This week’s episode of EU Confidential is a show about nothing.

As in: Brussels’ endless lame-duck inertia. Sure, there’s still lots of yadda yadda yadda, but no real action coming out of the EU institutions despite multiple global crises (leaders at this week’s EU summit discussed migration, sure, but left Brussels having taken no concrete decisions on how to tackle it).

Host Sarah Wheaton dissects the reasons for the hold-up — and why it matters — with POLITICO’s Barbara Moens and Nick Vinocur, as well as with Aaron McLoughlin, a seasoned Brussels lobbyist with deep experience working in the Parliament and the Commission. 

Meanwhile, there’s lots happening in the U.S. ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election. Earlier this week, POLITICO Live and the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union hosted a debate about what candidates Kamala Harris or Donald Trump could mean for Europe. Facing off: former Republican Congressman Jack Kingston; Finnish MEP Aura Salla; and Bart M.J. Szewczyk, a former State Department official and Biden-Harris campaign insider. We bring you a juicy recap.

Finally, our Berlaymont Who’s Who series looks at the unusual political trajectory of Belgium’s commissioner-designate, Hadja Lahbib, and her dual responsibility for crisis management and equality.

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Buckle up. This week on the EU Confidential podcast, we’re talking cars. And a looming trade war.

European Union countries are split over whether it’s a good idea to take on Beijing and use duties to hit the brakes on China’s booming (and heavily subsidized) electric car industry. At the same time, the EU is trying to shift to greener cars. Seems contradictory? It is. Abigaël Vasselier of the Mercator Institute for China Studies joins POLITICO’s Koen Verhelst and Jordyn Dahl to sort it all out, with host Sarah Wheaton. 

Next, POLITICO’s Max Griera brings us inside the dramatic confrontation at the European Parliament with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, along with highlights from his interview with Orbán’s upstart new challenger, Péter Magyar. 

Further reading:

China’s hit at EU brandy sparks fear of all-out trade war, by Camille Gijs, Koen Verhelst and Judith Chetrit

EU countries overcome German resistance to back duties on Chinese EVs – POLITICO, by Koen Verhelst and Hans von der Burchard

A trip across Europe in an electric car, one charge at a time, by Jordyn Dahl

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In this week’s episode of EU Confidential, we tackle the complex forces shaping Europe’s future — where political shifts, migration and escalating conflict in neighboring regions are all colliding. As tensions in the Middle East intensify, POLITICO's Opinion Editor Jamie Dettmer reports from Tel Aviv, breaking down the situation on the ground and the prospect of an all-out war in the region.

We then shift focus to Austria, where the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) secured a significant election victory on a “Fortress Austria” platform. Host Sarah Wheaton and Theresa Kuhn, professor of modern European history and politics at the University of Amsterdam, discuss what drove voters to the FPÖ and how Austria joins a growing bloc of European Union countries where far-right parties are reshaping the political landscape. What could this mean for Europe’s broader approach to migration?

The episode also continues our "Berlaymont Who’s Who" miniseries, with Kathryn Carlson, our financial regulation reporter, introducing Magnus Brunner, Austria's former finance minister, who could soon become the EU’s next commissioner for migration.

Plus, our NATO correspondent Stuart Lau sits down for an exclusive interview with former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Further reading:

Israel sends troops into Lebanon — but its real target is Iran, by Jamie Dettmer

Israel risks a long fight in Lebanon, by Jamie Dettmer

Israel vows ‘consequences’ for Iran after missile barrage, by Jamie Dettmer

NATO’s Stoltenberg has parting words for Europe: Don’t fear Trump, work with him, by Stuart Lau

Sorry, Mark Rutte, there’ll be no honeymoon at NATO, by Stuart Lau

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Volodymyr Zelensky has just four months. That’s the time left until U.S. President Joe Biden leaves office. After that, who knows what’s going to happen. And that means uncomfortable questions for the EU, too. 

This week’s edition of EU Confidential tracks the Ukrainian president’s recent journey to the U.S. We start off in Kyiv, where POLITICO’s Veronika Melkozerova recounts meeting  Zelensky as he gave reporters a sneak peek of his “Victory Plan.” (Security is tight — even lipstick needs a close check.)

Then we unpack his lobbying mission to the White House and the U.N. General Assembly. Jan Cienski, POLITICO senior policy editor; Dave Brown, defense editor at POLITICO US; and Olga Oliker, program director for Europe and Central Asia at International Crisis Group join host Sarah Wheaton to discuss the political and strategic debates playing out in the U.S. and the EU.

We also listen in on Suzanne Lynch’s interview with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. For more, subscribe to POLITICO’s Global Playbook newsletter. 

Next, we continue our Berylamont Who’s Who series with mini-profiles of commissioners-designate Raffaele Fitto (Meloni’s man in Brussels) and current EVP Maroš Šefčovič (the EU’s Mr. Fix-it).

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Live from Strasbourg… and Paris… and Berlin… and London, it’s EU Confidential. In this week’s episode, we catch you up on a dizzying week of news. We start with the inside dish on Thierry Breton’s high-drama departure from the European Commission, followed by analysis of who’s really in charge now that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has debuted her new team, with POLITICO’s Marion Solletty and Eddy Wax. Host Sarah Wheaton also sits down with current (and likely future) climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, and we debut our new series of mini-profiles, Berlaymont Who’s Who, with an introduction to Kaja Kallas, the EU’s next foreign policy chief.

And that’s not all: Migration is roiling domestic politics around the bloc. POLITICO’s Hans von der Burchard and Rosa Prince talk about how the left-leaning leaders of Germany and the U.K. are taking cues from the far-right on keeping migrants out.

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While Brussels has been obsessed recently with the “Draghi report,” that’s NOT the topic of this week’s episode. We will, however, discuss WHY Brussels is so besotted. (Spoiler alert: It's because Europe’s economy is broken.)

Host Sarah Wheaton talks to POLITICO’s Carlo Martuscelli and Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING Think, about why the EU is falling so far behind big competitors like the U.S. and China; as well as about the political factors that got us here — and are keeping us stuck. 

We also check in with POLITICO’s chief EU correspondent, Barbara Moens, about the bottlenecks impeding the new Commission leadership; and with senior correspondent Clea Caulcutt in Paris about French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s biggest challenge since Brexit.

Further readings:

Mario Draghi’s plan to fix a broken Europe already looks impossible, by Carlo Martuscelli

Europe’s new normal: High energy bills, fading industry and one chance to fix it, by Carlo Martuscelli and Victor Jack

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It’s been a particularly chaotic rentrée for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In this week’s episode of EU Confidential, we talk about the mad dash to name the new slate of commissioners, while getting the right balance of politics, geography, gender and expertise. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by POLITICO’s Chief EU Correspondent Barbara Moens and Policy Editor Joanna Roberts to look at the hot button issues on the agenda and consider how European voters’ call for a rightward shift in June could be reflected in policy — or not. 

Also, from the Berlin bureau, Nette Nöstlinger shares the top takeaways from Alternative for Germany’s historic victory in regional elections. And Tech Reporter Pieter Haeck looks at the trend of banning smartphones in the classroom and what Brussels can do to boost kids’ mental health.

Further readings:

5 takeaways from Germany’s eastern elections, by Nette Nöstlinger

Belgian schools launch crackdown on smartphones, by Pieter Haeck

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In this episode of EU Confidential, we speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anne Applebaum. Her latest book, "Autocracy Inc.," explores how authoritarian regimes are banding together against democracies, including EU countries.

But first, we look ahead to local elections in three eastern German states, where extreme parties on both the right and the left are poised to make historic gains as migration dominates the headlines. 

Host Sarah Wheaton and POLITICO’s Berlin news editor, James Angelos, dive into Germany’s “left conservatism” standard-bearer Sahra Wagenknecht and how her party is reshaping the political landscape, alongside surging support for the far-right Alternative for Germany.

Further reading:

Is Germany’s rising superstar so far left she’s far right?, by James Angelos

Migration smashes into German elections after deadly knife attack, by Nette Nöstlinger

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In this episode, host Sarah Wheaton is joined by Alessandro Ford, POLITICO’s agriculture reporter, to unpack how the prospect of lab-grown meat has riled up Europe’s farmers — threatening to upend the EU’s agriculture policy and lucrative subsidy program. Read Alessandro’s full story here.

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While the podcast takes a little break, we bring this insightful episode back into your feed — unpacking details of who votes for the far right in Europe. We unpack what drives voters to abandon the mainstream and more traditional party loyalties for the far right, and how poverty, or fear of it, motivates typical supporters of the AfD in Germany, Geert Wilders’ PVV in the Netherlands, or Chega in Portugal.

Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by POLITICO reporters Hanne Cokelaere, James Angelos and Aitor Hernández-Morales, who were recently dispatched to countries where far-right parties are gaining ground ahead of the recent European election.

Later on we have a fascinating conversation with Catherine de Vries, professor of political science and dean of international affairs at Bocconi University in Milan. Her research focuses on how economic hardship and problems with public services such as schools, health care or transport can fuel the far right.

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On our summer break, we're bringing this episode from January back into your feed by popular demand, looking at a crisis that is affecting many Europeans in most EU countries: skyrocketing rents and house prices, a shortage of flats, long waiting lists for social or affordable housing — commonplace problems from Greece to Luxembourg to Portugal. 

Host Sarah Wheaton talks to POLITICO’s Aitor Hernández-Morales and Sorcha Edwards, secretary general of Housing Europe, about the causes of the crisis, its impact across the bloc (including far-right parties using it as an election platform), and solutions at the EU level. Are there any, given that housing is not an EU competence?

Then we hear from Dutch Green MEP Kim Van Sparrentak about housing challenges in her native Netherlands and her efforts to get the European Parliament and the Commission to get more involved in tackling the crisis. And Sarah speaks to Ans Persoons, secretary of state for the Brussels-Capital Region, who explains how the EU’s defacto capital is struggling to keep up with affordable housing demands.

And as mentioned in the show, here’s where you can read the article written by our guest Aitor Hernández-Morales, together with colleagues Jacopo Barigazzi, Barbara Moens and Giovanna Coi: How do you stop the rise of the far right? Build houses.

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