Join Marie and Rasmus for an unfiltered conversation about wealth and financial inequality in Europe. How do billionaires get away with paying almost no tax, while workers are struggling to get by? Why do we accept so much injustice? And what do we do about it?

Don’t know your monetary policy from your macroeconomics? Don’t panic. We’ve imposed a jargon tax to keep the conversation understandable.

Marie and Rasmus debunk the tax myths they hear every day - and talk about their solutions to make society fairer for all. "If we don't solve inequality, we won't solve other issues."

In this episode

0:00 welcome
1:44 The importance of fighting wealth inequality
9:27 Should billionaires exist?
12:40 Quick Fire Round
18:24 Debunking
24:33 Fixing things

About our guests

• Marie Toussaint is Member of the European Parliament for Europe Ecologie from France and Vice-President of the Greens/EFA Group. She was trained as a lawyer in international environmental law before elected in the European Parliament.
• Rasmus Andresen is Member of the European Parliament for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen from Germany, from the Schleswig-Holstein region on the German-Danish border. Rasmus is coordinator of the Greens/EFA Group in the Budget Committee.

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People in Europe work hard to earn a living and to provide for their families. But ultra-rich tech bros owning digital giants are just raking in record breaking profits, without contributing to society - all with the support from US President Donald Trump. It is time to stand up to them and make them pay (a Digital Services Tax).

Now that Brussels has officially kicked off Pride season, join Kim and Rasmus for an unfiltered conversation about why Pride as a protest is still f-ing important. They talk about their pride in taking over a city: the feeling of freedom, allowing you to be who you are. 

“You cannot silence a rainbow.” Kim and Rasmus also discuss how the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is attacking fundamental rights by trying to ban Budapest Pride - and how he is actually harming the mental wellbeing of kids himself. Both will be present to protect the local LGBTQIA+ community.

In closing Kim and Rasmus tell us what keeps them going: “We are one community and we stand together - but we are also very diverse. That is the wonderful thing about Pride.”

In this episode

0:00 Welcome

1:58 Personal Pride

12:00 Pride as protest (vs corporate pink washing) 

18:43 Budapest Pride

25:23 What keeps you going?

About our guests

• Kim van Sparrentak is Member of the European Parliament for GroenLinks from the Netherlands and chair of the Parliament’s LGBTQIA+ intergroup.
• Rasmus Nordqvist is Member of the European Parliament for the Danish SF party and leads the Queer Network within the European Greens.

Connect

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In this new year we are trying something new! We asked our Co-Presidents, Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout, to sit down and give us their unfiltered opinion on the challenges this year ahead.

Listen now to Terry and Bas as they discuss the realities of daily politics. How are they coping with the idea of four more years of Trump? How do we make sure European policy responds to people's real world problems? How can we make sure we invest in clean energy in a way that's fair for everyone?

We discussed what politicians need to do to regain trust from its citizens, how we can stand up against a disruptive Trump presidency and how a Green Industrial Deal will provide jobs in the European Union.

We enjoyed this conversation and we hope you do too. This podcast was just a pilot episode - please let us know what you think in the comments.

We might come back later in 2025 with more unfiltered conversations with our Greens/EFA MEPs as a full podcast series. 

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