Friends of Europe podcasts

8 December 2022: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Jamie Shea is joined by Senior Fellow for Peace, Security and Defence, Paul Taylor, to discuss Friends of Europe’s latest European Defence Study on the Western Balkan region. Tune in to find out what our speakers have to say. Linked Content: Seize the geopolitical moment: The Western Balkans and European security: https://www.friendsofeurope....

1 December 2022: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Paul Taylor is joined by Alexander Stubb, Director of the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute and former prime minister of Finland to discuss Finland’s accession to NATO and where the EU is at with the Ukraine war facing into the winter. Tune in to find out what our speakers have to say.

10 November 2022: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Jamie Shea is joined by Senior Fellows for Peace, Security and Defence, Paul Taylor and Chris Kremidas Courtney, to discuss the latest developments on the frontline in Ukraine, the crises around energy and military supplies facing into the winter, and whether Western solidarity can hold true. Tune in to find out what our speakers have to say...

20 October 2022: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Jamie Shea is joined by Negar Mortazavi, Journalist and European Young Leader (EYL40), to discuss the Iran in Focus report published by Friends of Europe in the context of Iran’s recent mass protests calling for regime change. Tune in to find out what our speakers have to say. -------------------- Linked Content --------------------- Friends...

13 October 2022: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Paul Taylor is joined by Chris Kremidas Courtney, Senior Fellow for Peace, Security & Defence, and Alexandros Diakopoulos, Former National Security Advisor; Vice Admiral (Retd); Managing Director for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid at Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss Turkey’s quest for strategic autonomy and its am...

6 October 2022: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Jamie Shea is joined by Paul Taylor, Senior Fellow for Peace, Security & Defence, and Peter Ricketts, Member of the House of Lords to discuss Britain’s role in the upcoming EU Summit in Prague, the European Political Community, and why Anglo-French relations may have deteriorated. Tune in to find out what our speakers have to say.

29 September 2022: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Jamie Shea is joined by Chris Kremidas Courtney, Senior Fellow for Peace, Security & Defence, and Liam Gibson, journalist for Nikkei Asia, Al Jazeera, and Taipei Times, to give a geopolitical, economic, and technological overview of the Indo-Pacific region, and what hopes exist for trans-Pacific cooperation between the US and the liberal As...

22 September 2022: Host Dharmendra Kanani is joined this week by Paul Taylor, Senior Fellow for Peace, Security & Defence, and Tomáš Petříček, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, to discuss the Czech presidency of the Council of the European Union. We examine the priorities of the presidency in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the energy price hikes, and the cost of...

15 September 2022: Host Jamie Shea is joined this week by Ambassador Vsevolod Chentsov, Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, to discuss the EU-Ukraine Association Council – the first meeting since the war broke out. Massive Ukrainian advances south of Kharkiv totalling 6,000km2 this past week have seen Russian forces on the backfoot, abando...

8 September 2022: Kickstarting our brand-new season of the Frankly Speaking Podcast, we delve into the question of European resilience against hybrid crises. In this special, host Jamie Shea is joined by Senior Fellow and lead author of the tabletop report, Chris Kremidas-Courtney, and Hanna Linderstål, CEO and Founder of EARHART Business protection agency. We discuss the metaverse, extended reali...

5 July 2022: In Episode 18 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking Podcast’s special on the war in Ukraine, host Paul Taylor is joined by Director of Global Risk Analysis at Control Risks Group, Oksana Antonenko, and Senior Fellow for Peace, Security, and Defence at Friends of Europe, Jamie Shea. We discuss the outlook for Russian gas supplies to Europe, the financial and economic situation of Ukr...

23 June 2022: In Episode 17 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking Podcast’s special on the war in Ukraine, host Jamie Shea is joined by our Senior Fellow for Peace, Security and Defence, Paul Taylor. We discuss the connections between space-based capabilities and the surprisingly significant role they have played in the evolution of the Ukrainian conflict. Fresh off the launch of Taylor’s latest...

16 June 2022: In Episode 16 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking Podcast’s special on the war in Ukraine, host Tracey D’Afters is joined by our Senior Fellow for Peace, Security and Defence, Paul Taylor and guest speaker Elena Daly, Independent Expert for Sovereign Debt. We discuss why Western sanctions may prevent Russia from using global financial systems to service its sovereign debt, and wh...

9 June 2022: In Episode 15 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking Podcast’s special on the war in Ukraine, host Tracey D’Afters is joined by our Senior Fellow for Peace, Security and Defence, Paul Taylor and guest speaker Holy Ranaivozanany who is Head of Advocacy and Outreach at the Africa-Europe Foundation. We discuss the implications of the war on Ukraine on the African Continent and ask if th...

2 June 2022: In Episode 14 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking Podcast’s special on the war in Ukraine, host Tracey D’Afters is joined by our Senior Fellows for Peace, Security and Defence, Paul Taylor and Jamie Shea. Energy is top of the agenda. With the EU deal to ban Russian oil this week, we discuss how effective these oil sanctions are likely to be and whether the EU would go a step furth...

19 May 2022: In Episode 13 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking Podcast special on the war in Ukraine host, Tracey D’Afters is joined by Paul Taylor, Senior Fellow from Peace, Defence and Security and guest speaker Camilla Toulmin who is a British economist and former Director of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and our senior fellow in sustainable energy. Cami...

12 May 2022: Episode 12 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking Podcast special on the war in Ukraine this week is hosted live from Zagreb, Croatia, where our European Young Leaders (EYL40) programme is hosting a three-day seminar on the topic of ‘Saving Democracy From Itself’. We explore the concept of ‘constructive journalism’ and why ensuring a free and open press can embolden democracies every...

5 May 2022: Episode 11 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking Podcast special on the war in Ukraine focuses on developments on the southern and eastern fronts; Russia’s military issues; Finland’s interest in becoming a NATO member; the Sixth Sanctions Package and what it means for diplomacy should the Pope step in to mediate. Tune in this week to find out what our Senior Fellow Jamie Shea says on...

21 April 2022: After a short break we are back with Episode 10 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking podcast on the War in Ukraine. Our host, Tracey D’Afters is joined by Senior Fellows Paul Taylor former Reuters journalist, contributing editor at Politico and author of our newly published report on the Black Sea and Jamie Shea, former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Cha...

7 April 2022: In Episode 9 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking podcast on the War in Ukraine, host, Tracey D’Afters is joined by Senior Fellows Paul Taylor former Reuters journalist, contributing editor at Politico and author of our newly published report on the Black Sea and Jamie Shea, former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at NATO. This week we also welco...

31 March 2022: In Episode 8 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking podcast on the War in Ukraine, host, Tracey D’Afters is joined by Senior Fellows Paul Taylor former Reuters journalist, contributing editor at Politico and author of our newly published report on the Black Sea and Jamie Shea, former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at NATO.

24 March 2022: In Episode 7 of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking podcast on the War in Ukraine, host, Tracey D’Afters is joined by Senior Fellows Paul Taylor and Chris Kremidas-Courtney and guest speaker, Isabelle Durant, Deputy Secretary General at UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Tune in to hear what our Senior Fellows have to say.

17 March 2022: Ukraine, Senior Fellow Jamie Shea is joined by guest speaker Dr Stefanie Babst, former deputy assistant secretary general of NATO and now a senior associate fellow of the European Leadership Network. Tune in to hear what our Senior Fellows have to say.

10 March 2022: In this fifth episode of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking podcast on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Senior Fellows Paul Taylor and Jamie Shea are joined by guest speaker and Fellow for Health, Tamsin Rose. Since 1990, Tamsin has had a successful career working internationally. Following her role in media relations for the EU Delegation in Moscow, she has since specialised in p...

1 March 2022: In this fourth episode of Friends of Europe’s Frankly Speaking podcast, Senior Fellows Paul Taylor and Chris Kremidas-Courtney are joined by guest speaker Merle Maigre. Merle is Senior Cyber Security Expert at Estonia’s e-Governance Academy, a non-profit that helps governments go digital, former Director of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn a...