• 31 minutes 11 seconds
    The world's funniest superstate?

    The European Union is many things: an economic powerhouse, an improbably successful peace project, or a bureaucratic hellscape, depending on who you ask. Most people would probably agree on one thing that it isn’t: funny. So when Susanna Kierkegaard set out to write Sweden’s first genuinely entertaining book about the EU, many might have dismissed the idea as a fool’s errand. And yet she has somehow pulled it off.

    This week, we call up Susanna to share some of the best bits from her book Superstaten : EU och framtiden, from the MEP who expensed 250 kilograms of chocolate to the Italian whose unpaid electricity bills changed the course of European law.

    Susanna is a columnist for Aftonbladet. You can read her work here, and follow her on Instagram as well as TikTok.

    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. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

    Produced by Katy Lee

    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

    Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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

    28 May 2026, 4:00 am
  • 57 minutes 37 seconds
    What is life really like for Russians right now?

    The predictions began soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine: the collapse of the Russian economy was imminent. Four years later, it still hasn’t happened. And yet, the cracks are appearing: Ukrainian drones that are now capable of striking critical targets in Moscow; economic data that even the Kremlin can’t spin as positive. But what do these changes actually feel like for Russian citizens? This week, Wojciech calls people with friends and family in Moscow to find out.

    We’re also talking about why your bar of Milka is 10 grams lighter than it was. Oh, and we’re calling up the winner of the Microsoft Excel World Championships. No biggie.

    Check out Diarmuid Early’s YouTube videos here, including this one, which starts with an introduction to competitive spreadsheeting.

    This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are Aleksandar Vučić’s interview with The Rest Is Politics: Leading, and Francesco Pacifico’s essay in The Dial: Are You Enjoying Our Linguine?

    Resources for this episode:


    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. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

    Produced by Katy Lee

    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

    Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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

    21 May 2026, 4:00 am
  • 59 minutes 2 seconds
    Do you also have a Monstera in your living room?

    Vinyl records, coffee table books, low-maintenance pot plants: from Dublin to Dubrovnik, all good hipsters have the same stuff. The Italian writer Vincenzo Latronico captures this boring international aesthetic beautifully in his hit novel ‘Perfection’, while skewering millennial life in general. Do you like hearing about Lisbon food, the internet vs real life, and everything that’s wrong with the word ‘expat’? Then you’ll love our inaugural book club conversation, even if you haven’t read the book. We’re also talking this week about a fugitive Polish politician’s transatlantic dash, and the questionable Frenchness of a celebrated giraffe. Listen to the end if you want to know why we are launching a side-business importing sun loungers.

    Our book club is brought to you in collaboration with the European Review of Books, featuring the magazine’s co-founder Wiegertje Postma along with Portuguese bookworm Teresa Bandeira de Carvalho. The latest issue of the European Review of Books is out today!

    You can subscribe to Teresa’s excellent Substack here, and read her viral post on the word ‘expat’ here.

    This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are the Zenodot website, where you can check if a book has been translated into your language, and the European Press Prize shortlist.

    NEED MORE BOOK CHAT? Subscribers of The Europeans have access to an extended version of our book club conversation – twice as long and packed with thoughtful observations about everything from whether or not this story has a happy ending, to... how to run a book club. If you’re not yet a supporter of the podcast but you’d like to hear the longer version of the conversation, you can sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast.

    The Europeans is made possible by listener contributions – 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 on Patreon in many different currencies, or you can gift a donation to a superfan. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

    Produced by Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

    Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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

    14 May 2026, 4:00 am
  • 55 minutes 18 seconds
    Venice has a Russia and Israel problem

    ‘Art and politics can totally be separated!’ said no one ever – apart from the organisers of the Venice Biennale, a.k.a. the Olympics of the art world. This week we’re diving into the fallout from the Biennale’s decision to allow both Russia and Israel to participate. We’re also looking at a case study of why it’s so problematic to welcome Moscow to events that showcase its (Kremlin-approved) cultural offerings: the film Mr Nobody Against Putin, whose co-director Pavel Talankin, we are happy to report, has now happily been reunited with his mislaid Oscar. A round of applause for Lufthansa!

    It’s taken us many years to get over our bitterness that there are some other kids on the block called The Europeans, but since it’s Europe Day this Saturday, we’ve decided to bury the hatchet. This week we’re delighted to be joined by the Dutch writer Arnold van Bruggen, one half of the photo-documentary project The Europeans. Along with the photographer Rob Hornstra, Arnold is spending the decade chronicling life around a continent that, as he puts it, is being rocked by a perfect storm of political, social and environmental changes. We spoke to Arnold about the latest chapter of the project, in which they got to know the migrant workers who keep southern Spain’s giant greenhouse region running. This interview is brought to you in partnership with the European Cultural Foundation.

    This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are Repro Uncensored, which is doing fine work highlighting a wave of shutdowns of queer Instagram accounts, and Rotraut Susanne Berner’s seasonal Wimmelbilderbücher for kids.

    EUROPE DAY: How’s your prep going? Got your Rösti at the ready? If you’d like to spend Saturday celebrating everything that’s wonderful about this continent (and maybe discussing some things we could fix) in the presence of other human beings, our friends at the European Cultural Foundation have a great list of events, from film screenings to family days out. Find your nearest at europeday.eu. #HappyEuropeDay!

    DON’T MISS OUR INAUGURAL BOOK CLUB PODCAST: You still have a week to read Vincenzo Latronico’s pleasingly short ‘Perfection’, although we’re confident you’ll still enjoy next Thursday’s conversation about possibly the Berlin novel of our time even if you’ve never heard of it. Book nerds may want to sign up to support the podcast this week, because we’ll be bringing you a longer version of the conversation – brought to you in collaboration with the European Review of Books – on Patreon.

    Speaking of bonus content: you’ll find some extra snippets of our conversation with Arnold van Bruggen at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (or in your inbox if you subscribe via our website).

    The Europeans is made possible by listener contributions – we cannot continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs on Patreon in many different currencies, or you can gift a donation to a superfan. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

    Resources for this episode:

    • Amsterdammers can catch The (other) Europeans’ exhibition Plastic Sea, Perfect Storm at Domo until next Wednesday. The book version launches at the same venue on May 7 at 4pm.
    • Madrileños can catch the exhibition at PHotoESPAÑA from June 4.

    Produced by Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

    Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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

    7 May 2026, 4:00 am
  • 52 minutes 4 seconds
    Can Pedro Sánchez unite the global left?

    This week, we’ve got a little something for everyone: gambling! Kraftwerk! Blast from the recent US political past Tim Walz! It was a Good Week yet again for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the darling of the global left, who threw a party for… the global left. And it was a Bad Week for the legendary German electronic band Kraftwerk, who apparently have been around since 1970(!) and therefore can withstand the occasional bad week. We also caught up with Greek investigative reporter Eurydice Bersi, who was part of a team that uncovered a slew of streamers on places like YouTube and Twitch who’ve been directing their followers to unlicensed gambling sites – and profiting off it.

    Eurydice is a reporter with Reporters United, Investigate Europe’s partners in Greece.

    This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are the European Cultural Foundation’s calendar of the smörgåsbord of events coming up in celebration of Europe Day 2026, and the website WhoSampled.com.

    UPCOMING BOOK CLUB: Don’t forget to pick up a copy of Vincenzo Latronico’s novella Perfection, which we’ll be discussing with our friends from the European Review of Books right here on 14 May.

    Resources for this episode:


    We know what you’re thinking: you wish you got more emails. What about more emails from…The Europeans? GOOD WEEK BAD WEEK is the Substack newsletter your inbox craves. Don’t believe us? Subscribe here and see for yourself.

    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. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

    Produced by Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak

    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

    Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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

    23 April 2026, 4:00 am
  • 1 hour 2 minutes
    How did Ukrainians end up sailing in Russia's shadow fleet?

    Shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX swept in to restore internet connectivity to areas that had been affected by Russian attacks. But SpaceX and its internet service, Starlink, have hardly remained indisputable forces for good in the war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, the Kyiv Independent revealed that a fleet of old, rusty ships has been transporting hundreds of millions of barrels of Russian oil… with Starlink’s help. Investigative journalist Tanya Kozyreva joins us to explain what her reporting uncovered about how Starlink is used by the Russian “shadow fleet” – and how Ukrainian sailors have found themselves onboard. We’re also joined by The Europeans’ resident Luxembourger, Nina Lamparski, to discuss a resurgence of bison in Europe and the imperiled fate of halloumi.

    JOIN OUR BOOK CLUB: We’re so excited to be partnering with our friends at the European Review of Books on a new audio book club! Want to read along with us? We’ll be discussing our first pick, Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection, on 14 May.

    Resources for this episode:


    If this podcast gets you singing “more, more, more!”, we’d love to introduce you to our newsletter, GOOD WEEK BAD WEEK. Same groove, different format, every Friday in your inbox. 🎵How do you like it, how do you like it?🎵

    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. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

    Produced by Morgan Childs and Katy Lee

    Editorial support from Katz Laszlo

    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

    Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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

    16 April 2026, 4:00 am
  • 1 hour 8 minutes
    Where are the Zohran Mamdanis of Europe?

    A few weeks back, we asked you to weigh in on a question that’s been on our mind a lot lately: Who are the Zohran Mamdanis of Europe, and when, pray tell, are they going to give our beloved, ailing continent a much-needed shake-up? As it turns out, that’s a complicated question. This week’s guest, Brussels-based journalist Dave Keating, says that the decks are stacked against insurgent outsiders like the New York mayor – yet we need them more than ever. We had a long-overdue chat with Dave about what might be preventing a charismatic, insurgent figure on the left from taking off in the EU, and we also talked about a few of the leaders you wrote in to share with us. (Of course, keep us posted of any changemakers cropping up in your country at [email protected].)

    We’re also talking about a controversial new law in Germany introducing voluntary military service in the country for men under the age of 45. We recorded this segment a few hours before the news that young men will not have to seek permission for long stints abroad after all; you can read updated reporting here. We also unpack Netflix’s failed legal challenge to EU regulations that led to a flood of funding for European TV and film production. A burning question has now been answered: yes, the US streaming giant really does have to set aside a decent budget for francophone Belgian content.

    This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are the viral videos emerging from Zara Larsson’s tour and Juhani Karila’s book Summer Fishing in Lapland, brought to our attention by listener Monika.

    Resources for this episode:


    Can’t get enough of us? Of course you can’t! For more of The Europeans, subscribe to our newsletter, Good Week Bad Week. New issues land in your inbox every Friday.

    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. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

    Produced by Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

    Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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

    9 April 2026, 9:35 am
  • 45 minutes 26 seconds
    Can a group of strangers solve Europe’s biggest problems?

    If you got a knock on your door from someone inviting you to Brussels to hash out some EU policies…you’d think it was a scam, right? Us, too. At least, that was the case until last week, when our producer Wojciech went to report on a European Citizens’ Panel, an event designed to allow 150 randomly selected Europeans to weigh in on some of the EU’s thorniest problems. This week we’re taking a deep dive into the ins and outs of what seems like the nerdiest game show ever. How do these panels work? What do they actually achieve? And crucially, are they worth the cost?

    Resources for this episode:


    Maybe you’re tuning in this week and thinking, “Wait, where’s Good Week, Bad Week?” To that we say: Have you heard about our newsletter? GOOD WEEK BAD WEEK is available for free on Substack and offers everything you love about the podcast, plus a few extra memes and internetty things. Try it; we think you’ll like it.

    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. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

    Reported, written, and produced by Wojciech Oleksiak

    Editorial support by Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer

    Audio editing by Morgan Childs

    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

    Music by Jim Barne, Mariska Martina and Blue Dot Sessions

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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

    2 April 2026, 4:00 am
  • 46 minutes
    The end of Orbán?

    It has been 16 years since Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party assumed power in Hungary – and it might have begun to feel like things could never change. But with a parliamentary election just around the corner, there’s now a glimmer – a hint! a twinkle! – of hope that the EU's most illiberal government could finally be on its way out.

    This week, we’re devoting the entire episode to the April 12 elections: what’s certain, what remains to be seen, and most importantly, what’s at stake. And to make sense of it all, we’re joined by two Budapest-based friends of the podcast: the novelist Krisztián Marton, and Viktória Serdült, reporter at HVG, one of the last surviving bastions of independent journalism in Hungary.

    1. “At last, a figure has emerged who could wrench power from Viktor Orbán in Hungary” – Viktória Serdült for The Guardian, 18 December 2024
    2. Paul the Octopus on Wikipedia
    3. Krisztián Marton on Instagram
    4. Viktória Serdült on X

    This week’s Hungary-themed Inspiration Station recommendations are the song “Tizenhat” by Elefánt, the documentary The Trap, and the FT series The Orbán System.

    MISS OUR NORMAL PROGRAMMING? This week’s edition of our newsletter, Good Week Bad Week, has you covered. Subscribe over here to learn what’s been going on beyond Hungary’s borders (the good, the bad, the silly).

    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. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

    Produced by Morgan Childs, Wojciech Oleksiak and Katz Laszlo

    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

    Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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

    26 March 2026, 4:00 am
  • 1 hour 6 minutes
    Europe's anti-Elon

    Back when Elon Musk was challenging Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight, Eugen Rochko was building an open-source, non-problematic Twitter alternative, completely without fanfare. Last year, the Mastodon founder announced his departure from the head of the social media platform in a candid blog post, citing a growing discomfort with the role and an interest in preserving the site’s decentralised values. But Mastodon lives on, and – full disclosure – we’re all for it. This week, we spoke to Eugen about his dreams for the “fediverse” and about whether his vision for ethical, supervillain-free online communities has a promising future. In fact, we enjoyed the conversation so much that we’re releasing a longer version for supporters of the podcast.

     

    Also in this episode: a compromise in Europe’s War on Veggie Burgers and the end of the decade-long Iceland-the-country-versus-Iceland-the-grocery-store dispute.

     

    Resources for this episode:

     


     

    This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are the Apple TV show Drops of God and the Swiss Android app Nearby Glasses.

     

    You’ve probably heard by now that we have a newsletter. And you’ve probably already subscribed. Why wouldn’t you have? You’re smart, you’re cool, you’re with the programme; you love us, you want more of us. So leaving this link here for you to sign up is purely a formality.

     

    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. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

    Produced by Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak
    Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

     

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

     

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

    12 March 2026, 4:00 am
  • 59 minutes 52 seconds
    How to keep going when the world feels broken

    This week, we wanted to ask a question that has been in our hearts and on our minds for years: Is it possible to try to make positive change in the world, and still stay healthy and sane? Dutch writer, political philosopher, and “recovering diplomat” Nori Spauwen believes that the answer is yes – even if it’s not always easy to strike the right balance. We chatted with Nori about “healthy” activism and training yourself to feel empowered in response to difficult news. If you’ve been overwhelmed lately (has anyone not?), this is a conversation for you.

     

    Also in this week’s episode: a successful European Citizens’ Initiative that will make it easier for European women to procure abortion across borders, and a very Bad Week for Greece’s former finance minister-turned-public intellectual Yanis Varoufakis stemming from a Kylie Minogue concert 36 years ago.

     

    Resources for this episode:

     


     

    This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are this video recipe for Mezrab soup and Die Erweiterung by Robert Menasse.

     

    SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER: Get more of what you like from the podcast, delivered to your inbox each Friday. Sign up for GOOD WEEK BAD WEEK right 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.

    Produced by Katz Laszlo and Wojciech Oleksiak
    Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak
    Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
    Record scratch sound effect by luffy via freesound.org

     

    The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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



    5 March 2026, 4:00 am
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