EU Scream

With the next big climate conference about to get underway in Glasgow, major breakthroughs look elusive. Among the spectres at the feast are raging geopolitical tensions, high energy prices, the ongoing pandemic and — in the wake of Brexit — a lack of diplomatic vigour from Europe. Nick Mabey is a founding director of the non-profit environmental group E3G who helped create Britain's first environmental diplomacy network. Nick urges Europeans to do much more to leverage progress on climate protection by stepping up alliances with countries most vulnerable to the effects of global warming.

Listen to an interview with Connie Hedegaard in part one of this two-part series on Europe and the climate. 

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Concerns are growing that the big climate conference in Glasgow next month will not do enough to avert climate breakdown. Obstacles to progress include international tensions between the US and China, and between the UK and Europe. Someone who knows first hand how hard it can be to make climate negotiations succeed in such conditions is Connie Hedegaard. In 2009 Connie presided over the Copenhagen climate conference that ended in rancour — and left Europe on the sidelines. Connie went on to become the first European commissioner for climate action at the European Commission where she used her role to help put global climate talks back on track. Among Connie's most urgent messages to policymakers ahead of Glasgow is to resist the temptation to derail the incipient green transition in response to skyrocketing energy prices. She warns that delays risk stoking further disenchantment with democracy — and could usher in a new era of radicalisation in Europe. 

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During the first few months of 2015 the world watched in awe — and often admiration — as a scrappy government in Athens tried to stare down Europe's financial and political establishment. The standoff failed spectacularly. Greece ended up with more loans on even tougher terms. In their bestselling book The Last Bluff, co-authors Viktoria Dendrinou and Eleni Varvitsioti judge the Greek government's strategy as doomed from the outset. But they also spotlight conflicts among Greece's creditors that inflicted undue suffering on ordinary citizens. In this first EU Scream Book Club, Eleni describes some of the characters her book brings to life, and its most memorable scenes, including the tragicomic denouement featuring François Hollande.

For more episodes, visit us at EU Scream.  

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This summer some 450 undocumented workers and migrants in Brussels refused food during two months. They were protesting Belgian immigration rules that human rights officials and campaigners like Lilana Keith of PICUM say arbitrarily obstruct them from legal and stable residency. The hunger strike provoked an outcry against the Belgian government. Yet there was no intervention from the European Union even though its headquarters is just 10 minutes away from the 17th century church that became the rallying point for supporters of the strikers. Albert Kraler, an assistant professor at Danube University Krems, says the EU has long been studiously silent about residency rights for the kinds of undocumented workers and migrants who led the Brussels protest. That's especially the case when regional upheavals like in Afghanistan could mean more irregular arrivals in Europe.

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. Visit EU Scream for more episodes. 

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There is a double standard at the heart of the European Union’s powerful executive body, the European Commission. Women — mostly white women — benefit from affirmative action when applying for jobs. But people of colour seeking advancement do not benefit from special consideration. Commentator and columnist Shada Islam says the Commission’s progress on gender makes its foot-dragging on racial diversity less excusable than ever. Sarah Chander, a digital rights advocate and a co-founder of the Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, discusses the moral panic over critical race theory that's spread to Europe. 

This episode was made in partnership with The Brussels Binder under the BBBeyond project.

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. Visit EU Scream for more episodes. 

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Parallels with the Soviet era are increasingly evident in Poland where the ruling coalition hounds judges and captures courts. Adam Bodnar, the country's human rights commissioner, lambasts European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a "lack of leadership” amid an antidemocratic onslaught that's also damaged media pluralism. Laurent Pech, the head of the Law and Politics Department at Middlesex University London, urges Brussels to do much more to stop modern-day autocrats from creating a climate of self-censorship that entrenches their power. By fully embracing the legal concept of “chilling effect," Brussels can help judges, activists and journalists in countries like Poland to resist autocracy, says Natacha Kazatchkine of the Open Society European Policy Institute, which partnered with EU Scream in making this episode.

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. Wael Koudaih kindly contributed his track “Thawra” to this episode. You’ll find more of his music under the name Rayess Bek. Visit EU Scream for more episodes. 

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Ursula von der Leyen appears secure in her job as president of the European Commission. That's despite a troubled vaccine rollout in which delayed deliveries can cost lives and livelihoods. But preserving the status quo in Brussels comes at a cost. Mehreen Khan of the Financial Times unpacks why the European institutions are not much interested in asking what's gone wrong — let alone in taking the scalp of Mrs. von der Leyen. Hans Kundnani of Chatham House warns that unaddressed vaccine mishaps in Brussels — and simmering tensions over how to disburse pandemic relief funds — are storing up new troubles for the European project.

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. Wael Koudaih kindly contributed his track “Thawra” to this episode. You’ll find more of his music under the name Rayess Bek. Visit our website for episode art and more EU Scream.

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The hard left is often associated with the colours red for revolution and black for anarcho-syndicalism. But the movement is more and more green these days too. The trend is exemplified in many ways by Manon Aubry of the political party La France Insoumise. Since 2019 she has been a co-leader of the Left in the European Parliament where she is the youngest person to head one of the chamber's political groups. Manon says a green-tinted approach to social and economic justice combined with unabashed antifascism can help to rebrand her fractious group of leftists and communists — and win voters back from the far right.

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. Wael Koudaih kindly contributed his track “Thawra” to this episode. You’ll find more of his music under the name Rayess Bek. Visit our website for episode art and more EU Scream.

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James Crisp has Boris Johnson's old job in Brussels covering EU affairs for The Daily Telegraph. James often writes with that jaundiced eye on the European project you'd expect from a correspondent on a venerable Conservative UK newspaper. But James continues to command respect for sharp and informed questioning of EU authorities. This episode starts with James recalling a family trip to Mini-Europe, a theme park featuring scale models of landmarks and heritage sites from each EU member state. Mini-Europe's founder Thierry Meeùs has cordoned off the British exhibits — in deference to Brexit of course.

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. Wael Koudaih kindly contributed his track “Thawra” to this episode. You’ll find more of his music under the name Rayess Bek. Visit our website for episode art and more EU Scream.

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Political scientist Daniel Ziblatt is best known for co-authoring the 2018 bestseller How Democracies Die. The book is an indictment of US Republicans and their failure to resist Donald Trump. Daniel's work also examines how conservative parties have largely determined whether democracy thrived, as in Britain, or died, as in Weimar Germany. In this episode he discusses dilemmas facing Europe's modern-day conservative parties, including the German Christian Democratic Union and the European People's Party.

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. Wael Koudaih kindly contributed his track “Thawra” to this episode. You’ll find more of his music under the name Rayess Bek. Visit our website for episode art and more EU Scream.

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