The Brussels Beat

In this episode of the Brussels Beat, Javier Espinoza speaks with Werner Stengg, a member of the European Union's tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen’s cabinet, and his fifteen year old son Jakob, with whom he has co-authored a dystopian AI novel in which a computer has decided to get rid of mankind. They discuss whether Europe’s digital laws are capable of preventing such a scenario, and whether Eu...

In this episode of The Brussels Beat, Javier Espinoza speaks with Teresa Ribera, the EU commissioner in charge of competition policy, about what to expect in the European Commission’s revamped merger guidelines and tensions with the U.S. over the bloc’s digital rules. They discuss the commission’s planned approach to evaluating deals, which Ribera said will consider economic benefits of a merger b...

In this episode of The Brussels Beat, Javier Espinoza speaks with Benoît Cœuré, president of France’s competition authority, about growing tensions between EU ambitions for European companies to scale up and member states’ resistance to regulatory harmonization. They discuss why cross-border consolidation in sectors like telecoms, energy and finance remains limited despite calls from the Draghi re...

In this episode,  The Capitol Forum's  Europe Executive Editor Javier Espinoza sits down with Booking.com CEO Glenn Fogel to pull back the curtain on the shifting landscape of global travel. In this conversation they discuss:  The strategic impact of the EU’s Digital Markets Act and what "gatekeeper" status actually means for the platform's bottom line. How AI is...

The head of Spain's competition watchdog, Cani Fernández, sees room for national social media bans in the European Union. In an interview with The Capitol Forum, Fernandez who is president of the National Commission for Markets and Competition, told Europe Executive Editor that while the European Digital Services Act is strong, there is also "a margin of maneuver" for individual member states to g...

Why is the European tech sector struggling compared to the Chinese and American ones? Nadia Calvino, the influential president of the European Investment Bank, has a bold plan to invest heavily in computing infrastructure to give Europe a competitive edge in the A.I. race. In this exclusive interview with Europe Executive Editor Javier Espinoza the two discuss: The European Investment Bank’s plan...

Competition policy is not a silver bullet, according to Portugal's competition chief Nuno Cunha Rodrigues. In this interview with The Capitol Forum's Javier Espinoza, Rodrigues outlines why the EU and Portugal need a more robust political and regulatory regime to really see European markets thrive.  In this conversation they discuss:  Rodrigues' efforts to encourage consumer mobility in...

Can the European Union create a coalition to build a competitive tech sector? In today’s episode of Brussels Beat Javier Espinoza sits down with Member of European Parliament Eva Maydell to discuss the E.U. and European Commission’s efforts to implement simplification in the tech sector.  In this conversation they talk about: The political divisions that need to be overcome for the European P...

Is Google’s ad tech empire too powerful to regulate—or just powerful enough to break up? In this wide-ranging interview, Javier Espinoza (Europe Executive Editor at The Capitol Forum) speaks with Damien Geradin, one of the lead lawyers behind the EC’s ad tech antitrust case against Google. They discuss: How the case began with a single publisher complaint Why self-preferencing across the ad tech s...

In a wide-ranging conversation, Olivier Guersent—former Director-General for Competition at the European Commission—joins Javier Espinoza, Europe Executive Editor at The Capitol Forum and host of The Brussels Beat, to reflect on decades of leadership in EU public policy. Together, they explore: Guersent’s return to public life following a near-fatal accident in 2010 His role in forging the EU’s ba...

This week, Javier Espinoza, Europe Executive Editor of The Capitol Forum, speaks with Martijn Snoep, head of the Dutch Competition Authority, about the evolving landscape of antitrust enforcement in Europe. Snoep emphasizes the need for a value-based competition policy over transactional deal-making and highlights the challenges of regulating Big Tech. While he sees Europe’s Digital Markets Act (D...

An exclusive interview with Margrethe Vestager, the former EU Antitrust Chief addressed concerns about a potential shift in U.S.- EU relations with the election of President Donald Trump. The interview is the first of a regular podcast hosted by Capitol Forum’s new Europe Executive Editor Javier Espinoza that will include some of the biggest names in European policy. Mr. Espinoza, a leading voice...

In this episode of The Brussels Beat, EU Executive Editor Javier Espinoza sits down with Enrico Letta—former Italian Prime Minister and author of the landmark report on the future of the Single Market—for a sweeping discussion on Europe's path forward. Letta reflects on his 60-city listening tour, his diagnosis of EU fragmentation, and concrete proposals to restore Europe’s competitiveness. Topics...

In this exclusive interview, Capitol Forum’s Javier Espinoza sits down with Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice President of the European Commission, to talk climate ambition, competition policy, and the future of Europe’s green industrial strategy. Named one of TIME's most influential people of 2025, Ribera is tasked with driving the EU’s clean energy transition and enforcing fair competition—including...

As the European Union imposes its first fines under the landmark Digital Markets Act, former Commissioner Thierry Breton joins  The Brussels Beat  for his first Brussels interview since leaving office. Far from declaring victory, Breton calls the penalties against Apple and Meta “regrettable”—a signal not of enforcement success, but of corporate failure. In this episode, we unpack why Eu...

As transatlantic tensions rise and global markets fracture under the weight of tariffs and techno-nationalism, Europe finds itself at a crossroads. In this wide-ranging conversation, Andreas Schwab, senior MEP and architect of the Digital Markets Act, reflects on the EU’s strategic imperative: to fortify its internal market, enforce tech regulation, and restore global relevance in the face of Amer...