March 27, 2025

How would Europe's €800 billion defence plan actually work?

1 hour 2 minutes

Europe is set to spend an eye-wateringly huge amount of money on building up its militaries over the next few years, after That Guy In The White House signalled he's no longer that interested in helping us defend ourselves against Russia. But where is all this money supposed to come from? And does it matter if some countries are more enthusiastic about this plan than others? This week we call defence expert Marina Henke to figure out what this spending bonanza actually involves. We're also talking about a Czech-led plan to save Radio Free Europe from Trump's cuts, and why ChatGPT falsely accused a Norwegian man of murder.

Marina is a professor of international Relations at the Hertie School in Berlin and director of the Centre for International Security. You can watch the full version of her interview here on our YouTube channel and follow her on Bluesky here.

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This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.

This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: 'And Then We Danced' and The Bittersweet Life.

Other resources for this week's episode

'Trump’s decision to cut Radio Free Europe comes at a great cost to democracy' - Muhammad Tahir, editorial for MSNBC, March 24, 2025 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-voice-of-america-radio-free-europe-rcna197367

'Malfunction: the Hungarian Radio (Silence) on Chernobyl' - Archivum, April 26, 2021 https://www.archivum.org/entries/blog/malfunction-the-hungarian-radio-silence-on-chernobyl

'EU privacy body weighs in on some tricky GenAI lawfulness questions' - TechCrunch, December 18, 2024 https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/18/eu-privacy-body-weighs-in-on-some-tricky-genai-lawfulness-questions/

The EU's White Paper for European Defence: Readiness 2030 - March 19, 2025 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_793

00:34 Deep breath: it's time for another episode of The Europeans

04:47 Good Week: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

18:41 Bad Week: The Norwegian man who ChatGPT falsely accused of murder

31:41 Interview: Marina Henke on Europe's huge new defence plan

56:23 The Inspiration Station: 'And Then We Danced' and 'The Bittersweet Life'

59:45 Happy Ending: Petko Gantsjev Is Very Much Alive

Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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By Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer

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