Brussels Playbook Podcast

Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and philanthropist, is this week’s main guest. He talks to Ryan Heath about the work of his foundations, the next EU budget and the Oxfam scandal. And we talk to Politico health reporter Carmen Paun about how Gates has shaken up the world of public health — not without criticism. In our Dear Politico advice session, we hear from an assistant to a member of the Eur...

With a year to go until Brexit, we take stock of where things stand and what lies ahead. The European Parliament's Brexit Coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, talks to EU Confidential's executive producer, Andrew Gray, about the biggest Brexit challenges and how the Parliament is dealing with them. Verhofstadt talks about his plan to avoid a "Swiss nightmare" of too many post-Brexit agreements with the U...

Russia, artificial intelligence and MEPs who are famous for the wrong reasons all feature in this week’s episode. Host Ryan Heath talks to the foreign minister of Lithuania, Linas Linkevičius, about how the EU should handle Moscow, following Vladimir Putin’s re-election and the Salisbury nerve agent attack. Ryan also chats with Janosch Delcker, POLITICO’s recently appointed AI correspondent. The f...

On this episode Ryan talks to Giorgi Margvelashvili, the president of Georgia who is a doctor of philosophy and was in town for the German Marshall Fund’s Brussels Forum. Following that Michael O’Leary, the gruff CEO and founder of Ryanair, who's discovering his softer side explains why Brexit makes him disappointed and how to solve holiday delays due to air traffic control strikes. Then we’ve got...

Ryan Heath talks to Marianne Thyssen, the European Commissioner for employment, about how she wants to overhaul EU policies on jobs, education and training to face up to globalization. She also talks about the surprise in the College of Commissioners when Martin Selmayr was nominated as the Commission’s new secretary-general. Lulwah Al Khater, the first female spokesperson for the Qatari ministry...

Tony Blair came to Brussels this week with a clear message, delivered in this week's interview: I’m trying to stop Brexit, and there’s only one shot left — European immigration controls. If that idea or a second British Brexit referendum fails, Europe will be left with an angrier bigger version of Singapore undercutting its business and social model on its doorstep. Highlights from the show: Hard...

This week's episode features a review of the Munich Security Conference and an interview with Ben Hodges, who recently retired as commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe. Also on the podcast: our panelists give their verdict on the big new job for Martin Selmayr, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's powerful chief of staff, look forward to the Italian election and once again t...

This week's special guest is Alexander Stubb, the former Finnish prime minister and ex-MEP who is now vice president of the European Investment Bank (EIB). Stubb talks about how the bank will handle Brexit and how it will play an increasing role as the EU tries to do "more with less" in its next long-term budget. The podcast panel discusses the Oxfam sex scandal, the controversial Spitzenkandidat...

EU politics this week was all about shrinkage and enlargement. The shrinkage of course is Brexit, with the U.K. government again failing to set out its negotiating position and Michel Barnier sweeping through London to explain the EU's red lines. EU Confidential's featured guest this week is former U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. The enlargement — or potential enlargement — comes from the W...

It's a bumper episode this week. We hear from POLITICO's man in Prague, Siegfried Mortkowitz, about the good cop-bad cop Euroskeptic routine coming out of the Czech capital, and we catch up with a prime minister, a bank chief and an MEP that Ryan Heath spoke to at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar tells us why he wants his country to be a home for progressive i...

We've got the lowdown from Davos in another special edition from the World Economic Forum. The podcast features interviews with two prime ministers — the Netherlands' Mark Rutte and Poland's Mateusz Morawiecki — as well as U.S. investor Bill McGlashan, a champion of social impact investing. Ryan Heath is your host for a show that's both the final edition of our daily Davos Confidential podcasts an...

Ryan Heath and Matthew Kaminski look ahead to Theresa May’s appearance in Davos, hot on the heels of speeches by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron. Also in the daily podcast, they discuss U.S. officials’ reception at the World Economic Forum, ahead of Donald Trump’s arrival. Ryan interviews Werner Hoyer, president of the European Investment Bank and talks to John Harris, POLITICO’s global editor-i...

Direct from Davos in our daily podcast, POLITICO’s Ryan Heath, Florian Eder and Matthew Kaminski look forward to an unofficial Europe day at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, when Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Paolo Gentiloni will all be in action. In keeping with the Europe theme, Ryan and Florian chat to Belgian Deputy Prime Prime Minister Alexander De Croo about the EU’s future, post-...

Ryan Heath and Florian Eder bring you the latest from the World Economic Forum in Davos in POLITICO’s special daily pop-up podcast. Ryan talks to Arancha González, executive director of the International Trade Centre, who says the world needs to up its game when it comes to trade talks. He also catches up with Brett Solomon, a digital rights advocate who explains why he’s come to Davos this year....

Davos Confidential: In the first of POLITICO’s daily pop-up podcasts from the World Economic Forum, Ryan Heath and Florian Eder preview this year’s gathering of the global elite. From the Crystal Awards to the Panda scale for speeches, Ryan and Florian have the inside track from the snow-covered slopes of the Swiss resort. They also unpack the decision by Germany’s Social Democrats to back coaliti...

This week's show features an interview with Estonia's President Kersti Kaljulaid, the first head of state to appear on the podcast. Kaljulaid explains why Estonia wants to pay more to the EU, reveals a promise Jean-Claude Juncker made to her about the post-Brexit EU budget and talks about how Estonia is struggling with Russia's turn to militarism. POLITICO Managing Editor Florian Eder joins us to...

Host Ryan Heath interviews Daniel Ek, the CEO of global music pioneer Spotify. The music world was a notorious graveyard for online entrepreneurs: until Spotify. In this episode, Ek explains why he thinks Stockholm-based Spotify is different to Silicon Valley companies, what he wants from EU regulators, and becomes the first major tech CEO to give his full support to the #metoo movement. Ek also s...

Kaja Tael, Estonia's ambassador to the EU, reviews her country's six months running the bloc's rotating presidency. Host Ryan Heath also talks to POLITICO's Christian Oliver about the challenges for Bulgaria's 2018 EU presidency, from domestic infighting to far-right ministers. Estonia is northern, not eastern, European: Tael says Estonia is a bridge between different camps in the EU, but sees its...

Episode 27 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features a review of the year from POLITICO reporters and an interview with NATO's Deputy Assistant Secretary General Jamie Shea, a Brussels veteran of almost 40 years. With regular host Ryan Heath on holiday, news editor Andrew Gray talks to Shea about the alliance's future challenges, the EU's new defense pact and his role as frontman when NATO we...

Episode 26 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast has just been released, featuring a deep dive into the EU's capital city. We discuss how to improve Brussels as a city with regional minister Pascal Smet and debate the thorny topic of racial diversity in the EU bubble. Brussels the "whore": There's no doubt Smet has a way with words. He compares Brussels, a city and region he hopes to transform, "w...

Former European Council President Herman Van Rompuy talks to host Ryan Heath about the future of the EU in this week's episode. EU reform and Brexit haiku: Since leaving office, Van Rompuy has been shepherding a major report on the future of the EU, the New Pact for Europe, in the name of several leading foundations and think tanks. In a challenge almost as daunting, he has composed a haiku about...

This week's show features back-to-back interviews with the European commissioner for health, Vytenis Andriukaitis, who is also a heart surgeon, and Bernhard Uhl, the head of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Glyphosate politics: Speaking just after the EU reapproved the use of glyphosate, Uhl, whose EFSA agency concluded there is no health risk associated with agricultural use of the weed...

Episode 23 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee. This week, we've got two feature interviews for you. As well as Bach, there's Adecco Group board member Stephan Howeg. We also talked to POLITICO's Florian Eder about the recent political developments in Germany. German twists and turns: Florian Eder gives us a recap of what...

Episode 22 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features Eldar Sætre, the CEO of Norway's oil and gas company Statoil. We spoke to Sætre on November 9, after the COP23 global climate conference had kicked off in Bonn, Germany, but before Norway's $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund proposed dropping investments in oil and gas stocks. We also chatted with POLITICO's Sara Stefanini, who has spent the...

Host Ryan Heath interviews Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the head of Greece's New Democracy party and opposition leader in parliament. The outsider and the Mitsotakis dynasty: The opposition leader is the son of a former Greek prime minister, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, yet ran for the party leadership with virtually no support from fellow MPs. Instead, he won in an open primary thanks to support from ordinar...