Friends Of Europe Podcasts

As part of the work to design a renewed social contract for Europe, Debating Europe is embarking on a crucial exploration of the challenges facing liberal democracies in the 21st century. In an era dominated by global issues such as climate change and the rise of artificial intelligence, the traditional decision-making tools inherited from the past two centuries are proving to be inadequate. All of this is leading to a profound lack of trust in policymakers and institutions and fostering a sense of alienation among citizens from the democratic process. This is why Debating Europe is on a mission to reimagine a democracy fit for the 21st century. One that fosters trust and empowers citizens to actively participate in shaping the strategic and policy decisions that will shape not only their lives but also the future for generations to come. In today’s episode, we bring you the answers from artists, activists, academics, CEOs and researchers on what their ideal democracy looks like.

This week on Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, analyses what the 2023 United Nations Climate Conference in Dubai achieved and what should follow next. After two weeks of negotiations between almost 200 countries, a final COP text was adopted to begin reducing global fossil fuel consumption and thereby avert the worst consequences of climate change. With fossil fuels still representing 80% of energy production, Jamie outlines what concrete actions need to be taken to phase out oil, gas and coal use and incentivise investments in renewable energy.

Argentina is celebrating four decades of uninterrupted democracy at the same time it elected a far-right politician as president. Javier Milei was inaugurated as Argentina's president on Sunday and the negotiations of the EU-Mercosur agreement have now been put on hold. Speaking before these last developments took place, Atilio Berardi, Argentinian Ambassador to the European Union, was hopeful that an agreement is possible given the political will that exists "on both sides of the Atlantic" but cautions that environmental concerns should not be placed above the trade agreement.

Never try to beat the far-right in their own game. This was the lesson painfully learned by the VVD on 22 November. The game was the manipulation of migrants and asylum seekers and the PVV proved to be the master and succeeded in getting the most votes in the latest Dutch elections. Kirsten van den Hul, Director of DutchCulture, a former member of the Dutch Parliament, and a European Young Leader, now calls for mainstream parties to stand up for The Netherlands' longstanding tradition of promoting human rights and the rule of law. She warns that there are already children from migrant backgrounds wondering whether they will be allowed to stay in the country if Wilders becomes the next Prime Minister.

This week on Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, examines the longer-term strategic implications for the broader international community of nearly two months of crisis between Israel and Hamas. Jamie reflects on whether the humanitarian pause will continue, Israel’s military objectives, as well as the future of Gaza. The larger question looming, however, is whether the war in Gaza will change the international order by generating new alignments and conflicts. Even if this will be negated, Jamie outlines several important strategic lessons to be learnt by diplomats and national security officials.

Today's episode is all about evasion of sanctions. Host Catarina Vila Nova is joined by Oksana Antonenko, visiting fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, and Paul Taylor, senior fellow at Friends of Europe, to discuss how Russia has been able to evade sanctions and whether sanctions have been able to seriously target the Russian economy.

Ahead of COP28 in Dubai, the stakes have never been higher and the expectations never lower. In two days, 70,000 people will be descending in Dubai and we spoke with one of them. Sandrine Dixson-Declève, President of the Club of Rome, makes the case for why we need to move beyond the business that has to happen and frames success as a pledge around fossil-fuel phase-down. Dixson-Declève is joined by Luke O’Callaghan-White, Programme Manager for Climate, Energy & Sustainability at Friends of Europe, and host Catarina Vila Nova, to discuss what is one of the most controversial COP's of the last three decades.

This week on Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, examines where Kyiv and Moscow stand nearly two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With winter approaching, a growing ‘Ukraine fatigue’ in Europe and the United States, and attention being diverted to other conflicts such as in Gaza, it is now more vital than ever for the West to uphold support to the Ukrainian war effort. Jamie thus outlines the necessary steps Western governments must take in order to ensure Ukraine wins the war.

Polish propaganda against the LGBTQ+ community during the rule of the Law and Justice Party was compared to the Nazi propaganda orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels. The eye-opening statement was made by Michał Olszewski, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw, in this week's Policy Voices where he was joined by Bart Staszewski, Founder and CEO of the Basta Foundation. Together, they call for quick and overarching changes to undo the damage done by the Law and Justice Party to Polish democracy.

In this week’s episode of Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, discusses the implications of the European Commission’s 2023 Enlargement Package adopted last week. The report recommends to open membership negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as continue negotiations with existing candidates such as Turkey. Previous enlargement fatigue has been shaken up by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, demonstrating the pressing issue of grey zones in the EU’s neighbourhood. Jamie therefore outlines several recommendations the EU ought to consider when faced with one of the biggest challenges in its history.

Hanna Liubakova is a Belarusian journalist in exile. After the government’s crackdown of the protests that followed the elections of 2020, Liubakova had to flee because her country was not safe for her anymore. She was later detained in a country which she is not disclosing and ultimately let go without being extradited to Belarus. However, it was during her detainment that Liubakova found out that she was on the government’s wanted list. The reasons to not go back keep piling up but the democracy activist is not giving up. After all, she is one of the few voices left for those who cannot speak up.

On this week's Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks to Kim Smouter, director of the European Network Against Racism, following the release of the report "Being Black in the EU" by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. Smouter details how people of color living in Europe face discrimination on an almost daily basis in all walks of life. He advocates for holistic solutions to tackle racism in Europe and criticises the European Commission for being too slow in responding to public displays of discrimination in member states.

Friends of Europe's Dharmendra Kanani is joined this week by Maria Elena Scoppio, Director for Indirect Taxation and Tax Administration at DG TAXUD. Fresh out of the EU Tax Symposium, Scoppio lifts the veil on what was discussed, sharing that, for the first time in the symposium, a psychologist was invited, which goes to show the importance of behavioural taxation. Given that tax is one of the most sensitive areas and subject to unanimity, Scoppio argues in favour of enhanced cooperation to advance legislation and not become trapped in "masochistic" endeavours.

In this week’s episode of Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, reflects on the world’s first ever Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit convened near London. The Summit saw the three blocks, the EU, US and China, come together, with participation from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, US Vice President Kamala Harris and China’s Vice Minister of Technology Wu Zhaohui. With new technologies posing risks such as cyber-attacks, deep fakes and election interference, the aim of the Summit was to start a global conversation on the regulation of AI. To that end, Jamie outlines five key principles that should guide this effort going forward.

In today's episode of Frankly Speaking, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Rachel Rizzo from the Atlantic Council and Paul Taylor from Friends of Europe about the latest developments in the international stage. With the US still recovering from weeks without a Speaker and the EU divided over how to respond to the latest crisis in the Middle East, will Putin use this focus shift to his advantage in Ukraine?

Tune in to the first episode of Policy Voices to find out the secret recipe to make a success story out of implementing artificial intelligence in health. Nina Rawal, partner and co-head at Trill Impact Ventures, and Ricardo Baptista Leite, CEO of HEALTH.AI, share their expertise and tell us why we should not be afraid of the incredible potentials of using artificial intelligence to improve our healthcare systems.

In this week’s episode of Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, discusses the importance of the 2024 United States presidential election. With two Republican Party candidates - Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy - advocating for the US to withdraw from NATO and the UN, Jamie assesses what these elections mean both for the United States and the rest of the world. In order to ensure that the November 2024 elections are free and fair, Jamie stresses key elements that should be guaranteed, such as the absence of election interference and election denial, as well as mobilising the 50% of Americans that do not vote.

In this week’s episode of Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, looks at last Sunday’s national elections in Poland. Despite populists having achieved great electoral success as of late, such as Slovakia’s Robert Fico for SMER and Germany’s far-right AfD in two regional elections, Poland’s opposition unexpectedly won against the ruling Law and Justice party. The victory of Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition came as a surprise to many due to Law and Justice having put its trusted supporters into all key levers of power, curtailed the freedom of the media and tilted the electoral playing field in its favour. Consequently, Jamie dismantles how it was possible for the populists to be defeated despite having rigged the system in their favour. He outlines five lessons learned for other EU countries that struggle with populist actors in power.

In the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel, host Catarina Vila Nova interviews foreign affairs commentator Anchal Vohra on the repercussions that this event had inside and outside its borders. The European Union and United States are the usual suspects but also the role of Russia and China is analysed in this episode of Frankly Speaking.

In this week’s episode of Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, analyses Saturday’s attacks by Hamas on Israel. Constituting Israel’s worst intelligence and security failure in decades, Jamie unpacks the two main questions that arise, namely why Hamas attacked at this particular point in time and why Israel was taken by surprise. The strategic consequences that follow these events are ample, whereby the international community should ensure the proportionality of Israel’s response, prevent the war from spreading to regional conflicts, as well as advance the political dialogue for a two-state solution.