Budapest

Venezuela is a country where the crisis of democracy has been unfolding for years, and where the collapse of institutions has left citizens facing not only political repression and economic hardship, but also the consequences of a fragile state unable to fully protect them.

After years of Nicolás Maduro's rule, Venezuela remains at a crossroads. A country that once had some of Latin America's strongest democratic institutions watched them be dismantled from within.

My guest is Armando Armas, a Venezuelan lawyer and former member of the National Assembly, elected in 2015 when the opposition won a historic majority against Nicolás Maduro. In 2017, as Maduro moved to replace that Assembly with a government-controlled Constituent Assembly, pro-government groups stormed the building and assaulted him. Forced into exile, he now works for his country's democratic transition.

Venezuela is a warning, because democracy did not disappear overnight. We discuss how authoritarian regimes do not always abolish elections: sometimes they simply drain them of meaning. They capture institutions, weaken the judiciary, control information, and turn the state into an instrument of political survival, reshaping the story a country tells about itself through the media.

But as Armas tells me, Venezuela is also a story of resilience. A transition takes more than removing a dictator: it takes rebuilding institutions, restoring trust, and making sure that liberation does not become a new form of dependence. And Venezuelan civil society, he argues, is ready for that.

With reason, not rage.

In this episode:

∙ Venezuela's authoritarian playbook: institutions, courts and media

∙ The rule of law as the foundation of democracy

∙ The Venezuelan kleptocracy

∙ When elections survive but democracy dies

∙ How the international community failed Venezuela

∙ Dismantling an autocracy without violence

∙ The challenge of a democratic transition

∙ Maduro's capture and international law

∙ Exile, resilience and the soul of a country

Timestamps

0:00 – Introduction

1:40 – Democracy is about truth

4:40 – The day of the assault on the rule of law

9:40 – Meaningless elections, Cuba and a lesson from Gramsci

14:25 – The media in private hands

19:00 – Is Venezuela resisting?

24:00 – How the international community failed the Venezuelan people

27:30 – The post-Maduro era: just a change of master?

35:40 – María Corina Machado will not be anyone's puppet

39:00 – We have to earn our liberation

46:45 – How Venezuela is preparing for elections

50:00 – The soul of a country, seen from exile

55:30 – We know the cost of our trauma

56:55 – Use AI to choose your representatives wisely

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

There is No Real Alternative for Germany, with Hans-Jochen Wagner

This time, Budapest steps onto a stage.

Not because politics belongs to theatre (well, sometimes...), but because artists often understand politics better than politics understands itself.

That is why I invited Hans-Jochen Wagner. One of Germany's best-known television and theatre actors, he has spent his career telling stories about his country, most recently in Deutsches Haus, the acclaimed series inspired by the first Frankfurt Auschwitz trial. He is not a politician. Yet Germany's democratic anxieties belong to everyone, not only to those who sit in parliament.

So we begin with a question that still echoes more than thirty years after reunification: is there still a border between East and West Germany?

For Wagner, that border no longer divides territories. It divides experiences. While one part of the country had decades to learn democracy, the other was suddenly asked to live it. Perhaps that helps explain why some Germans are once again longing for a state that promises to take care of everything.

Memory, too, can become a political battleground. We discuss how Germany confronted the legacy of the Third Reich, why acknowledging historical responsibility should never be mistaken for inherited guilt, and how the far right turns fear into identity while offering very few answers to the problems it claims to solve.

As the German Left struggles to offer a compelling political vision, many mainstream parties have chosen an easier path: echoing the language of the Alternative für Deutschland. But, Wagner warns, voters will always prefer the original.

His answer is surprisingly simple: do not wait for the state to organise your life. Join a club. A theatre. A sports association. A political party. Meet people. Build communities.

Democracy does not organise itself.

People do.

Because democracy begins at home.

With reason, not rage.

In this episode:

∙ Is there still a border between East and West Germany?

∙ The Wall that still divides Germany

∙ Responsibility without guilt: remembering the Third Reich

∙ The first Frankfurt Auschwitz trial and why memory still matters

∙ Why echoing the AfD only strengthens the AfD

∙ Germany's cultural sector under pressure

∙ Can art still challenge power?

∙ Why young Europeans still believe in a federal Union

∙ Democracy starts when isolation ends

Timestamps

0:00 – Introduction

1:30 – The border between East and West Germany

7:35 – They promised to take care of the people

11:50 – The Berlin Wall shaped many generations

13:28 – The feeling of guilt among young Germans

20:05 – The true Alternative for Germany

25:09 – The populists sell lies

28:00 – Where is the money?

33:20 – The German Left and Sahra Wagenknecht

36:30 – Less money and more censorship for intellectuals

45:00 – The next five years in Germany

47:00 – Youth is working for a federal Union

51:00 – Stop your isolation

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

We are now moving from Budapest to Serbia, where I am joined by Dragana Djurica — Secretary General of the European Movement in Serbia, who also sits on the board of the European Movement International. Before that, she spent almost ten years as a senior expert at the Regional Cooperation Council.

We begin with a question that concerns far more than the Western Balkans: has Serbia been lost on Europe's doorstep?

For Djurica, the frontier between democracy and autocracy does not follow a map. It runs through people's everyday lives. Democracies rarely collapse overnight: more often, they erode slowly, as citizens grow accustomed to fear and resignation.

As soon as people think there is no point in fighting.

Like frogs in boiling water.

We discuss how the Serbian regime, led by Aleksandar Vučić, has captured institutions, especially the media, through which language and reality are shaped and manipulated. In such a system, criticising corruption becomes an act against the state, while defending democratic values is portrayed as a betrayal of the country.

Yet the student-led protests have challenged that narrative. For the first time in years, many Serbians — adults, too — realised they were not alone, and that it was worth it.

But we should not romanticise protests in the streets. Moral force is not enough: it must become a political strategy. The streets can awaken society, but only institutions can transform it.

On Serbia's future as a democracy also rests the future of Europe's own security and credibility. So let us all remember: the Serbian people are not the Serbian regime.

In this episode:
∙ Like frogs in boiling water: how democracies slowly erode
∙ How autocratic regimes manipulate language through the media
∙ The Serbian student protests and what comes next for Vučić
∙ From student movement to political organisation: what is needed
∙ Serbia between Brussels, Moscow and Beijing
∙ Why the European Union cannot afford to lose Serbia
∙ Serbia on Europe's doorstep: threat or opportunity

With reason, not rage.

Timestamps
0:00 – Introduction
1:10 – Like frogs in boiling water
8:30 – My region deserves a chance
14:35 – How perverse is an autocratic regime
17:25 – Serbians are protesting, what happens now?
18:00 – Regimes have the monopoly over reality
23:00 – When a protest movement organises
27:20 – Vučić first dominated the media
33:00 – Propaganda and LGBTQ+ communities
34:00 – What are Serbia's geopolitical interests?
40:00 – Serbia is a matter of security for the EU
49:00 – Serbian citizens are not the regime

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto
Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano
Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo
Visual identity: Martina Santurri
Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

It is time for Budapest to move to Russia, with Maria Mikaelyan — architect, activist, and co-founder of the Community of Free Russians in Italy, and one of the voices challenging Vladimir Putin's regime from exile.

We start from a straightforward question: can you fight an autocracy from abroad?

For Maria, the answer came at a personal cost. Supporting Alexei Navalny's movement, opposing the war in Ukraine, and refusing to remain silent gradually transformed her from an ordinary citizen into an enemy of the state. As repression intensified, exile became not a choice but a necessity, also to protect her loved ones.

Keeping in mind the price that individuals pay when authoritarianism turns disagreement into betrayal, we discussed the legacy of the Soviet Union and the resurgence of repression which turned the Russian Federation into a regime of police surveillance.

This is the story of nostalgia for the enduring appeal of empire, which normalised the limitation of the basic rights affecting citizens' daily lives, let alone those of the soldiers sent to fight an unfair, useless war in Ukraine.

Exhaustion is spreading, and economic pressures are mounting. As Maria recalls, the consensus that once appeared solid may be less stable than it seems.

And sometimes, resistance begins simply by refusing to forget.

In this episode:
∙ The loneliness of life in exile
∙ Why Navalny became the symbol of a generation
∙ The nostalgia for the Soviet Union and the myth of empire
∙ How Russia became a police state
∙ Pro-Putin narratives beyond Russia's borders
∙ Surveillance, fear, and everyday life inside the Federation
∙ Ukraine's right to sovereignty and self-determination
∙ Why understanding history matters more than ever

With reason, not rage.

Timestamps:
1:45 – Frontiers are flexible
3:50 – The Armenians no longer trust the Kremlin
8:00 – Navalny's legacy
12:00 – Russians did not have their 1968
15:00 – When protests became dangerous
17:45 – They made an enemy of me
21:20 – The nostalgia for the Soviet Union
25:00 – Moving within Russia: what you need to know
30:45 – The beginning of the police regime
35:00 – The solitude of living in exile
39:00 – The Ukrainian land belongs to Ukrainian people
45:00 – Even war supporters are exhausted
48:00 – The economic struggle is affecting consent
51:40 – Pro-Putin Italians can be nasty
56:55 – First of all, study history

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto
Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano
Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo
Visual identity: Martina Santurri
Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

For this episode of Budapest, I am joined by Sandro Gozi, Member of the European Parliament for Renew Europe, Secretary General of the European Democratic Party, and President of the Union of European Federalists — and one of the most convinced and articulate Europeanists I know.

We begin in Belgrade, where students have taken to the streets against Aleksandar Vučić's increasingly authoritarian rule. It shows how the line between liberal democracy and autocratic drift can be easily crossed when institutions are weakened and dissent is treated as a threat. And the reason why we cannot avert our gaze is that the European Union is not an exclusive club.

From Serbia, the conversation moves to France, where political fragmentation, rising extremism and institutional tensions are reshaping the country's future. But the challenge is not only internal. Russia's threat to European security is real. Donald Trump's return has exposed Europe's strategic vulnerabilities. And when democracies allow those who reject democratic rules to exploit democratic institutions, they risk nurturing their own enemies.

But democracy is not an eternal gift. It survives only if citizens are willing to defend it.

With reason, not rage.

In this episode:

• The Serbian student movement and the challenge to Vučić
• The Western Balkans, between European promises and autocratic drift
• Is Paris burning? Le Pen, Mélenchon and the fragmentation of the French Republic
• The boomerang effect: when democracy tolerates the intolerant
• Europe exposed: from Putin's threats to Trump's strategic blackmail
• Liaisons dangereuses: the unstable axis between Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni
• The rights connected to European citizenship
• The importance of digital sovereignty

Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

1:50 – Look at Belgrade

3:20 – Serbia and the Balkans can make the difference for the EU

6:00 – The right as a European citizen that you did not know you had

12:10 – The reasons behind the French instability

20:00 – We already know the outcome of the French elections

27:25 – The Russian threat to our security is a matter of fact

29:30 – The boomerang effect: tolerating the intolerant

36:30 – The EU Commission is not standing up to the Trump administration

40:00 – Money, sovereignty and the need for an EU digital strategy

42:45 – Emmanuel and Giorgia: les liaisons dangereuses

48:25 – Democracy is not an eternal gift

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

For this episode of Budapest, I am joined by Cas Mudde — distinguished research professor at the University of Georgia and one of the world's foremost scholars of the far right and populism, whose work spans European politics, the radical right, and the unexpected connection between soccer and politics.

Budapest, as he reminds us, is not just a city: it is in ourselves. The line between liberal and illiberal democracy is not as sharp as we would like to believe — and that is precisely what makes it so dangerous. For decades, he argues, the Left misdiagnosed the far right, focusing on the actors rather than the policies. Meanwhile the far right radicalised, and the centre shifted to the right.

From Germany's "militant democracy" to the health of US democracy, we trace the return of ideology within the three-dimensional politics of today. Because politics, as Mudde insists, is not just about solving problems — it is about deciding what counts as a problem in the first place.

In this episode:

• How the left misdiagnosed the far right
• The surveillance state
• Germany's militant democracy
• The Biden lesson on accountability
• Rural provinces and the geography of US politics
• Plutocracy and the far right: a relationship we need to address
• The return of ideology in three-dimensional politics
• Mamdani, Sanders, and the class argument

With reason, not rage.

Timestamps 

1:21 – Georgia is like Budapest

2:40 – We live in a surveillance state

4:45 – The example of the German "militant" democracy

8:40 – The left has misdiagnosed the far right

13:03 – Is the EU a happy island?

17:00 – Hungary is a unique case — and the Meloni model is spreading

19:15 – The far right doesn't moderate: it's the mainstream that radicalises

23:00 – There is always someone to your right

26:30 – Orbán accepted defeat. Trump did not.

35:00 – You need to be in the rural provinces to win US elections

38:50 – There is no single way out of the far right backlash

43:40 – Plutocracy and the far right: the relationship we need to address

47:00 – The class argument

50:00 – What is the centre in today's three-dimensional politics?

54:00 – We should not fear ideology

58:00 – Biden's lesson on accountability

1:05:00 – Have awkward conversations with people who are close to you

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

Catherine Fieschi has spent years studying one of the defining political forces of our time: populism. Founder of Counterpoint, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, and fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, she is among the sharpest observers of how democracies are challenged from within.

In this episode, we explore why populism should not be dismissed as anger, protest, or political style, but understood as a serious ideology built around majoritarianism, anti-elitism, and distrust of institutions. From the judiciary to the press, from elections to parliaments, Fieschi explains how populists reshape democratic systems while claiming to speak directly for "the people."

At the centre of the conversation is what she calls "ju-jitsu politics": populists win because they turn democratic tools against democracy itself. They use freedom of the press and social media to sell compelling stories — and that is what we ought to learn to do too.

The deeper challenge is a cultural one. And we can save democracy even by joining a choir.

With reason, not rage.

In this episode:

Why populism is an ideology, not just a style

The populist playbook and ju-jitsu politics

Why populists tell better stories

The limits of popular sovereignty

What citizens — not just "the people" — can do

Timestamps

1:15 Watch the French elections in 2027

2:45 Populism is an ideology, so take it seriously

5:45 Illiberal populists are nostalgic

8:00 The three steps in the populist playbook

9:50 What is ju-jitsu politics

12:15 The Parliament is not a TV show

15:45 The populists tell good stories

17:20 Mamdani's authenticity took it all

18:50 The limits of popular sovereignty

23:10 We are citizens, not just people

26:00 What is the way of life you really want?

29:30 The Netherlands as a laboratory

35:45 Populism is a self-fulfilling prophecy

38:00 The Conte 1 Government

41:00 Meloni has delivered nothing beyond stability

43:55 Trump is the ju-jitsu champion

47:00 "They stole my election"

49:20 Use your social media as a citizen

51:15 Build ties with those who are different from you / Join that choir!

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

Greg Hands has been involved in British politics and public life for over 30 years. He served as Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham from 2005 to 2024 and held several key government roles, including Minister for the Budget, Energy, and Trade, as well as Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Brexit, he argues, definitively broke a taboo: a country as deeply tied to the European Union as the United Kingdom — in its legal frameworks, its trade, its daily life — chose to leave. And that choice came with a price.

In this episode, Hands explains how the British people experienced the referendum, the real role played by Nigel Farage in the Leave campaign, and the consequences of that decision — not only economic, but above all political. And he leaves us with an uncomfortable question: even if we disagree with Brexit, would we be ready to rejoin the EU under today's circumstances?

With reason, not rage.

In this episode:

• Eastern Europe and the legacy of the Wall
• Between Conservatives and Labour: an overview of the British electoral system
• Brexit and its legacy
• UK and EU: a future of cooperation?
• The Green Party and an overly broad coalition

Timestamps 

1:50 1986–2026: the Hungarian parable

4:30 Nationalism in Eastern Europe

7:30 Margaret Thatcher would have liked Brexit?

12:00 Brexit broke a taboo

15:30 Nigel Farage is superficially popular

19:00 Would the UK rejoin the EU?

23:00 How far Brexit can go

26:40 The legacy of Brexit on trade agreements

31:30 The political impact of the referendum

35:00 An insight into the British electoral system

41:20 The UK Green Party's coalition is perhaps too broad

47:00 Risks of polarization in the UK political spectrum

49:30 You may not like the alternative to liberal democracy

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto 

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano 

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri 

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

For the sixth episode of Budapest, I was joined by Thomas Carothers — senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and one of the world's leading scholars of democratic backsliding and democracy promotion.

From the United States to Poland, autocracies don't rise by chance — they follow a playbook. Together with Thomas, we explore how that playbook deploys, how to recognise it before it's too late, and why a solid system of checks and balances remains democracy's most reliable defence.

European democracies are under pressure too: from the economic fragility of the middle class, and from a failure to make the case for what immigration actually brings.

Yet Carothers reminds us that democracy is an ongoing process — and there is always time to challenge our own way of thinking.

In this episode:

∙ The pressures on Western democracies

∙ The legacy of Donald Trump's presidency on the US system

∙ Immigration and diversity: challenges or resources for democracies?

∙ How the autocratic playbook works

With reason, not rage.

Timestamps

1:05 – Elections in Hungary matter for the EU

4:40 – The turning point in American politics

10:00 – The legacy of Trump's presidency

16:00 – Building democracy is a cultural process

18:50 – Why the autocratic playbook spread

22:20 – The anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda

25:40 – Weaknesses in Western Europe

30:50 – All the reasons why we need immigration

33:40 – The Polish case and the role of the judiciary

37:30 – Democracy can always get back

41:00 – Get out of your bubble

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

Catherine De Vries is Vice Dean and Professor of Political Science at IE University, where she specialises in far-right politics, populism, and European public opinion.

De Vries brings a scholar's rigour and a rare gift for connecting theory to everyday life. The far right succeeds not by solving problems, but by being seen to take them seriously. Politics, she argues, is not only about facts — it is about emotion. If liberal democracy fails to recognise this, it will keep losing ground to forces that offer recognition over solutions.

The conversation moves from the Netherlands — a country at the heart of the European Union — to the broader crisis of European legitimacy. De Vries argues that the EU has the potential to navigate the current international chaos, but only if it learns to reconnect with the citizens it has lost.

In this episode:

- The Dutch case and a very personal story

- Why the far right wins

- Immigration as a false problem

- How the EU can survive in a hostile environment

With reason, not rage.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

01:32 Budapest is everywhere — even in small cities

03:00 A personal story of resistance and anger

05:22 JD Vance sees the symptoms, not the cause

07:45 How the far right rose in the Netherlands

11:30 The state is not delivering for people — and it's not just about money

16:00 Is immigration really a far-right issue?

22:00 Politics is emotion, not just fact

24:00 What is the perception of the EU right now?

29:00 What effective sovereignty for member states means

32:35 How Europe can survive Euroscepticism

35:00 Donald Trump is hostile to the EU — and he is not the only one

42:30 The Green Deal's real impact

44:20 Healthy political debate can save democracy

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua