For our final episode of Meanwhile in Europe, we first want to thank you for tuning in and listening to our episodes since the beginning. On this special occasion, we look back on the making-of process behind Meanwhile in Europe, working with The European Correspondent, and our first interviews. In this episode, we give you some behind the scenes views that made this project so special for us. 

Meanwhile in Europe is a weekly podcast from The European Correspondent, hosted and produced by Vlad Iavita and Charles Cohen. The podcast aims to break down complex European stories and make sense of where our continent is headed next.

Executive production by Viktorya Muradyan and Julius E. O. Fintelmann.

The European Correspondent, established in 2022, is a community-funded digital media organisation dedicated to reporting the stories that have an impact across borders. With a network of more than 170 journalists and media makers spanning the continent, the fully remote newsdesk delivers a daily newsletter curated by local journalists from every European country.

Sign up for The European Correspondent's newsletter here.

Tax abuse is not new. Between companies not declaring activity in certain countries to avoid corporate tax, and high-income individuals moving their assets to shell companies, tax abusers know how to play with the law to avoid doing their fair share. Some European countries with highly attractive tax regimes also benefit from this tax race to the bottom, depriving their neighbours of parts of their budgets for key sectors like education or healthcare. 

So where do we go from here? Where can we look for solutions, so that our states get back what is owed? To answer these questions, we spoke with Danny Callaghan, our UK and Western Europe correspondent who looked into the different forms of tax abuse in Europe. 

Correction at 7:51: Amazon EU is based in Luxembourg, not Switzerland.

Meanwhile in Europe is a weekly podcast from The European Correspondent, hosted and produced by Vlad Iavita and Charles Cohen. The podcast aims to break down complex European stories and make sense of where our continent is headed next.

Executive production by Viktorya Muradyan and Julius E. O. Fintelmann.

The European Correspondent, established in 2022, is a community-funded digital media organisation dedicated to reporting the stories that have an impact across borders. With a network of more than 170 journalists and media makers spanning the continent, the fully remote newsdesk delivers a daily newsletter curated by local journalists from every European country.

Sign up for The European Correspondent's newsletter here.

Brussels is racing to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. However, the countless technological adaptations that have to be implemented to achieve this will see the EU’s demand for critical raw materials such as Lithium soar.

As European countries are scratching their heads to find new ways to bring production of such crucial elements closer to home, plans for a new Lithium mine in Serbia have caused outrage in the country—and exposed the dirty side of the EU's quest for the elements needed to power its green transition. In order to understand why this mining project is so controversial, we talk with our Serbia correspondent, Konstantin Hadži-Vuković.

Meanwhile in Europe is a weekly podcast from The European Correspondent, hosted and produced by Vlad Iavita and Charles Cohen. The podcast aims to break down complex European stories and make sense of where our continent is headed next.

Executive production by Viktorya Muradyan and Julius E. O. Fintelmann.

The European Correspondent, established in 2022, is a community-funded digital media organisation dedicated to reporting the stories that have an impact across borders. With a network of more than 170 journalists and media makers spanning the continent, the fully remote newsdesk delivers a daily newsletter curated by local journalists from every European country.

Sign up for The European Correspondent's newsletter here.

For centuries, Venice has been known as "La Serenissima" or "The Most Serene". If you visit it these days in the high season, though, it is anything but that. As crowds of tourists continue to push and pull in chaotic movements around its famed landmarks in search of the perfect Instagram story, the local administration has been trying to find solutions to the city's overtourism problem.

This year, Venice became the first city in the world to introduce a day trip entry fee. To find out more about the city council’s plans to address these problems, we talked with the Deputy Mayor of Venice, Simone Venturini, about his vision and plans for a city that promotes a sustainable form of tourism which allows it to remain a great place to live.

Meanwhile in Europe is a weekly podcast from The European Correspondent, hosted and produced by Vlad Iavita and Charles Cohen. The podcast aims to break down complex European stories and make sense of where our continent is headed next.

Executive production by Viktorya Muradyan and Julius E. O. Fintelmann.

The European Correspondent, established in 2022, is a community-funded digital media organisation dedicated to reporting the stories that have an impact across borders. With a network of more than 170 journalists and media makers spanning the continent, the fully remote newsdesk delivers a daily newsletter curated by local journalists from every European country.

Sign up for The European Correspondent's newsletter here.

Russian disinformation in Europe is not new. From attempts to sway election outcomes to exploiting polarising debates, examples differ from country to country. But one thing is certain: it is murky and operates through endless webs of actors, sometimes not directly connected to one another. In this episode, we make sense of Russia's disinformation toolkit and which actors it involves. We talked with Oana Popescu Zamfir, the director of the GlobalFocus Center, who has analysed patterns of pro-Russian disinformation campaigns in Romania and the wider Eastern European and Balkan regions. 

This episode is sponsored by the GlobalFocus Center.

Meanwhile in Europe is a weekly podcast from The European Correspondent, hosted and produced by Vlad Iavita and Charles Cohen. The podcast aims to break down complex European stories and make sense of where our continent is headed next.

Executive production by Viktorya Muradyan and Julius E. O. Fintelmann.

The European Correspondent, established in 2022, is a community-funded digital media organisation dedicated to reporting the stories that have an impact across borders. With a network of more than 170 journalists and media makers spanning the continent, the fully remote newsdesk delivers a daily newsletter curated by local journalists from every European country.

Sign up for The European Correspondent's newsletter here.

Fashion and sustainability don’t go hand in hand. This is especially the case for fast fashion brands that have built a damaging overconsumption model which rests upon blatant human rights breaches and enormous carbon emissions. With climate awareness rising in Europe, thrifting has emerged as a more sustainable option, especially among younger generations. But it's not as perfect as it may seem. To discuss these complex issues, and analyse what the EU is currently doing to hold the fashion industry in check, we talked with Muriel Treibich from Clean Clothes Campaign, an organisation defending factory workers’ rights and advocating for better transparency of fashion brands’ value chains. 

Meanwhile in Europe is a weekly podcast from The European Correspondent, hosted and produced by Vlad Iavita and Charles Cohen. The podcast aims to break down complex European stories and make sense of where our continent is headed next.

Executive production by Viktorya Muradyan and Julius E. O. Fintelmann.

The European Correspondent, established in 2022, is a community-funded digital media organisation dedicated to reporting the stories that have an impact across borders. With a network of more than 170 journalists and media makers spanning the continent, the fully remote newsdesk delivers a daily newsletter curated by local journalists from every European country.

Sign up for The European Correspondent's newsletter here.

Depending on where you are in Europe, you are probably battling with very hot weather in the height of summer. This is particularly true for cities: concrete blocks, limited green spaces to escape heatwaves and poor insulation are the perfect recipe to feel like you’re stuck inside a greenhouse. To understand how cities can tackle the consequences of climate change, we first talked with Bob Ward, Policy and Communications Director at LSE’s Grantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. We then zoom into Barcelona, a Mediterranean city at the forefront of the fight against stifling heat, droughts, and other effects of climate change. The city has been praised for its innovative urban design solutions. With the help of Amber De La Haye, an innovation consultant at Bax who has worked on some of the city’s plans, we unpack what Europeans can learn from Barcelona’s experience. 

Meanwhile in Europe is a weekly podcast from The European Correspondent, hosted and produced by Vlad Iavita and Charles Cohen. The podcast aims to break down complex European stories and make sense of where our continent is headed next.

Executive production by Viktorya Muradyan and Julius E. O. Fintelmann.

The European Correspondent, established in 2022, is a community-funded digital media organisation dedicated to reporting the stories that have an impact across borders. With a network of more than 170 journalists and media makers spanning the continent, the fully remote newsdesk delivers a daily newsletter curated by local journalists from every European country.

Sign up for The European Correspondent's newsletter here.

As the Paris 2024 Olympics are set to start in a few days, we want to take a step back and look at how much it really costs to host such big events. Paris campaigned on a platform of affordable and accessible games, supposedly breaking away from the cost overrun curse that has affected every modern Olympics before it. But having a closer look into the numbers, the picture isn’t that perfect. How much does it really cost to host the Olympics? How can we make them more affordable and sustainable? 

To help us answer all these questions, we talked with Alexander Budzier from Oxford University’s Said Business School, an expert in the economics of mega projects who recently published The Oxford Olympics Study 2024: Are Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games Coming Down?

Meanwhile in Europe is a weekly podcast from The European Correspondent, hosted and produced by Vlad Iavita and Charles Cohen. The podcast aims to break down complex European stories and make sense of where our continent is headed next.

Executive production by Viktorya Muradyan and Julius E. O. Fintelmann.

The European Correspondent, established in 2022, is a community-funded digital media organisation dedicated to reporting the stories that have an impact across borders. With a network of more than 170 journalists and media makers spanning the continent, the fully remote newsdesk delivers a daily newsletter curated by local journalists from every European country.

Sign up for The European Correspondent's newsletter here.

After numerous Russian strikes on strategic energy targets since the start of this year, and the shelling of Kyiv’s children’s hospital on 8 July, we can’t help but ask, how much more can Ukraine take? The country desperately needs more military aid, and the pledges made in last week’s NATO summit in Washington DC fell short of President Zelenskiy’s demands. In this episode, we look at recent developments in the war, what Western allies can continue to do now to support the Ukrainian resistance, and what to expect in this coming winter. We are joined by Daria Matviichuk, our correspondent from Ukraine, who talks us through the challenges experienced by Ukrainians, and her reporting in the frontline Sumy region. 

Meanwhile in Europe is a weekly podcast from The European Correspondent, hosted and produced by Vlad Iavita and Charles Cohen. The podcast aims to break down complex European stories and make sense of where our continent is headed next.

Executive production by Viktorya Muradyan and Julius E. O. Fintelmann.

The European Correspondent, established in 2022, is a community-funded digital media organisation dedicated to reporting the stories that have an impact across borders. With a network of more than 170 journalists and media makers spanning the continent, the fully remote newsdesk delivers a daily newsletter curated by local journalists from every European country.

Sign up for The European Correspondent's newsletter here.

The decision of French president Emmanuel Macron to call for snap elections on 30 June and 7 July took everyone by surprise and exposed the weaknesses of his political brand. From far-right Rassemblement National’s lead in the polls, to the collapse of the country’s mainstream right party Les Republicains and unexpected unity of the usually fractious left - these legislative elections could mark a historic turn in French politics. 

In this episode we make sense of the political quagmire that Macron’s call has sent the French political system into, and chronicle the different episodes of this unfolding psychodrama. To help us make sense of Macron’s move and its consequences, we talked with Marta Lorimer, a lecturer in politics at Cardiff University.

Meanwhile in Europe is a weekly podcast from The European Correspondent, hosted and produced by Vlad Iavita and Charles Cohen. The podcast aims to break down complex European stories and make sense of where our continent is headed next.

Executive production by Viktorya Muradyan and Julius E. O. Fintelmann.

The European Correspondent, established in 2022, is a community-funded digital media organisation dedicated to reporting the stories that have an impact across borders. With a network of more than 170 journalists and media makers spanning the continent, the fully remote newsdesk delivers a daily newsletter curated by local journalists from every European country.

Sign up for The European Correspondent's newsletter here.