Kris de Decker's balcony in Barcelona is nice and sunny. Which is just as well, because a website depends on it. This week we chat to Kris, co-founder of Low-Tech Magazine, about why he built a solar-powered website and how human history can inspire modern environmental solutions. We're also talking about foie gras, faux gras, and bringing EU and non-EU Europe together.

You can check out the solar-powered version of Low-Tech Magazine's website here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'Today in Focus - The Wagatha Christie case'; 'Multiples: 12 stories in 18 languages by 61 authors'; this vegan foie gras recipe; Impact from Les Glorieuses, a feminist newsletter in English and French.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

03:23 Good Week? Macron's big new idea

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

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We know, we know, not everyone loves Eurovision — but we think you'll enjoy this week's interview even if you're not as nuts about the annual celebration of euro-kitsch as we are. Dr Dean Vuletic is the world's pre-eminent Eurovision historian, and we were delighted to talk to him about how the contest came into being and why it's always been so political. We're also talking about the EU's Russian oil embargo, a row over WWII reparations in 2022, and a first for wind power in the Mediterranean.

We'll be running a Eurovision sweepstake for our Patreon supporters on the night of the finals, May 10! More details soon at patreon.com/europeanspodcast.

Financing Putin's war: you can find the real-time tracker of EU fossil fuel imports here and read the Atlantic Council's research on replacing Russian gas here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: 'Young Mungo' by Douglas Stuart, the photography of Wolfgang Tillmans, and Russian Doll, Season 2.

02:26 (Tentative) Good Week: The EU's Russian oil embargo

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

Producer: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

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Every year, Europeans chuck away millions of tons of clothing. The EU has a new plan to tackle the huge environmental impact of the fashion and textile industry — but can it make a difference? We asked the model and activist Nimue Smit to take a look. We're also talking about the UK's extremely controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and a legal leap forward for Spain's single parents.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Lithuanian clothing exchange Vinted, and Belgian Netflix comedy 'Soil' ('Grond').

A few things Nimue mentioned that listeners might want to check out: 'Consumed' by Aja Barber, Depop, Vestiaire Collective, Sustainable Fashion Giftcard, Rank A Brand.

02:17 Bad Week: UK asylum policy

Producer: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak, with thanks to Katz Laszlo

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

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Iiiiit's French election week! Katy spent the big night at Le Pen HQ. This week, in a Europeans first, Dominic and Katz turn the microphone on our resident French person to ask: what just happened? And could Marine Le Pen really become France's first far-right president?

We're also talking about the soaring cost of housing (again) and the European microstate that just pulled off an LGBTQ+ world first.

You can listen to Cody Hochstenbach calling for a revolution in housing policy here and find the latest figures from Eurostat here. And you can read here about why microstates have often been slow to catch up on LGBTQ rights.

Isolation Inspiration: 'Free' by Lea Ypi and Große Freiheit (Great Freedom).

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

Producer: Katy Lee, with thanks to Katz Laszlo and Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

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We're back! And we're headed into the classroom. Kids across Europe have very different experiences of school depending on where they live and how rich their parents are. One country that's been praised for getting public education right is Finland. This week we speak to education professor Pasi Sahlberg about what the world can learn from the Finnish way.

We're also talking about Orbán's victory, bridging Europe's North-South divide, and a particularly special edition of El Clásico.

Pasi is Professor of Education at Southern Cross University. You can read more about his work here and follow him on Twitter here.

You can read the joint Spain-Netherlands paper here and find Politico's reporting on it here.

This week's Isolation Inspiration: Flee, Talking France, and Paroles de France(s).

11:48 Good Week: Bridging the North-South divide

20:46 Interview with Pasi Sahlberg

34:56 Isolation Inspiration: Flee and French election podcasts

38:39 Happy Ending: A very special Clásico

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

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Joanna and Catinca were born in Romania during the final years of the dictatorship of Nicolai Ceausescu, a regime that combined elements of The Hunger Games, The Handmaid's Tale and North Korea.

Our regular episodes return next week. While Dominic wraps up work on his new show, here’s the second of two special guest appearances from Millennial History, a podcast series that relives moments in recent world history, as seen through the eyes of people who were children when they happened.

In interviews with musical journalist Andrea Voets, they reflect on the far-reaching consequences of the events on their lives and societies. Andrea and composer/sound designer Luke Deane have combined these testimonies with music donated by more than sixty bands to create a unique form of ‘musical journalism’.

Producers: Andrea Voets and Luke Deane

Special thanks to: Cosima Opartan, Surorile Osoianu, Subcarpati, Karpov not Kasparov, Musai Soundworks, Diana Rotaru, Temple Invisible, Alex Simu & quintet, Robin & the Backstabbers, Andrea Voets

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

A cooperation of Resonate Productions - creating musical journalism - and Are We Europe.

For more episodes, subscribe to Millennial History.

www.millennialhistorypodcast.com || www.facebook.com/musicaljournalism

Aki grew up in Sicily. On May 23, 1992, the mafia blew up the highway behind his grandmother’s house, killing a judge named Giovanni Falcone.

Since Dominic is away right now, we’re bringing you the first of two very special guest appearances from Millennial History, a new podcast series reliving impactful moments in recent world history, as seen through the eyes of people who were children when they happened.

In interviews with musical journalist Andrea Voets, they reflect on the far-reaching consequences of the events on their lives and societies. Andrea and composer/sound designer Luke Deane have combined these testimonies with music donated by more than sixty bands to create a unique form of ‘musical journalism’.

Producers: Andrea Voets and Luke Deane

Special thanks to: Alfio Antico, Giulia Tagliavia, Francesco Guaiana, Salvatore Bonafede

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

A cooperation of Resonate Productions - creating musical journalism - and Are We Europe.

For more episodes, subscribe to Millennial History.

www.millennialhistorypodcast.com || www.facebook.com/musicaljournalism

Before the war, Vladimir was a film producer and Yuriy was a journalist. Daria works in marketing, Andrii is a musician, and Anna is a human resources manager for an IT company. This week we asked five Ukrainians to send us some voice messages, documenting their thoughts and feelings since the world turned upside down on February 24.

You can donate to the International Committee of the Red Cross's Ukraine appeal here.

Many thanks to Daria Barakhta, Andrii Kovalov, Yuriy Matsarsky, Anna Tolstaia, and Vladimir Yatsenko for sharing their thoughts with us. Vladimir continues to film footage of the war; you can follow his posts here.

This episode was produced by Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak, with editorial help from Katz Laszlo. Sound design by Wojciech Oleksiak. Music by Jazzpospolita and Jim Barne.

Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

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We're struggling to process what has happened on this continent over the past week. With events moving incredibly fast on the ground, we wanted to reflect on the human cost of conflict in Ukraine. The writer and historian Olesya Khromeychuk, director of the Ukrainian Institute London, joins us to read an excerpt from her book 'A Loss', about her brother's death on the frontline in 2017. We also hear from our producer Wojciech Oleksiak about how the Russian invasion feels different if you're following the news from Central or Eastern Europe compared to further West. Plus, the sound of Europeans standing with Ukraine, from London to Lisbon, Berlin to Minsk.

This week's recommendations: 'A Loss'; '1944' by Jamala; 'Grey Bees' by Andrey Kurkov.

You can support the Kyiv Independent on Patreon here, and donate to a range of different Ukrainian media organisations here. More information on ways to help can be found here.

Many thanks to the Ukrainian Village Voices choir for giving us permission to play this beautiful recording of 'O Bozhe'.

#StandWithUkraine

Producers: Katy Lee, Wojciech Oleksiak and Katz Laszlo

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

Twitter | Instagram | [email protected]