It’s been a busy week for European politics, European protests, and European wallabies. In the midst of the madness, we caught up with Kateřina Šafaříková of Czech news outlet Seznam Zprávy, who filled us in on the Czech Republic’s recent parliamentary elections. Is the probable next Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš, likely to be an Orbán-esque thorn in the EU’s side, or does he just kinda wanna text with Macron? Kateřina shares her thoughts. We also catch up on the protests that Georgia’s democratic opposition has been staging against the country’s government in Tbilisi and a grassroots victory in Lithuania.

If you’re moved to learn more about what’s going on in Georgia, check out our interview with Anna Gvarishvili in the episode “Is this the end of Georgia’s European dream?” You can also follow some of the initiatives and journalists Wojciech recommends:

You can discover more of Kateřina Šafaříková’s work over here or follow her on Instagram here.

This week's Inspiration Station recommendations are the documentary Pianoforte and the book Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, courtesy of Patreon member Pia. 

Brace yourselves if you decide you do indeed want to hear the now former Lithuanian minister for culture singing on an episode of the Voice.

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

00:00:47 Bentornato!

Can we talk about Trump’s culture war, Putin’s war on inclusivity, and just about everyone’s unwillingness to pay teachers fair wages—and giggle throughout? You better believe it. Nina Lamparski is back in the hosting chair, and strap in, listeners, because this week’s show is a *ride.*

Our guest this week is the delightful and incisive political analyst Paweł Zerka of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Paweł returns to the podcast to tell us why Europe is living in a Truman-Show-style universe directed by Donald Trump and his international team. We pick Paweł’s terrific brain about what our leaders can do to build upon the growing pro-European sentiment (really!) and engage with the US as its peer, not its lackey. Plus: Nina raises a glass of crémant to Luxembourgish teachers, who had what seems to us like a very swanky Good Week. And Dominic awards Bad Week to Eurovision, which seems to be crumbling whilst Russia’s Intervision is back and creepier than ever.

Mentioned in this episode: 

The European Sentiment Compass 2025 from ECF and ECFR, “Reality show: Why Europe must not cave in Trump’s culture war”

This week's Inspiration Station recommendations are Twelve Months of Monastery Soups, a cookbook by Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette, and Rejected: Designs for the European Flag by Jonas von Lenthe.

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

00:00:47 This podcast is co-hosted by a bionic woman

There’s no denying it’s been a pretty dark week, but we’ve got a couple of bright spots for you. What could be a better job than dreaming up ways that Europe could be improved? That’s what this week’s guest, Johanna Fabrin, does each day at the Copenhagen think tank 21st Europe. Ahead of our miniseries Who Does It Best, Dominic sat down with Johanna to talk about the group’s “blueprints” for the continent, the importance of optimism, and who, exactly, is going to pay for a fantasy train system that links all of Europe together like a massive metro line. 

And not to be too negative, but…we decided it was a pretty Bad Week for basically all of the western world, thanks to the Russian drone incursion into Poland and Romania. But! It was a Good Week (er, a marginally, “meekly” better week) for the European Union, which is finally—finally—taking some overdue action regarding the war in Gaza. Did Ursula von der Leyen tune into our episode from a couple of weeks ago? We suspect yes. 

You can learn more about what 21st Europe is up to on their website and on Instagram. Also mentioned in this episode: Simply Shada, the new Substack created by the brilliant former Europeans guest Shada Islam and the interview with Finland's President Alexander Stubb. 

This week's Inspiration Station recommendations are visiting countries in transition/The Wojciech Oleksiak Dua Lipa Tour of Pristina* and the David Szalay novel Flesh. *Restrictions apply, see Wojciech for details

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

Timestamps

00:00:47 Intro: Is it just us or are we all feeling like half-deflated balloons?

The music industry is reeling due to what’s being called the 'largest intellectual property theft in history' — we’ll dig into the fight between Big Tech and the people who make the music. Meanwhile, Sweden’s new cultural canon has people fuming — not least because it leaves out ABBA.

We’ll also hear from Der Spiegel’s Gunter Latsch about his chilling investigation into the shadowy world of organ trafficking. And we’ll finish, as always, with something a little lighter: archaeologists in Denmark have been uncovering a kind of Stone Age Atlantis beneath the sea and they’ve been using a funky underwater vacuum to do so.

This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: Addison Rae - 'Headphones On' | Behind the Song and Love in Five Acts by Daniela Krien (translated by Jamie Bulloch)

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

Other resources for this week's episode:

No Abba, no meatballs? Sweden’s new cultural canon is a listicle that will soon be forgotten:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/04/sweden-cultural-canon-abba-ikea-meatballs

Since we recorded this episode, a US federal judge has postponed approval of the $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright deal: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/anthropic-judge-blasts-copyright-pact-as-nowhere-close-to-done

Taskforce recommends prosecution of Mishra for alleged organ trafficking:

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/health/health-science/article/2001525127/taskforce-recommends-prosecution-of-mishra-for-alleged-organ-trafficking 

00:00:47 Introduction: Emoji fuelled marital strife

00:04:26 Good Week: Sweden’s controversial ’cultural canon’

00:13:31 Bad Week: The fight between AI and musicians

00:27:05 Interview: Gunther Latch on Germans going abroad for kidneys

00:40:51 Inspiration Station: ’Headphones On’ and ’Love in Five Acts’

00:46:01 Happy Ending: Denmark’s Stone Age Atlantis

Producers: Katz Laszlo, Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Hosts: Nina Lamparski and Dominic Kraemer

YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | [email protected]    

This week, we’re dedicating the entire episode to Gaza. We have a lot of questions about the EU’s role in what’s happening there: Why is the EU not suspending trade with, or at the very least banning weapon sales to, Israel? Why is Israel being treated differently than the way Russia has been? And what will inaction mean for the credibility of the EU? 

We put those questions to two esteemed guests: Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, who served as the EU’s representative to Palestine from 2020 until July 2023, and Shada Islam, Lahore-born, Brussels-based commentator who has recently written some incredibly moving and thought-provoking pieces about the EU’s complicity in the war in Gaza. And we round out the episode with a brief Inspiration Station recommendation: the book Enter Ghost by British-Palestinian author Isabella Hammad.

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

00:00:46 Introduction: The cucumber season is over

Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak

It’s our second week of “cucumber season” programming, and fair warning: we’re really leaning into the late-summer goofiness. This week, we go hard on German gastronomy, with a deep dive into Europe’s declining alcohol consumption and a recap of the utterly absurd row over the origins of Bratwurst.

Because we don’t want you to think we’ve totally lost the plot, we also had a perfectly civilised conversation with Robert Winder, the prolific author and sometime editor of The Independent and Granta whose new book, Three Rivers, comes out next week. Robert spoke with our producer Katz about the waterways that shape Europe as we know it—and about their future in a warming climate. You can purchase the book here on 28 August. 

This week's Inspiration Station recommendations are the Danish film The Guilty and the audio recordings of Colm Tóibín’s novels Brooklyn and Long Island. Our Happy Ending comes from Helsinki, which managed to go an entire year with no traffic fatalities! You can read more about the milestone achievement here and how they did it here.

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

00:00:47 Welcome back to cucumber season!

Welcome back! We’re easing back into the swing of things after our summer holidays with a bit of “cucumber season” fare. It’s our regularly scheduled programming, just a little bit…sillier. 

This week, we take a peek into the world’s first “sourdough library” with Karl De Smedt, head of the Puratos Sourdough Institute. Karl gives us a taste of his unconventional career preserving breadmaking biodiversity and explains why the starters in his library are a little like Europeans themselves. Plus: we learn why the Aalborg Zoo in Denmark is encouraging people to bring in unwanted pets and how Dominic “gave” Daniel Radcliffe his career(!).

You can take a virtual tour of the Puratos sourdough library here and check out Karl on Instagram here.

And if you want to find out more about the Stop Killing Games campaign, watch this video.

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

This week's Inspiration Station recommendations are two books, Patrick Radden Keefe’s spellbinding history of the Troubles, “Say Nothing,” and the novel “Second Best” by French author David Foenkinos.

00:00:00 First things first: WTF is up with strawberry pasta in Poland?

Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak

This year’s Budapest Pride was banned in March under the Orbán government’s contentious “child protection” law. Demonstrators were threatened with hefty fines for participating, and the government said it would employ facial-recognition technology to identify and potentially prosecute those who turned out to take part at the march on 28 June.

Did the ban work? Not in the slightest. In fact, more people than ever in the 30-year history of Budapest Pride showed up to celebrate their rights as LGBTQ+ human beings. 

The massive Pride march brought a glimmer of hope to some Hungarian citizens, including this week’s guest, writer Krisztián Marton. We spoke with Krisztián about the lead-up to the event, the thrill of being on the ground last Saturday, and what might be next for Hungary, now that Viktor Orbán finally has a formidable challenger in Péter Magyar. We also chatted with Dominic’s husband, Thomas Lamers, a philosopher and dramaturg who hit the streets for us, mic in hand. (Thanks, Thomas, we owe you!)

Krisztián Marton is a screenwriter and novelist. You can follow him on Instagram here and read an excerpt in English of his Margó Prize-nominated novel Crybaby here. You can donate to Thomas’s fundraiser to pay some of the fines that may be incurred by Pride attendees here. 

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not do it without you. If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies!), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: the recent episode of Zakia Sewell’s Radio 6 series Dream Time, “Solstice selections…with Zakia,” and the Ukrainian band The Sixsters, winners of the European Emerging Bands Contest.

00:00:46 A sweltering hello and a tick PSA

Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak

Depending on where you are in Europe, your right to a safe abortion — and reproductive care in general — can vary dramatically. This week, we speak to pioneering abortion activist Rebecca Gomperts about why she's hopeful that we can fight back against these inequalities as well as crackdowns on abortion access in other parts of the world. We're also talking about a rebel campaign in Germany to defeat a draconian Nazi-era law, and some disturbing research into the weedkillers used by many of the farmers who grow our foods.

Note: We updated this episode's audio on June 20, 2025. The original version incorrectly stated that glyphosate is sprayed directly on many European crops, which is not the case.

'EWG’s 2025 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce' (USA) - Environmental Working Group, June 11, 2025

'Here’s why some people still evade public transport fares – even when they’re 50 cents' - The Conversation, February 13, 2025

00:00:46  Is it a Smörgåsbord? Is it a charcuterie board? No, it's The Europeans

The EU supposedly has some of the world's toughest laws regulating big tech. So why does it still feel like Europeans are being sucked into increasingly polarised online communities, and manipulated during our elections? Can we do anything about it? This week's guest, the Irish internet campaigner Johnny Ryan, argues that a pretty radical solution is within the EU's reach. We're also talking about the Dutch government's collapse, and why bear meat may soon be on the menu in Slovakia.