The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

What do nuclear energy and whale-hunting have in common? They're both at the heart of controversial debates about whether they can ever be described as 'sustainable'. This week we delve into a questionable EU anti-greenwashing effort, as well as Iceland's mooted plan to put a ban on commercial whaling. We're also looking at the revamp of one of Venice's most historic buildings, the Procuratie Vecc...

Taryn de Vere set herself a joyful challenge in January: to dress up each day as a household object, from a bottle of toilet cleaner to a sack of potatoes. This week, the person dubbed Possibly The Most Colourful Woman in Ireland joins us to make the case for injecting a little more fun into our wardrobes. We're also talking about ghost flights, a relaxing Berlin transport initiative, and whether...

When the European parliament elected a new president last week, many of the headlines focused on one thing: the fact that she's against abortion. But Roberta Metsola's public stance is not at all unusual in a country with one of the strictest abortion bans in the world. This week we're asking: where does this incredibly strong taboo come from? Researcher and activist Liza Caruana-Finkel is here to...

We're back for a brand new year of stories from across the continent. Top of the agenda is an issue that's been worrying a lot of Europeans: eye-wateringly expensive energy bills. Energy expert Marine Cornelis is here to explain why this is happening and what can be done about it. We're also catching up on Ukraine and a transatlantic cheese dispute. Marine is the founder of Next Energy Consumer an...

We threw a little party for our last episode of the year! Producers Katz Laszlo and Wojciech Oleksiak join Katy and Dominic from Amsterdam and Warsaw to discuss elephant retirement, tree fraud, and festive traditions around Europe. Local snacks included. This week's Isolation Inspiration: Women at War , Draumalandið by Valgeir Sigurðsson , The Way Home: Tales from a Life Without Technology by Mark...

It's that time of year when reindeer start cropping up on all kinds of Christmassy consumer goods, from snowglobes to Advent calendars. But for the indigenous Sámi people of northern Europe, herding these remarkable animals is a way of life — and one that is increasingly under threat. This week we speak to Sámi herder and climate change expert Jannie Staffansson about her community's intimate and...

Millions of us have spent this pandemic bingeing on international films and television, transported far away through the magic of the screen. But there's an underappreciated army of workers who make it all possible: the subtitlers. This week we chat to Russian subtitler Max Deryagin about how Netflix has shaken up the industry and why things sometimes get lost in translation. We're also talking ab...

'Move fast and break things' was Facebook's corporate philosophy in its early days. Europe now wants to do the opposite when it comes to the harmful effects of social media: move fast and fix things. This week we're taking a look at the EU's plan to rein in the tech giants with the help of one of our favourite European tech nerds, Guillermo Beltrà of the Open Society European Policy Institute. We'...

It’s dawn in the Aegean Sea. A dozen asylum seekers are crammed into a rubber dinghy, hoping to land on the Greek island of Lesbos. They are already within EU waters — and they have the right, under international law, to claim asylum. But a huge ship is blocking their way. This week we are looking at the phenomenon of pushbacks: illegal efforts to push people back across a border so that they cann...

A humanitarian crisis is unfolding at the edge of the EU. Asylum seekers are finding themselves trapped in the forest between Poland and Belarus, caught up in a political game, and literally freezing to death. Marta Górczyńska, a migration lawyer who has been helping some of the new arrivals, explains what's happening on the ground and what international law has to say about this shameful situatio...

This week, a story that spans three generations of women: Sara, her mother, and her grandmother. In their collective lifetimes, Albania entered a communist dictatorship; the regime fell; and then there was a transition. And through it all, there was a dish: trahana. This is the third episode from our series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like: intimate stories from young Europeans across the con...

Fit for 55 sounds like a plan to get middle-aged people to exercise, but it is in fact one of the most ambitious climate policies on the planet. But is it enough to make a difference? This week, in collaboration with the Open Society European Policy Institute, our favourite climate explainer Emily Stewart breaks down Europe's plan for us. Is Fit for 55 fit for purpose? And can Europe turn it into...

Wondering why everyone is suddenly talking about the prospect of a 'Polexit'? This week we're talking to excellent Polandsplainer Jakub Jaraczewski about why the government in Warsaw has just got itself into a huge legal mess. We're also talking about the downfall of Austria's Wunderkind, why so many young Spaniards live with their parents, and the mysterious power of the European chestnut. Jakub...

This week we're delving into the Czech PM's secret purchase of a French château, an extremely bold Danish artistic experiment, and, oh yes, Wally the Walrus' tour of the European coastline. Plus, political scientist Arndt Leininger is here to decrypt the German election for us. For excellent German politics nerdery you can follow Arndt on Twitter here , and for a Pandora Papers deep-dive into Andr...

It's our first ever live show! Recorded live at the Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam. And what could be a more appropriate discussion than the fact that this city will one day be underwater? We promise that's a less depressing conversation than it sounds, because the person who's here to talk about it is husband of the show Thomas Lamers, a member of the documentary theatre collective Collectief Walden ....

This week, Katy’s plunging into the depths of the French Submarine Saga and Dominic’s delving into some tentatively good developments for LGBTQ parents in Europe. Plus, the speech we were all waiting for! Or not. One of our favourite journalists within the Brussels bubble, the Spanish reporter Beatriz Ríos, is here to unravel Ursula von der Leyen's State of the European Union for us. We can’t wait...

A year into the protest movement in Belarus, what are things like on the ground? This week we talk to the poet Hanna Komar about her own experience in detention, and the extraordinary "algorithm" of solidarity among women in the movement. We're also talking about Russian gas, Norwegian oil, and the magnificence of Emma Raducanu. You can read Hanna's article, 'Sisterhood behind bars', here . This w...

We're back from our summer break with an enticing idea: what would happen if we only worked four days a week? Far from spelling economic disaster, the Portuguese economist Pedro Gomes argues it would boost the economy and our well-being at the same time. We chat to him about his excellent new book, 'Friday Is The New Saturday: How A Four-Day Week Will Save The Economy'. We're also talking about na...

Slovenia, aka Katy's favourite country, is increasingly drawing comparisons with Hungary and Poland when it comes to the state of its democracy. Can this worrying direction of travel be reversed? This week we ring up our favourite Sloveniologist Aljaž Pengov Bitenc to find out. We're also talking about Bulgaria's political rock star, and a shocking attack on a Dutch crime journalist. This week's I...

Few people talk about bread in such magical terms as Apollonia Poilâne. This week we speak to the head of one of France's most prestigious bakeries about the secrets of sourdough and taking over the family company aged just 18. We're also talking about Iceland's four-day week experiment, a cyberattack that took out hundreds of Swedish supermarkets, and boosting body positivity in Norway. This week...

We tend to talk about freedom of movement within the EU as an abstract concept. In reality, moving to a new place involves a million little moments of awkwardness, sweetness, and human vulnerability. This week, we bring you a story of what freedom of movement actually felt like, for a 14-year-old Romanian moving to Germany. This is the second episode from our series This Is What A Generation Sound...

Streets, cities, train stations: across the continent, they're likely to be named after men. What if the women who shaped Europe were given the recognition they deserve? This week, Katy speaks to the Irish journalist Mary Fitzgerald and Italian writer Francesca Cavallo , co-author of Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls, about a wonderful project which reimagines the Brussels metro map in celebratio...

A whole bunch of plastic objects are about to become illegal across the European Union: everything from coffee stirrers to straws and cotton buds. As we count down to the big day on July 3, we're revisiting last year's special episode about how the EU is even able to make laws like this for 27 countries. This week we're asking: "How the hell do you make an EU law?" Originally released in February...

Jens Thoms Ivarsson has one of this continent's most fascinating jobs: chief "rain man" for the city of Gothenburg. We chat to the creative director of Rain Gothenburg about the Swedish city's rather wonderful plan to become the best place in the world when it's raining. Also this week: expensive Finnish breakfasts, accidental asparagus, and why Budapest's plans to build a Chinese university campu...

This week, a murky spying scandal and a huge climate lawsuit. It seems that our American friends may have been using Denmark's internet cables to spy on European politicians. But how much did Denmark know about it? We're also talking about the landmark Dutch court ruling that could force Shell to drastically cut its carbon emissions. Plus, the European Review of Books ! We chat to George Blaustein...