Jim is joined by very special guest Lutz Güllner, Head of Strategic Communications at the EU’s European External Action Service, to discuss disinformation challenges in a big election year, and how breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence alter this threat. 

Along with Jim’s AI-expert colleague Pete Wilson, Lutz kindly sets out his perspectives from the frontline of the EU’s efforts to tackle coordinated disinformation campaigns.  

It is a challenge that requires action across a wide perimeter of the EU’s policymaking remit, stretching from sanctions policy, to societal education, to the responsibilities of tech platforms; as well as to the EEAS’s own EUvsDisinfo website, which we guarantee is utterly unlike any other EU online material you have ever read.  

All this is very much in focus amid recent high-profile deepfakes and the EU’s own imminent encounter with the voters: the 6-9 June European Elections, the largest multi-national democratic exercise in the world.  

In this new era, to protect our democracy, the integrity of elections needs to be able to withstand almost perfect imitation of reality. 

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FH Brussels energy supremo Max Miccinilli is back from COP28 and ready to give his verdict on the results of 2023’s major piece of climate summitry.

Change is in the air on our office pod: guest host Jane and Jim take a ride on the five-yearly rollercoaster of European Parliament elections and institutional renewal that lies ahead in 2024. 

Having conquered misleading green claims, Jim and returning guest star Aoife lift up the bonnet on what EU consumers are buying and ask: how far can EU ecodesign rules determine the inner workings of stuff sold on the single market?

Is your shower gel “nature’s friend?”  Jim and Aoife explore EU efforts to stamp out misleading claims on the products we buy

Jim and special guest star Gavan explore why EU policymakers are craving cobalt, gobbling up gallium and lusting after lithium. 

Jim and his colleague Ana Costov from the FH Brussels climate and energy team ask: how far should Europe pin its climate hopes on carbon removals?

Jim and his colleague Niamh Griffin from the FH Brussels Brexit team ask an existential question: what is the UK-EU relationship nowadays?

Jim and FH Brussels healthcare supremo Emma Cracknell discuss why the EU has managed to create an internal market for paperclips but not for life-changing treatments

Jim, special guest Philip Stafford of the FT, and colleagues from FH explore how the crypto industry sparks policymaker ambition and trepidation in Brussels.

The crypto industry in recent months has found itself wrapped up in everything from debates over EU sanctions policy to concerns about climate change and financial stability.

A sector that has expanded enormously in the blink of an eye, evolved far beyond its original purpose and that at times has even appeared to threaten the role of central banks was always going to preoccupy minds in Brussels.

But the debate over crypto is far from one sided, with ministers just as keen to extol the potential of their capitals as hubs for financial innovation as they are concerned about setting clear rules of the road.

In part 1 of the podcast, Jim and Phil explore how the growth of crypto came to increasingly preoccupy Brussels from multiple standpoints, including crucial questions of consumer protection. Jim and Phil sketch out how the sector involved from Bitcoin to Dogecoin and DeFi, and explain it all along the way.

In part 2, Jim and colleagues Juliette Le Drogou and Alex Tompkins delve into what form the EU’s policy response is taking, ranging from the landmark MiCA legislation to the possible creation of a Digital Euro.

The episode demystifies often jargon-heavy debates about a sector that is proving to be as voyage of discovery for traders and regulators alike.