ukraine — following the official opening of accession ...
Jun 28, 2024•33 min•Ep 376•Transcript available on Metacast Almost two weeks after the EU election, there is still a lot of political manoeuvring going on — both in Brussels and in national capitals. First, POLITICO's chief EU correspondent, Barbara Moens, recaps of the race for the top jobs after European leaders failed to reach a deal at their informal dinner in Brussels earlier this week. Then, we zoom in on the countries and leaders who until recently were calling the shots, but now seem weakened — and those who are trying to seize the new zeitgeist ...
Jun 21, 2024•38 min•Ep 375•Transcript available on Metacast As the EU comes to terms with its new (sort of) political reality following last weekend's European Parliament election, France is already back in campaign mode — preparing for snap elections called unexpectedly by President Emmanuel Macron. The French president dissolved the National Assembly in response to the massive success of the far-right National Rally in the European election (and the poor showing of his own Renaissance party). Host Sarah Wheaton and her colleagues discuss Macron's shock...
Jun 14, 2024•28 min•Ep 374•Transcript available on Metacast As election result projections were revealed on Sunday evening, our EU Confidential team recorded a live episode with first reactions and analysis from our POLITICO newsroom. Host Sarah Wheaton and the team looked beyond the numbers and analyzed the direction the EU might take as a consequence of the vote. We also discussed French President Emmanuel Macron's shock decision to dissolve the parliament after the far-right National Rally won the popular vote. Our guests were POLITICO editor-in-chief...
Jun 10, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast As voting gets underway throughout the EU, we check in on the polls and learn which stories are dominating the headlines in capitals around Europe. Host Sarah Wheaton discusses the latest polling numbers with our data reporter Hanne Cokelaere. Be sure to check out POLITICO's Poll of Polls for the latest insights. We also hear from colleagues around Europe who explain which stories are uppermost in voters' minds as they head to the ballot box. Aitor Hernández-Morales gives us a snapshot from Spai...
Jun 07, 2024•36 min•Ep 373•Transcript available on Metacast With just a week to go until the European election and the campaign in full gear, we're focusing on how the vote will impact key EU policies such as health, energy, climate, technology and defense. Will they be affected by the shake-up of the bloc's political landscape and the arrival of new MEPs and commissioners — or will continuity with the policy priorities of the last five years prevail? And what about the money to finance new and super costly defense ambitions and the green transition? Wil...
May 31, 2024•37 min•Ep 372•Transcript available on Metacast This is your essential (and entertaining!) guide to the upcoming European election — everything you've wanted to know but been too afraid to ask. With the crucial vote just two weeks away, we reached out to you, our European and American listeners, on social media and collected the most pressing election-related questions. Both veterans of the Brussels bubble and political novices seem to be wondering about everything from: can you vote online to does it even matter? Host Sarah Wheaton and her p...
May 24, 2024•40 min•Ep 371•Transcript available on Metacast Ursula von der Leyen made a promise this week: if she secures another term as president of the European Commission, she will prioritize beefing up the EU's defenses against malicious disinformation from Moscow. It's a top-of-agenda issue for many in Brussels and across the bloc, with less than a month until the European election and hostile actors using sophisticated tools such as generative AI. In this episode, host Sarah Wheaton and her guests unpack some of the latest examples of interference...
May 17, 2024•35 min•Ep 370•Transcript available on Metacast As recent national elections in several European countries have shown, far-right voters no longer fit the stereotype of the angry, old white man, but now often include women, young people and even migrants. In this episode we unpack what drives voters to abandon the mainstream and more traditional party loyalties for the far right, and how poverty, or fear of it, motivates typical supporters of the AfD in Germany, Geert Wilder's PVV in the Netherlands, or Chega in Portugal. Host Sarah Wheaton is...
May 10, 2024•39 min•Ep 369•Transcript available on Metacast It was a rare chance to see all the leading candidates from Europe's main political parties go head-to-head in a presidential-style debate to become the next head of the European Commission. With just over a month to go until the European Parliament election, eight politicians met in the Dutch city of Maastricht and spent an hour and a half answering questions on key issues such as climate change, defense and European democracy. If you missed it, don't worry — we've picked out the key moments an...
May 03, 2024•39 min•Ep 368•Transcript available on Metacast Since the 2019 election this European Parliament has had to deal with various challenges, from Brexit and Covid-19 to the war in Ukraine and scandals such as Qatargate. At the same time it has managed to legislate on key issues such as climate change, AI and migration. In this episode we look back at the highs and lows of the EU legislature's last five years. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by a roundtable of POLITICO colleagues: data reporter Hanne Cokelaere; sustainability reporter Louise Guillot...
Apr 26, 2024•37 min•Ep 367•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode we unpack the EU's new buzzword and the main point of discussion at this week's European Council summit: competitiveness. We also bring you another new buzzword from Brussels this week: Bolshewokism. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by POLITICO's chief Brussels correspondent, Barbara Moens, to recap the leaders' summit and their attempt to make the bloc's economy more competitive with regards China and the United States. We also discuss former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta's ne...
Apr 19, 2024•41 min•Ep 366•Transcript available on Metacast With just weeks to go until the European Parliament election, we're bringing you the state of play. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by Elisa Braun, POLITICO's Brussels correspondent, and Nicholas Vinocur, POLITICO's editor at large, to discuss the many political challenges facing EPP lead candidate Ursula von der Leyen: "Pfizergate," "Piepergate" and the internal rebellion by a group of fellow commissioners. Later, a panel of keen election watchers — Eddy Wax, who covers the European Parliament for...
Apr 12, 2024•38 min•Ep 365•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, we unpack the growing urgency among EU leaders to defeat Russia's Vladimir Putin. Remember the old Latin saying: si vis pacem, para bellum (if you want peace, prepare for war)? We discuss what that might mean today. We also explain what's at stake in presidential runoff elections in Slovakia and round out our episode exploring why chocolate prices in Europe are skyrocketing and what "greedflation" has to do with it. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by Barbara Moens, POLITICO's chief...
Mar 29, 2024•34 min•Ep 364•Transcript available on Metacast As EU leaders received a stark warning about the climate risks facing the bloc, the European Commission caved to farmer protests and demands to slash environmental requirements. Host Sarah Wheaton talks to POLITICO's climate policy reporter Zia Weise about the recent report on climate risks facing the bloc, the first of its kind from the European Environment Agency. We dive into the sobering findings and the reactions. And then Sarah hosts a conversation with POLITICO's senior climate correspond...
Mar 22, 2024•38 min•Ep 363•Transcript available on Metacast Portugal's snap election has brought seismic change — the Socialists are now in opposition and the center-right Democratic Alliance, which narrowly won the vote, will try to form a minority government. But the biggest shock came when the far-right, ultra-nationalist, anti-immigrant Chega won more than a million votes and became the third-largest party in parliament. In this episode of EU Confidential, host Sarah Wheaton is joined by POLITICO’s Aitor Hernández-Morales, Barbara Moens and Nicholas ...
Mar 15, 2024•35 min•Ep 362•Transcript available on Metacast On this bumper edition of EU Confidential, we take you inside the two-day European People Party's Congress in Bucharest. Host Sarah Wheaton and POLITICO's Eddy Wax reveal what was happening as the center-right EPP sealed the deal on its campaign manifesto and anointed its lead candidate for the European Parliament election: Ursula von der Leyen. They speak exclusively to delegates and key EPP figures including Roberta Metsola, Manfred Weber, Thanasis Bakolas, Leo Varadkar, Michel Barnier, Petter...
Mar 08, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep 361•Transcript available on Metacast With less than 100 days until the European Parliament election, we bring you the state of play. Also, we hear from Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili about her country's ambitions to join the EU. Host Sarah Wheaton assembles a panel of astute election watchers to break down the key issues and people shaping the discussions as campaigns get underway for the EU election in June: POLITICO's Parliament reporter Eddy Wax; Francesca Romana D'Antuono, co-president of Volt Europa; and Thomas Thaler...
Mar 01, 2024•38 min•Ep 360•Transcript available on Metacast As we mark two years of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we take stock of how the war has changed Europe's political landscape and identity — as well as life for Ukrainians under siege. Also, we look at Ursula von der Leyen's campaign to remain European Commission chief. Von der Leyen finally announced her intention this week to officially seek another term at the helm following the European Parliament election in June. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by POLITICO's Hans von der Burchard abo...
Feb 23, 2024•43 min•Ep 359•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump has again sent shockwaves across Europe with comments suggesting that he would encourage Russia to invade NATO countries that do not spend enough on defense. In this episode, we discuss reactions in European capitals. Host Sarah Wheaton and her colleagues — senior Paris correspondent Clea Caulcutt, chief Europe correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig and Stuart Lau who covers China and NATO — check whether Trump's criticism of NATO could effectively prompt EU leaders to enhance the bloc'...
Feb 16, 2024•33 min•Ep 358•Transcript available on Metacast Europe is waking up to the urgent need to strengthen its own defenses — especially as Donald Trump seems poised to capture the Republican nomination and possibly even the White House in November presidential elections. In this episode, host Sarah Wheaton is joined by Florence Gaub, director of research at the NATO Defence College in Rome and a futurist, along with Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO and president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (and a fellow podcaster: World Rev...
Feb 09, 2024•33 min•Ep 357•Transcript available on Metacast As farmer protests continue around Europe, we unpack their various concerns and analyze their impact on the European election. We also take you to an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders in Brussels where crucial cash for Ukraine hung in the balance. Host Sarah Wheaton speaks to POLITICO's Parliament reporter Eddy Wax among the thousands of tractors and angry farmers in the heart of Brussels. Later in the episode, our in-house experts explain what's behind the farmers' uprising and what impact th...
Feb 02, 2024•35 min•Ep 356•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode we look at a crisis that is affecting many Europeans in most EU countries: skyrocketing rents and house prices, a shortage of flats, long waiting lists for social or affordable housing — commonplace problems from Greece to Luxembourg to Portugal. Host Sarah Wheaton talks to POLITICO's Aitor Hernández-Morales and Sorcha Edwards, secretary general of Housing Europe, about the causes of the crisis, its impact across the bloc (including far-right parties using it as an election platf...
Jan 26, 2024•41 min•Ep 355•Transcript available on Metacast After seven years of bitter wrangling, the EU has finally reached an agreement on how to handle migration — one of its most challenging and divisive issues. In this episode of EU Confidential we look at what's in the deal, which has been hailed as a success by Brussels but criticized by NGOs and human rights groups. Host Sarah Wheaton and Jacopo Barigazzi, POLITICO's senior diplomatic correspondent, talk to Catherine Woolard — director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles — about the d...
Jan 19, 2024•29 min•Ep 354•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode we look at the ongoing tug-of-war between Budapest and Brussels in the context of a rather shocking development that could pave the way for Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán — who has won a reputation as the bloc's biggest troublemaker — to chair meetings of EU leaders and set the EU agenda. It follows a surprising decision by European Council President Charles Michel to step down and run for a seat in the European Parliament. Host Sarah Wheaton and colleagues Barbara Moens and Hans von ...
Jan 12, 2024•43 min•Ep 353•Transcript available on Metacast This isn't just any new year — 2024 in the political calendar means mega elections in Europe, the U.S., the U.K. and beyond. Our EU Confidential crew predicts how these elections could impact pressing issues around the European Union. Bringing together the collective knowledge of some of POLITICO's best and brightest reporters — Barbara Moens, Clea Caulcutt and Hans von der Burchard — we discuss the June vote that could see 400 million Europeans take part, the top EU jobs up for grabs, the Belgi...
Jan 05, 2024•40 min•Ep 352•Transcript available on Metacast Our last episode of 2023 is a bumper edition, reviewing some of the key stories that drove the conversations in Brussels and throughout Europe this year. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by a roundtable of POLITICO's policy editors including Joanna Roberts, Aoife White and Jan Cienski to discuss everything from the AI Act to pharmaceutical rules and the EU's bolstered defense capabilities. Also, Opinion Editor Jamie Dettmer brings us up to speed on Europe's response to the Israel-Hamas war and the w...
Dec 15, 2023•46 min•Ep 351•Transcript available on Metacast 
