
This week, we're re-releasing another of our all-time favourite episodes to entertain your ears during our summer break. First aired in 2022, it's a story from our long-running series, 'This Is What A Generation Sounds Like', and it takes us to Georgia.
Thanks for listening! We'll be back in September. If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
Producers: Wojciech Oleksiak and Kinga Goc Mixing, mastering and sound design: Wojciech Oleksiak Editorial support: Katz Laszlo, Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer Music by Casletila. Theme music by Jim Barne
You can find a beautiful visual version of this podcast, produced by our friends at Are We Europe, here.This series was co-produced with Are We Europe and made in cooperation with the Allianz Foundation.
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Aug 15, 2024
32 min

We're away on our summer break until September, but this week and next week we're re-releasing two of our favourite episodes from The Europeans' award-winning series, 'This Is What A Generation Sounds Like. This week, a story that spans three generations of women: Sara, her mother, and her grandmother. In their collective lifetimes, Albania entered a communist dictatorship; the regime fell; and then there was a transition. And through it all, there was a dish: trahana. This episode first aired in 2021. You can find a beautiful visual version of this podcast, produced by our friends at Are We Europe, here.This series was co-produced with Are We Europe and made in cooperation with the Allianz Foundation.Producers: Katz Laszlo and Sara Assistant producer: Priyanka Shankar Editor: Katy Lee Sound design: Katz Laszlo Editorial support: Dominic Kraemer, Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak Music: Era e Feminise, by Elina Duni; Song of Emigration, by Women’s Choir from Permet; Tana, by Saziso; Ka Nje mot e gjysem viti, by Elina Duni Quartet; Jonuzi Me Shoket by Vaome Kaba; Ballerina by Yehezkel Raz; Mëmëdheu by the Peter Pan Quartet; Jim Barne. SFX from Freesound.org.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
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Aug 8, 2024
27 min

It’s our first ever Q&A episode! Katy, Dominic, Katz and Wojciech answer listeners’ questions – from how we make the show, to the episodes we’d make if we were gazillionaires.
We’ve saved a couple of our answers for supporters of the podcast. If you’d like to hear them, we’d love it if you could send a few bucks our way at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). Thanks so much to everyone who makes our show possible by helping us cover our production costs!
You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
Producer: Katz Laszlo
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne
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Aug 1, 2024
43 min

One Hungarian family. One piece of land. Two very different visions.
This is the final episode in our long-running series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like, made in cooperation with the Allianz Foundation. You can find the other episodes in the series here.
Thanks, as ever, to the listeners who support this podcast so that we can keep making it. You can chip in at patreon.com/europeanspodcast.
Producers: Katz Laszlo and Luca Borsos
Sound design: Katz Laszlo
Editors: Dominic Kraemer and Katy Lee
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Odú, 777, Fa Lenni and O, by Deva; Palinka, by Mónika Lakatos and Hangok Cigány; Zenebuddhizmus by Akkezdat Phiai; Marsh Warbler by Cosmo Sheldrake; Arcade Ride by Vens Adams; BlueDot Sessions and of course our theme music by Jim Barne. SFX from Freesound.org
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Jul 18, 2024
39 min

A surprise left-wing election win? In Europe? In 2024? This week, we turn to our resident Parisian journalist to try to get our heads around what just happened in France, as well as what might happen next. We’re also looking at the other big left-wing winners of the week: the UK Labour Party. What might their new government mean for Britain’s relationship with Europe? Plus, Barcelona’s anti-tourist revolt and what may be the world’s toughest crackdown on Airbnb.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
This week's Inspiration Station picks: BBC Assignment: 'Germany's AI detectives' and The Europeans on YouTube.
Other resources:
'El malestar por el turismo masivo se traslada a las calles de Barcelona' - La Vanguardia, July 6, 2024'Quelle coalition ? Composez votre majorité absolue avec notre simulateur de coalitions exclusif' - Le Grand Continent, July 7, 202400:22 The return of human co-host Dominic Kraemer03:51 Good Week: Britain's relationship with the EU15:02 Bad Week: Tourists in Barcelona28:16 Interview: Katy on France's surprise election results and what might happen next48:33 Isolation Inspiration: 'Germany's AI detectives' and The Europeans on YouTube51:24 Happy Ending: Climate-resilient cacaoProducers: Wojciech Oleksiak and Katy Lee
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
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Jul 11, 2024
54 min

Fewer expensive car chases, more moody shots and ambiguous endings: movies made in Europe are often very different from those made in the US. But Europe's more arty film output isn't just a product of our culture — it has a lot to do with how the industry is financed. This week, we're asking: why is European cinema the way it is, and should we be trying to change it? Plus, producer Wojciech Oleksiak joins Katy to discuss Europe's latest far-right alliance and why Kaja Kallas may be glad to be stepping down as Estonia's prime minister.
This episode was supported by KIDS Regio. Thanks so much to project manager Anne Schultka for joining us, along with Tamara Kolarić, assistant professor in social sciences at SALIS, Dublin City University. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
This week's Inspiration Station picks: Euro 2024 and Search Engine: 'Why didn't Chris and Dan get into Berghain?' Parts 1 and 2
Other resources:
'The Hungarian presidency: Let the games begin' - Politico Europe, June 25, 2024
00:22 Hot in Warsaw, even hotter in Paris02:45 Good Week: Kaja Kallas (and her replacement)12:40 Bad Week: The Mainstream26:05 Interview: Anne Schultka and Tamara Kolarić on how money shapes Europe's film industry43:56 The Inspiration Station: Something called 'football', and Search Engine: 'Why didn't Chris and Dan get into Berghain?' Parts 1 and 248:58 Happy Ending: Dominic's holiday voice note
Producers: Morgan Childs and Katy Lee
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
Jul 4, 2024
52 min

Enough politics: we’ve got a nature-themed episode for you this week. Producer Katz Laszlo joins Katy to explain how Austria’s environment minister went rogue to save the EU’s hugely important nature restoration law; we’re also talking about the German town that just voted to kill all its pigeons. And in the human world: the podcast that brings Scandinavians together in their own languages. Hilde Sandvik takes us behind the scenes of ‘Norsken, svensken og dansken’, a show described as family therapy for neighbouring nations.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
Hilde is one of the board members of NORD 55, an initiative seeking to build public debate in the Nordic region. You can listen to ‘Norsken, svensken og dansken’ here via NRK.
This week’s Inspiration Station picks: Garden to Grill and ‘Midsummer Night’.
Other resources:
‘Pigeon problems: German town votes to have birds killed, outraging animal rights’ activists’ - Euronews, July 12, 2024
‘How do we survive the media apocalypse?’ - Search Engine, March 15, 2024
00:22 Summer plunges and untranslatable words
04:19 Good Week: Europe's plants and animals
16:17 Bad Week: The pigeons of Limburg
28:43 Interview: Hilde Sandvik on creating Scandinavia's cross-border, multilingual podcast
41:03 The Inspiration Station: 'Garden to Grill' and 'Midsummer Night'
44:52 Happy Ending: Wild times for Windy
Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
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Jun 27, 2024
47 min

The far-right surged but the centre held; somehow the two are true at once. Nearly 100 members of the new European Parliament have yet to tell us which political family they’ll be joining. And as for who’s actually going to be running the EU’s institutions for the next five years – right now, it’s anyone’s guess. How can we make sense of these European elections? Alberto Alemmano joins us to help decipher a momentous, and very confusing, moment in Europe’s democracy.
Alberto is a professor of EU law at HEC in Paris and the College of Europe. You can follow him on Twitter here.
We’ve got a new look! Check out our beautiful new website, designed by the wonderful RTiiiKA, at europeanspodcast.com.
This week’s Inspiration Station offerings: ‘Untold: Power for Sale’ and ‘Under Paris’. You can check out ‘Mixed Signals’, the new podcast from Semafor, here.
This special episode was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Culture of Solidarity Fund, powered by the European Cultural Foundation in collaboration with Allianz Foundation and the Evens Foundation. You can check out the #CulturalDealEU campaign here.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
Hosts: Dominic Kraemer and Katy Lee
Producer: Katy Lee
Sound design, mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Editorial support: Katz Laszlo
Music: Jim Barne and Blue Dot Sessions
Sound effects: Freesound.org
Artwork: RTiiiKA
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Jun 20, 2024
45 min

They’re the second biggest elections on Earth. For the next four days, 373 million people are eligible to take part in the vote for the European Parliament. And yet in most EU countries, the prevailing mood is… ‘meh’.
This week, we take on the challenge of convincing you that these elections are anything but meh, with the help of one of our favourite explainers of all things EU, Beatriz Ríos.
You can follow Beatriz on Twitter here and find Politico Europe’s guide on how to vote here.
This special episode was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Culture of Solidarity Fund, powered by the European Cultural Foundation in collaboration with Allianz Foundation and the Evens Foundation. You can check out the #CulturalDealEU campaign here.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
Hosts: Dominic Kraemer and Katy Lee
Producer: Katy Lee
Sound design, mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Editorial support: Katz Laszlo
Music: Jim Barne and Blue Dot Sessions
Sound effects: Freesound.org (JoeDeshon)
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Jun 6, 2024
36 min

Protests by angry farmers have swept across Europe this year. But from country to country, powerful groups have taken these protests over and changed their agenda. Who are these people, and what are they up to?
This is a special episode produced in collaboration with investigative journalists from Lighthouse Reports and media partners across Europe.
This podcast was made possible by our generous Patreon supporters. If you enjoy our work, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
Read the articles published as part of this investigation:
‘Farmers protest, who gains?’ - Lighthouse Reports https://www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/farmers-protest-who-gains/
‘Bauernschlaue Lobbyisten’ - Taz https://taz.de/Doppeltes-Spiel-des-Agrarverbandes/!6009938/
‘Le lobbying agricole de la FNSEA à la loupe’ - Splann! https://splann.org/lobby-agricole-fnsea/
Reporters: Wojciech Oleksiak, Thin Lei Win, Marianne Kerfriden, Silvia Lazzaris, Elena DeBre and Emmanuel Freudenthal
Producer: Wojciech Oleksiak
Editor: Katz Laszlo
Editorial support: Dominic Kraemer and Katy Lee
Sound design, scoring, mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak Music: Jim Barne, BlueDot Sessions
Sound effects: Freesound.org (miastodzwiekow, Cosmopolight, Quistard)
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May 31, 2024
46 min
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