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 gu...
In an otherwise miserable week, this podcast is delighted to bring you a joyful interview with a drag cow. At least, an interview with the person behind the cow: the Swiss artist, performer and animal rights activist Daniel Hellmann. We chat to Daniel about why he decided to channel his campaigning side into something so wonderfully silly. We're also talking about a trigger-happy Croatian politician and Ursula von der Leyen's return from hospital.
You can follow Soya the Cow here and find out more about Daniel's work here.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: 'The Outrun', Danish spruce cookbook 'Mad med gran', and European TikTok.
Other resources for this episode
'Što društvo može napraviti da spriječi porast nasilja?' (What can society do to prevent the rise in violence?') - HRT, January 16, 2025 https://vijesti.hrt.hr/hrvatska/otvoreno-659-11963849
'A Brit Explains Wagatha Christie To An American' - Bustle, October 19, 2023 https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/wagatha-christie-explained-by-a-brit-to-an-american
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
00:23 An (attempted) orange-man free zone
03:08 Good Week: Ursula von der Leyen
10:32 Bad Week: Croatia's government
21:40 Interview: Daniel Hellmann (Soya the Cow) on the case for joyful activism
39:05 The Inspiration Station: 'The Outrun', 'Mad men gran', and European TikTok
44:23 Happy Ending: A social network making a good decision, for once?!
Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | [email protected]
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47:29
Russia's gas games
There's been a weird loophole in the war in Ukraine up until now. Nearly three years after Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine was still being paid to transport Russian gas for sale to Europe, all while Moscow continued to kill its people. What does the end of this strange deal mean? This week we ring up energy expert Szymon Kardaś to ask how Putin's regime might seek to use the new situation to his advantage, and to what extent Europe has really managed to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels. We're also talking about the new challenge to Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić, and whether or not it's a good idea to eat your Christmas tree.
Szymon is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and an assistant professor at the University of Warsaw. You can read his tweets here.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: The European Journalism Centre's Journalism Innovation Podcast and 'Beyond the Wall' by Katja Hoyer.
Other resources for this episode
Ghent city hall's guide to reducing post-holiday waste — now with added disclaimer: https://stad.gent/nl/groen-milieu/nieuws-evenementen/na-de-feestdagen-wat-met-de-restjes#je-kerstboom
'Sweden says Christmas tree needles safe to eat — after Belgian warning'. AFP / France 24, January 8, 2025
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250108-sweden-says-christmas-tree-needles-safe-to-eat-after-belgian-warning
Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
00:22 Polish apple facts, and some amazing news
05:05 Bad Week: Aleksandar Vučić
17:02 Good week: Adventurous chefs
26:44 Interview: Szymon Kardaś on what the Russia-Ukraine gas pipeline shutdown means for Europe
42:31 The Inspiration Station: The European Journalism Centre's Journalism Innovation Podcast, and 'Beyond the Wall'
46:12 Happy Ending: From Thiberville to Thiberville, with love
Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | [email protected]
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50:31
Democratic salami and boiling frogs
Between Elon Musk's meddling and Romania's election rollercoaster, the state of Europe's democracies feels a little scary at the start of 2025. This week we talk to Tom Theuns, author of a new book about Europe's failure to stop the slow slide towards autocracy so far and what we can do to fix it.
Tom is a senior assistant professor of political theory and European politics at Leiden University. You can find out all about his book, 'Protecting Democracy in Europe', here, and follow him on Bluesky here.
This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: 'My Favourite Cake' and 'La Chimera'.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work in 2025. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here.
We're also crowdfunding our new series, 'Who Does It Best?', which will delve into the most imaginative policies around Europe. We're 96% of the way there! You can find out all about our plans for the series, and help us start making it, at https://4fund.com/z/europeanspodcast.
Other resources for this episode:
Double Dutch on Instagram and TikTok
Ada Colau's amazing Instagram post
Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
00:23 The headwinds of 2025
02:48 Bad Week: Fireworks
11:50 Good Week: Greenland's pro-independence movement
22:31 Interview: Tom Theuns on protecting Europe's democracies
38:01 The Inspiration Station: 'My Favourite Cake' and 'La Chimera'
43:13 Happy Ending: Ada Colau's amazing Instagram post
Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon | [email protected]
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47:34
Cold water, warm hearts
As the winter chill sets in, throngs of Europeans are heading each week to the nearest pond, lake or coastline to dunk themselves voluntarily in freezing cold water. Cold swimming has centuries of history on this continent, but why do it? This week we're delving into the science of why it makes us feel good — but also why it helps so many people through difficult times, with the help of Katharina Smets, audio maker and proud member of Antwerp's biggest cold plunge club. We're also talking about the Vatican's Christmas tree drama and a festive inflation-busting policy in Greece.
This final episode of the year was recorded live in front of an audience of our supporters. Thank you for listening to The Europeans in 2024! If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work into 2025. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of the show at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), and even gift a donation to a super fan of The Europeans here.
We're also crowdfunding our new series, 'Who Does It Best?', which will delve into the most imaginative policies around Europe. We're 80% of the way there! You can find out all about our plans for the series, and help us start making it, at https://4fund.com/z/europeanspodcast.
You can follow Katharina on Instagram here and learn more about the Deurnese IJsberen here.
The BBC article Dominic mentioned on the environmental impact of Christmas trees can be found here.
This week's Inspiration Station offerings: 'The Bee Sting' by Paul Murray and Jazz Station in Brussels.
Listeners' other recommendations:
- 'Opinci'. Irina says: 'A wonderful 20-minute animation about the story of a Romanian man who in 1910 attempted to circumnavigate the world on foot. It's beautiful and I think you would really enjoy it.'
- Frederik recommends 'Schwarze Früchte' from Germany's ARD. 'It's about growing up queer and black.'
- 'Somebody Somewhere' - 'Really worth watching,' says Juliette.
- Owen recommends his new book of poetry, 'Nature Is Real And So Am I'. 'It’s about my relationship with the four seasons of natural landscape around me on the Isle of Man.'
Producer: Katy Lee
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
00:22 Winter tea and Swedish gnomes
04:40 Good Week: Greece's Christmas shopping basket
12:50 Bad Week: The Green Giant of Trentino
27:29 Interview: Katharina Smets' guide to cold swimming in Europe
49:42 The Inspiration Station: 'The Bee Sting' by Paul Murray and Jazz Station in Brussels
53:56 Happy Ending: The best Christmas market in Europe... or is it?
Instagram | Bluesky | Mastodon | Twitter | [email protected]
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58:59
The manosphere, the 'TikTok messiah', and 132 hamsters
We've got a heady mix of Romanian politics, online misogyny and animal-based chaos for you this week. Friend of the show Andrei Popoviciu joins us to explain why his dad and many other voters backed the TikTok-fuelled campaign of far-right Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu. And we ring up three young people from Greece, Ireland and Lithuania to ask: what's it like being part of a generation that's increasingly divided over whether feminism is a good thing? Plus, hamsters. Lots of hamsters.
This week's interview with Siloé Musoke, Goda Skiotytė and Chris Ntonis was produced in collaboration with the European Institute for Gender Equality. You can find out all about the Gender Equality Forum 2024, and sign up to attend online, here.
You can follow Andrei on Twitter here and Bluesky here.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of the show at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available), and even gift a donation to a super fan of The Europeans here!
We're also crowdfunding our new series for 2025, 'Who Does It Best?', which will delve into the most imaginative policies around Europe. We're three-quarters of the way there! You can find out all about our plans for the series, and help us start making it, at https://4fund.com/z/europeanspodcast.
This week's Inspiration Station offerings: 'Nature Manifesto' by Björk and Aleph; lohikeitto.
Other resources for this episode
Anna Sale - 'Let's Talk About Hard Things
'Capturados hamsters que pararam avião da TAP' - Correio da Manhã, November 18, 2024 (video at the bottom)
Producers: Morgan Childs and Katz Laszlo
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
00:23 Which country's got quiet, boring politics right now?
02:42 Good Week, Romania, Bad Week, Romania
20:52 Interview: Siloé Musoke, Goda Skiotytė and Chris Ntonis on the rising divide over feminism in young Europeans
46:08 The Inspiration Station: 'Nature Manifesto' by Björk and Aleph at the Centre Pompidou; lohikeitto
50:53 Happy Ending: Hamsters on a plane
Instagram | Bluesky | Mastodon | Threads | Twitter | [email protected]
O 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.
Słuchaj The Europeans | European news, politics and culture, Podsiadło Kotarski Podcast i wielu innych podcastów z całego świata dzięki aplikacji radio.pl