Politico's Eu Confidential

Kaja Tael, Estonia's ambassador to the EU, reviews her country's six months running the bloc's rotating presidency. Host Ryan Heath also talks to POLITICO's Christian Oliver about the challenges for Bulgaria's 2018 EU presidency, from domestic infighting to far-right ministers. Estonia is northern, not eastern, European: Tael says Estonia is a bridge between different camps in the EU, but sees itself primarily as closer to a northern or Baltic bloc rather than a central or eastern European one. Revolution: Looking back on the past six months, Tael says progress in EU defense cooperation has been "nothing but revolutionary." She also outlines the tasks Bulgaria will face during its six months in the hot seat. Budget drama: While Tael says there is "no need to despair" about the state of the EU, debates over the next EU budget will certainly "stir up the most drama" in coming months. Bulgarian dilemma: Bulgarians will face conflicting emotions during the presidency, Christian Oliver says. "There's a broad publi

Episode 27 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features a review of the year from POLITICO reporters and an interview with NATO's Deputy Assistant Secretary General Jamie Shea, a Brussels veteran of almost 40 years. With regular host Ryan Heath on holiday, news editor Andrew Gray talks to Shea about the alliance's future challenges, the EU's new defense pact and his role as frontman when NATO went to war for the first time, over Kosovo in 1999. Looking back: POLITICO policy reporters pick out the biggest stories on their beats this year and tell us why they matter. A couple of big names crop up — and one isn't even European. From tech to trade, and from fisheries to the environment, our journalists have everything you need to impress friends and family with your policy knowledge over the holidays. Looking forward: Jamie Shea is NATO's deputy assistant secretary general for emerging security challenges. In an interview in his office at the alliance's headquarters, he talks about those challenges in detail —

Episode 26 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast has just been released, featuring a deep dive into the EU's capital city. We discuss how to improve Brussels as a city with regional minister Pascal Smet and debate the thorny topic of racial diversity in the EU bubble. Brussels the "whore": There's no doubt Smet has a way with words. He compares Brussels, a city and region he hopes to transform, "with a whore, with a prostitute." He says the city is "attractive and at the same time unattractive. It's nice in its ugliness and ugly in its niceness.” Battle for Brussels: Smet casts governance reform in the city as a generational fight. The current leadership class are “dinosaurs” and act like a “junta.” He wants to transform Brussels into a place where things get done quickly. "We could do so much better [but] everything is fragmented.” Hear his plan to overhaul how the city is run. Smet’s city role models: Hamburg, Berlin and Vienna.Big picture = no cars: Smet want to get rid of all private cars in 15-20 years a

Former European Council President Herman Van Rompuy talks to host Ryan Heath about the future of the EU in this week's episode. EU reform and Brexit haiku: Since leaving office, Van Rompuy has been shepherding a major report on the future of the EU, the New Pact for Europe, in the name of several leading foundations and think tanks. In a challenge almost as daunting, he has composed a haiku about Brexit especially for EU Confidential listeners. Hear the haiku — in English and in Dutch — in this week's podcast. A hopeful multi-speed Europe: Van Rompuy's political goal with the report is to create the practical steps that can "turn fear into hope" across Europe. It's a modest, Belgian approach to healing some serious wounds in the EU body politic. He says multi-speed Europe can work in certain circumstances and that “the countries who want to make progress on some issues have all the instruments they need” already. We also talk to the lead author of the report, Janis A. Emmanouilidis. EU WTF moment of the week

This week's show features back-to-back interviews with the European commissioner for health, Vytenis Andriukaitis, who is also a heart surgeon, and Bernhard Uhl, the head of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Glyphosate politics: Speaking just after the EU reapproved the use of glyphosate, Uhl, whose EFSA agency concluded there is no health risk associated with agricultural use of the weedkiller, said it's nevertheless legitimate to discuss what kind of value system should support our agriculture. He wants critics of his agency though to admit that those values debates are “not about science,” while conceding that the intersection of science and values is “always a difficult interface.” “Safest food in the world”: This month the EU celebrated 15 years of its landmark food safety law. Uhl insisted the law sets Europe apart and above other countries and regions which it comes to food “transparency,” “traceability” and “crisis preparedness.” The law was born out of the 1990s BSE crisis and “a real breakd

Episode 23 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee. This week, we've got two feature interviews for you. As well as Bach, there's Adecco Group board member Stephan Howeg. We also talked to POLITICO's Florian Eder about the recent political developments in Germany. German twists and turns: Florian Eder gives us a recap of what happened last week when the liberal FDP party quit the German coalition talks after weeks of exploratory talks. Together with our news editor Andrew Gray, Florian talks us through the options that are left for Chancellor Angela Merkel. Career coach: Stephan Howeg went from mechanic to board member of the Adecco Group, a Fortune 500 company. He now is an ambassador for the EU Skills Week and explains how Adecco is a career coach for millions of people. Olympics and the EU: Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is up next. He was in Brussels recently and was the first IOC president t

Episode 22 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features Eldar Sætre, the CEO of Norway's oil and gas company Statoil. We spoke to Sætre on November 9, after the COP23 global climate conference had kicked off in Bonn, Germany, but before Norway's $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund proposed dropping investments in oil and gas stocks. We also chatted with POLITICO's Sara Stefanini, who has spent the week in Bonn reporting on the climate conference. Paging Rex Tillerson: Sætre says the future of his business is green, but that it won't give up oil and gas anytime soon. Would he call U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — a former oil and gas CEO himself — to push a green message? “You know I could call Rex, but I think the U.S. politics is more complex than that. So I don't know ... I'm very open about this when I go to Washington.” Beating the dependency on subsidies: Scaling up the use of renewable energies such as wind and solar power has tended to require big upfront public investments or tax incentives. Th

Host Ryan Heath interviews Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the head of Greece's New Democracy party and opposition leader in parliament. The outsider and the Mitsotakis dynasty: The opposition leader is the son of a former Greek prime minister, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, yet ran for the party leadership with virtually no support from fellow MPs. Instead, he won in an open primary thanks to support from ordinary Greek center-right voters rather than party elites. “My career is not the typical career of a professional politician," he said. "I was educated in the U.S. and I spent 10 years working in the private sector before I entered politics. At the same time, I'm also considered a reformer within my own party. So I am changing my own party and this sometimes, I'll be very honest with you, is causing friction.” Mitsotakis claims Tsipras has been costly: The New Democracy leader says the price of electing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in 2015 can be counted by Greeks in cash. “If you just look at the projections of the Euro

Ryan Heath interviews Rolf Falter, a historian who has worked across the Belgian and EU political landscapes: from adviser, to journalist, to get-out-the-vote advocate, to author of a new book on Europe. The dangers of absolute identity: Falter argues that one of the good things about fragmented Belgian identities is that they show how difficult and dangerous it can be to identify 100 percent with one region, one party, one identity. "None of us is a hundred percent British, or 100 percent German," he says. The result of that mindset in Belgium is the nation is adept at "subtle democracy" and the art of compromising in order to keep the country running, he said. Using Brussels to solve national political problems: Falter laments that compared to the era in which the European Union emerged from the ashes and rubble of World War II, politicians no longer use Brussels to solve domestic problems, but instead pin blame for those problems on Brussels. In the past “you could solve national political deadlocks by cho

Episode 19 of EU Confidential features a special discussion on the issue of sexual harassment and assault in the EU Brussels bubble. The podcast also includes an interview with European Commission Vice President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič, in which we discuss everything from batteries to Brexit. Harassment allegations: Joanna Maycock from the European Women's Lobby explains why she thinks the wave of recent allegations can lead to positive change. Host Ryan Heath and panelist Ailbhe Finn talk about the times they experienced sexual harassment and assault. Together with Lina Aburous, they discuss an alleged rape case involving two European Parliament staff, resulting in the alleged perpetrator leaving their job. Point of no return: “It's not just in Brussels, right? It's everywhere.” Maycock said, after decades of trying to “shine a light” on the problem that she calls a “massive structural issue.” She hopes “the outpouring of testimony means that it's a wake-up call that it's a kind of point of no return

Episode 18 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features an interview with European Commissioner Vĕra Jourová, who leads the EU's work on data protection among her many responsibilities as commissioner for justice, consumer rights and gender equality. We also remember Daphne Caruana Galizia: Controversial and crusading, Malta's most famous journalist Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb Monday afternoon. EU Confidential speaks with Paul Dallison and Harry Cooper, two POLITICO journalist who knew her, about her approach and Malta's often toxic political environment. Caruana Galizia was selected for the 2017 POLITICO28, a list of people shaping Europe. From jail to justice commissioner: Barely 10 years ago, Vĕra Jourová was falsely accused of EU-related fraud and subject to pre-trial detention in the Czech Republic. The experience inspired her to retrain as a lawyer to learn about the system that wrongly imprisoned her: today she is the justice commissioner of the European Union and oversaw an EU directive

Episode 17 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features back-to-back interviews with Karl-Heinz Lambertz, president of the European Committee of the Regions, and George Kaminis, the center-left mayor Athens. Theresa May — Not dead yet: We start by getting out of the Brexit weeds in a conversation with Paul Taylor, POLITICO's Europe-at-large columnist. Taylor takes us through the debate in London following Theresa May's refusal to say whether she would vote for Brexit today, and argues that the British prime minister is weakened, but not going anywhere. Next up, says Taylor: a Cabinet reshuffle, followed by strategically timed concessions to the EU. Grassroots Europe: Karl-Heinz Lambertz, head of the EU's Committee of the Regions — one of its newer and lesser-known institutions — talks to us about what he thinks needs to happen with the €350 billion the EU spends on regional subsidies in its current long-term budget. Lambertz, who this week hosted Donald Tusk's keynote speech on Brexit and Catalonia, and for

Host Ryan Heath talks to POLITICO's chief Europe correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig about a homegrown journalism experiment: POLITICO's first Global Policy Lab. We convened labor and economics experts, executives and union representatives, along with regular POLITICO readers, to develop stories about how Europe can engineer growth, and in particular to develop real policy prescriptions for how Germany's old world manufacturing base could survive the country's demographic crisis. Robots to the rescue: Germany is using robots to beat back its demographic crisis of an aging population and to keep its manufacturing competitive. For all the value delivered by robots Matthew Karnitschnig told us that "You can't just rely on robots. There really is going to be no way around dealing with the problem without more immigration." To maintain Germany's current workforce average net migration levels would need to 400,000 per year. Telecoms connects all, so must support all: Telia CEO Johan Dennelind rejects the idea of tel

In a special episode this week, we feature interviews from both sides of the Catalan independence debate ahead of the Catalan regional government's referendum, planned for Sunday. Ryan Heath interviews Jorge Toledo Albiñana, Spain's secretary of state for European affairs, who makes the case for Spanish unity, as well as Amadeu Altafaj, the Catalan government's representative to the EU, who accuses Madrid of using repressive tactics that breach EU law. Ryan also speaks to POLITICO Europe's managing editor, Stephen Brown, about the challenges of covering a passionate debate where there appears to be little scope for a negotiated compromise. Independence 'is not going to happen,' says Toledo. In response, Altafaj said: "That short quote is very telling. It says a lot about the problem. Basically, this is a political challenge and it should be addressed through politics and it's being addressed by all means: the judiciary, the police forces, and undercover operations, etcetera, but not through politics." Toledo

Host Ryan Heath interviews Toni Cowan-Brown, a vice president at NationBuilder, the software company that has powered election campaigns for Emmanuel Macron's party, Theresa May, Bernie Sanders and even Belgian communists. Also this week: POLITICO's Florian Eder looks ahead to the German election. Smashing political barriers: Cowan-Brown explains how political software is dramatically lowering the money and time it takes to launch movements and campaigns. Analog Germany: But the company is not working on the German election: because political parties wanted all the data stored in Germany. We discuss whether that attitude is likely to change. About that election: POLITICO managing editor Florian Eder previews Sunday's parliamentary vote — and discusses who Brussels would like to see in the next government. Boris Johnson's Brexit vision — fact or fantasy? Our Brussels brains trust debates what Britain's foreign secretary is up to with his recent Brexit opus and fact-checks some of his statements. The court with

Ryan Heath interviews Tomáš Valášek, the former Slovakian ambassador to NATO who heads the Carnegie Europe think tank. As Russia begins its Zapad war game, the West should be worried about Moscow “downright lying about the size and the type” of military exercises it holds, Valášek says. But he also says that fears Moscow will use the exercise as a springboard to attack or invade a neighbor are overblown. Valášek said the EU has finally upped its defense cooperation game in a meaningful way, and that Jean-Claude Juncker's olive branches to eastern Europe in his State of the European Union speech are an essential gesture if the EU27 is to stay united through Brexit negotiations and planning for the next long-term EU budget. Also this week, Christian Oliver, POLITICO's European trade editor, guides us through Juncker's address. We discuss the speech's many priorities, traps, and fanciful power grabs. In our panel discussion, regular guests Ailbhe Finn and Lina Aburous discussing the political hot potato of the g

Host Ryan heath talks to David McAllister, head of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and a key ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. McAllister says the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU is a "historic mistake" and Turkey's authoritarian drift is “appalling." He also says the EU cannot slam the door on the membership aspirations of Western Balkan countries. McAllister says that while “there aren't many people who really believe that Martin Schulz could become German chancellor,” it would be a terrible mistake for the ruling CDU party to be complacent about their opinion poll lead. On Brexit, McAllister warns “the clock is ticking” for negotiators and said the U.K. needs to do more to bring the divorce talks forward. Also on the podcast this week, Jack Blanchard, the editor of the new POLITICO London Playbook, explains where Brexit is likely to bite most. In our "EU WTF" feature, Ailbhe Finn and Harry Cooper discuss an extraordinary set of money laundering and bribery allegations tied to the

Regular host Ryan Heath is back with an interview with Michael O’Flaherty, the head of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency. The interview, recorded at the European Alpbach Forum in Austria, looks at why human rights defenders have failed to make more headway in the face of populist challenges. O'Flaherty also talks about the European Commission's fights with Poland and Hungary and why he regrets Brexit from a human-rights perspective. Also on the podcast this week, POLITICO's energy and climate editor Jan Cienski, one of our resident Poland experts, walks us through the key players in the European Commission's dispute with Warsaw over the government's role in the courts and its hardline positions on independent journalism and refugees. In our "EU WTF" feature, Ailbhe Finn and Lina Aburous discuss Emmanuel Macron's massive make-up bill, his tour of eastern Europe, and the incredible lack of chemistry between chief Brexit negotiators Michel Barnier and David Davis. And in the Dear POLITICO advice session, a Europe

While regular host Ryan Heath recovers from his holiday jet lag, news editor Andrew Gray presents an interview with former Irish PM John Bruton on Brexit, a roundup of the latest on Britain's departure from the EU, and discussion of stories from across the Continent. We start with POLITICO's Brexit editor James Randerson, who brings us up to date on the flurry of Brexit position papers released by the U.K. government as well as the EU's official reaction — and what it really thinks. Bruton, the former Irish prime minister who later served as the EU's ambassador to Washington, tells us what Brexit will mean for Ireland, why Britain may decide its vision of life outside the EU isn't achievable and how the rest of the European Union will fare when the negotiating gets tough. In our "EU WTF" feature, Playbook's Harry Cooper and POLITICO tech reporter Joanna Plucinska discuss Donald Trump's Scottish tax break, Cambridge University Press's Chinese challenge and a big rise in popularity for the EU. You can contact t

Regular host Ryan Heath is on holiday but the podcast rolls on with news editor Andrew Gray standing in once more. This week, we've dug into the archives again to bring you the highlights of a conversation between Ryan and General Petr Pavel, the head of NATO's military committee, at a Playbook event in June. Pavel talks about Turkey, Russia and defense spending among NATO allies. Germany's Social Democrats want to make military spending a key issue in their campaign to stop Chancellor Angela Merkel winning another term. With some five weeks to go until the parliamentary election, POLITICO Berlin correspondent Janosch Delcker brings us up to date on the battle for votes. Janosch explains why taking a holiday has worked out well for Merkel while challenger Martin Schulz runs from one campaign event to the next. In our "EU WTF" feature, Brussels brains trust regular Ailbhe Finn is joined by POLITICO's Harry Cooper to discuss the new job of Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who is set to join Russian