EU Scream

Macron's Ugly Side

Tue, 07 Jan 2020 16:00:00 GMT

For many people, Emmanuel Macron still represents the great hope for an open and liberal Europe. So what to make of the French president’s growing preoccupation with Islam, terror and security? Mehreen Khan of The Financial Times dissects Macron’s policies and his recent interview with The Economist. For more on Macron, we go to Majlinda Bregu, the Sarajevo-based secretary general of the Regional Cooperation Council. She criticises Macron’s decision to veto EU membership talks with North Macedonia and Albania. She also rebuts prejudices about Albania heard over dinner in Brussels. Others in this episode include co-President of the European Greens Philippe Lamberts; the Emperor Charlemagne; and European Commission Vice President Albert Kuñardocz. Kuñardocz, who was formerly responsible for inland waterways and catering, is active on Twitter. In fact, Twitter is the only place you’ll find him. The celebrated Lebanese musician Wael Koudaih kindly contributed his tracks “Baghdad” and “Thawra” to this episode. You’ll find more of his music under the name Rayess Bek. Visit our website for episode art and for more EU Scream.

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Don't Fall for Fascist Porn

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Far-right trolls often target women and minorities and seek to subvert the work of politicians, journalists and activists. But technology platforms and their supporters tend to resist the kinds of legislation that could help tame the trolls. Effective rules still could be years away. So how can we, as users, deal with this fantastically dark side of life online? Andrew Stroehlein, the European Media Director for Human Rights Watch, has returned to EU Scream with concrete advice on how to respond to troll attacks. David Babbs led the successful digital campaign group 38 Degrees, and so he also knows a thing or two about social media. These days Babbs is the lead consultant for an initiative called CUTI, or Clean up the Internet. The idea is to oblige platforms like Facebook and Twitter to give users ways to protect themselves from anonymous trolls and abusers. Full disclosure: CUTI is funded by the Laura Kinsella Foundation, which also has granted support to EU Scream.

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A World We Have Lost

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 14:00:00 GMT

Ahdaf Soueif is a model of the politically engaged artist. She wrote the bestselling novel The Map of Love, she was a frequent commentator during the revolution in her native Egypt, and she is in the news again after resigning as a trustee of the British Museum over its reluctance to discuss issues like repatriation. Throughout her adult life, Soueif has moved between Britain and Egypt, and she grew up in a Cairo where Europeans and Arabs lived side-by-side. It’s a world she calls a Mezzaterra, a term she coined for a place where people drift peaceably between cultures. As Soueif’s Mezzaterra has crumbled, peoples on both sides of the Mediterranean have become culturally poorer and less secure. Soueif discussed the Mezzaterra with EU Scream after receiving the 2019 ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture in Amsterdam. She also talked about the persistence of racist thinking, EU-funded authoritarianism in Egypt, and the Cold War roots of terror. Visit our website for episode art and for more EU Scream. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0.

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Cultural Battlefield

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 12:00:00 GMT

André Wilkens is the director of the European Cultural Foundation, an organisation created after the Second World War to help heal the continent’s wounds. Under Wilkens the Foundation has stepped up grantmaking to arts and media aiming to strengthen democracy at another pivotal moment in Europe's history. Marta Keil is a serious figure in the Polish arts scene. She co-runs a performing arts institute, curates festivals, and written extensively on dance and choreography. She knows first hand the pressure on culture from the ruling Law and Justice party. Her overview begins at the Polski theatre in the city of Wrocław. She describes an epic clash between Croatian director Oliver Frljić and Polish Culture Minister Piotr Gliński, and the steady hollowing out of the Polish museum sector.

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Not That Ambassador

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 08:00:00 GMT

A conversation with Anthony L. Gardner, the former US ambassador to the EU under President Obama. Gardner is a former director on the National Security Council who has spent much of his career in Europe. He left his ambassadorial post in Brussels when Donald Trump entered the White House, and he was succeeded by Gordon Sondland, a hotel magnate with scant government experience. Sondland has more or less hewed to a Trumpian script, occasionally pouring scorn on Brussels officials and raising questions about the relevance of the European project. Now Sondland has been swept up in the investigation that could result in Trump’s impeachment. Congressional panels are pouring over details about Sondland's possible role in pressuring Ukraine's leadership to investigate Joe Biden, Trump’s likeliest rival in next year’s US election, and Biden's son. It’s against this background that Gardner talks with EU Scream about what’s ailing American diplomacy in Europe, his forthcoming book on the importance of EU-US relations, and where the continent may be heading under its new leadership.
A lexicon for this episode:
A “stagiaire” is a trainee; "DG Comp” is the EU's antitrust department; the “Sablon” is an upscale part of Brussels teeming with antique and chocolate shops; “TTIP" is an acronym for Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a failed US-EU effort to strike a trade deal; Wilbur Ross is U.S. commerce secretary; Herman Van Rompuy represented EU heads of state and government as the first president of the European Council; “ECSC” is the European Coal and Steel Community, the group of six countries that started an integration process eventually leading to creation of the EU; SWIFT is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a network through which interbank transfers are traditionally made; “PESCO” is Permanent Structured Cooperation, an EU policy goal for developing joint military capabilities.
Visit our website for episode art and for more EU Scream. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Tiptoeing Around the Far Right

Sat, 05 Oct 2019 11:00:00 GMT

Should lobbyists engage with far-right and extremist lawmakers? After the EU elections in May, about 20 percent of members of the European Parliament have far-right agendas. That's a big gain — up from 10-to-15 percent five years ago. That’s also around 150 far-right lawmakers companies can lobby for favourable votes and amendments. Many people are uncomfortable with that prospect. Far-right parties are rife with misogyny, homophobia and islamophobia; many have members who openly admire Italian and German fascism and Putin's Russia. Lobbyists who work with these lawmakers risk normalising hate-mongering and anti-democratic values. Those concerns prompted EU Scream to take an ambitious step for such a young podcast: holding our first event. We had great support from Res Publica Europa, a new group mainly made up of European Union officials, and from Open Forum Europe, the think tank for the open source software community in Brussels. Our mission was to draw up some preliminary guidelines for lobbyists. We knew that was going to be ambitious. We nevertheless reached areas of consensus thanks to Alberto Alemanno, a law professor at French business school HEC Paris, and thanks to some dazzling panelists: Maris Hellrand, a journalist and activist from Estonia; Benedikt Herges, the head of the Brussels office for German technology and engineering company Siemens; Heather Grabbe, the director of EU affairs for Open Society Foundations, the philanthropic group founded by George Soros; and Michiel van Hulten, a former member of Parliament and the director of Transparency International EU. Visit our website for episode art and for more EU Scream. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale. Aquarium from “The Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saëns is licensed under CC by 3.0.

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Trumpworld in Europe

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Pastors and plutocrats are sponsoring an ultra-conservative agenda in Europe. Many of them have links to Donald Trump. It’s a world that's pretty opaque. But over the past year, investigative journalists have done painstaking work to pierce the veil. We talk to Blaž Zgaga, a multi-award winning investigative journalist from Slovenia. Zgaga writes for Croatia's Nacional and publications including EUobserver. He’s also a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and European Investigative Collaborations where he helps coordinate large cross-border investigations — including on the reach of the Christian lobby. He’s emerged with extraordinary detail about some of the biggest funders of faith-based causes in Europe and their links to Trumpworld. Another chronicler of the merging of fundamentalist Christianity with European public policy is Mary Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was formerly with online activist network Avaaz and was a senior editor at Prospect magazine. She’s now editor-in-chief of openDemocracy, an online platform that's also done exhaustive work on what U.S. non-profit groups disclose about their foreign spending. Fitzgerald's platform also has reported on the arrival in Europe of US-style political campaign funding — funding of the kind that's hard to trace and potentially unlimited. Visit our website for episode art and for more EU Scream. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Bianca's Story

Sat, 03 Aug 2019 09:00:00 GMT

Women in Romania have had the legal right to an abortion since 1990. But many women seeking care find themselves in a Kafkaesque trap. Bianca, a young Romanian, ended up obtaining abortion pills without a prescription, and she took them without medical supervision. Work done by investigative reporter Lina Vdovîi in Bucharest illustrates how politicians and priests — and even doctors — seek to shut down a woman's right to choose. The situation is not unique to Romania; women in Croatia and Italy face similar obstacles. The world increasingly looks to Europeans for leadership in civil rights and gender equality. So how can this still be happening? A key issue is that maternal healthcare and abortion are not explicitly referenced in European treaties, explains Irina Trichkovska of law firm White & Case. She says this “sadly causes significant disparities in the treatment of women across the EU." Visit our website for episode art and more EU Scream. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Abortion Wars

Sun, 21 Jul 2019 10:00:00 GMT

Pressure on women to avoid terminating unwanted pregnancies has intensified in countries like Croatia, Poland and Romania. Michael Bird, an investigative journalist and writer in Bucharest, has been covering the situation for publications including EUobserver. He says constraints come from a variety of sources including churches, counsellors, public hospitals — even doctors. Elena Zacharenko at the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network warns that arch-conservative forces seeking to narrow a woman’s right to choose got a boost in European elections in May. Ulrike Lunacek is a former vice president of the European Parliament who has first-hand experience of how anti-abortion activists stepped up their lobbying early this decade. She explains why pro-choice women and the LGBT community face a common enemy. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Don't Be Complacent

Tue, 09 Jul 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Tony Blair shares his two-pronged formula for taking on nationalist populists — and winning. He says Britain is making a "profound historical mistake” by capitulating to the Brexiteers. But he has a stern message for Europe too: do more to stand up for values, not just narrow national interests. The European Union still needs a “strong sense of itself,” Blair suggests. We begin the show with another warning against complacency. Andrew Stroehlein is European media director for Human Rights Watch, a group investigating and reporting abuses in all corners of the world. In May's elections to the European Parliament, some far-right and extremist parties failed to do as well as expected. But Stroehlein says Europeans must remain alert to the ways these parties are seeking to erode rights and freedoms across the bloc.

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Being Muslim

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 09:00:00 GMT

We speak with two Muslim millennials raising their voices against discrimination and religious misconceptions. Nas is a celebrity video blogger with 13 million followers. He's also a Palestinian-Israeli educated at Harvard who defies the far-right’s stereotypes about young Arab men. He says governments should force integration — otherwise the kinds of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism that plague parts of Europe are inevitable. Mehreen Khan is a correspondent for the Financial Times in Brussels. Not only is she a rare Brexiteer among the EU press corps, she’s also a British Muslim of Pakistani descent who wears a headscarf. That makes her an unusual sight at European Union headquarters where the lack of diversity is at odds with the multicultural reality of many parts of the continent. We get her observations on the ways stereotypes about the East persist and about the ways Europe is failing to protect, and connect with, its 25 million Muslim inhabitants. I first asked why her avatar — that’s the picture she uses to identify herself on Twitter — looks a lot like a burka with a maniacal grin. Visit our website for episode art and transcripts, and for more on EU Scream. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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White Power in Estonia

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 20:00:00 GMT

Estonia, a tiny Baltic state, was hit by a giant shockwave in March when a political party promoting white supremacist views won nearly 18 percent of the vote in a general election. A second shockwave hit when Jüri Ratas, the leader of the liberal-left Centre Party, invited the party, called EKRE, to form a coalition government. The powerful interior and finance ministries went to two EKRE leaders, Mart Helme and son Martin Helme; the family double act excels in racism, sexism and homophobia, and their followers spread the alt-right conspiracy theory that immigrant invaders are replacing so-called true Europeans. Last month, fascism defender Jaak Madison became the first EKRE representative to win a seat at the European Parliament. EKRE now has a strong role representing Estonia on the international stage where it threatens the country's carefully nurtured image as an advanced and open society that teems with startups and digital services. With a rather different Estonia emerging — an Estonia where the kind of accommodation that allowed EKRE into government has echoes with the rise of fascism in the 1930s — we travel to the capital Tallinn to hear from people who have taken a stand. Ahto Lobjakas is a former Brussels correspondent whose outspoken commentary at home frequently made him a government opponent. He is now more like an enemy of the state amid creeping censorship and threats to his personal safety. A former president of the country, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, is among those who have come to Lobjakas’ defence. We also talk to two leaders of anti-EKRE protest movements. Kristi Roost helped start the online campaign Kõigi Eesti this year with the goal of preserving Estonia as a respectful and inclusive country. A core group, including Silver Tambur, the co-founder of online magazine Estonian World, has grown to 27,000 members. Click here for Kõigi Eesti's video. Maris Hellrand, a civil society activist and journalist, takes a more direct approach by leading street protests outside Estonia’s seat of government, Stenbock House. She also has helped turn the tables on EKRE by promoting a lapel pin displaying “pink spittle,” which is one of EKRE’s epithets for their opponents. Neither movement was able to stop EKRE from joining the government or the European Parliament. But they are run by determined and imaginative campaigners. To start the show, we check in with Cas Mudde, a Dutch political scientist renowned for his work on populism and the radical right. Mudde offers some general thoughts on EKRE and on whether Moscow may have had a role in its rise, as was the case for some other far-right movements in Europe. Visit our website for episode art and more on EU Scream. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Disenfranchised

Sun, 26 May 2019 12:00:00 GMT

You may have heard how large numbers of European Union citizens in Britain could not exercise their right to vote in the bloc’s elections. They were disenfranchised by British ineptitude and perhaps outright discrimination. But look beyond that group and there are 17.5 million more EU residents of voting age formally excluded because they lack a European passport. A significant number of them are in Berlin, where civil society groups are fed up that so many of the city’s residents are blocked from the ballot. This week we’re in the German capital to talk about these residents without voting rights with Séverine Lenglet of Citizens For Europe. We also cast a make-believe ballot in a symbolic EU election with James Rosalind of Demokratie in Der Mitte. We begin the show with Lucy Alice Thomas, the executive director of Give Something Back to Berlin, a group that brings together migrants, locals and refugees. Lucy spoke with us at Refugio, a venue where many old and new Berliners live and work together. Please visit our website for episode art and more EU Scream. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Meanwhile on Planet Varoufakis

Tue, 21 May 2019 16:00:00 GMT

Yanis Varoufakis is the leftist former Greek finance minister who tried and failed to end austerity. Like him or loathe him, Varoufakis is worth a look ahead of EU elections where centrists are struggling to compete with the far right’s clear and simple, if deceptive, messages. After a brief and tumultuous term in office, Varoufakis created the Democracy in Europe Movement, DiEM25. Varoufakis wants DiEM25 to win seats in the European Parliament to save the continent from what he sees as twin enemies: the Brussels establishment and far right ultra-nationalists. Critics point out that by creating his own movement, Varoufakis may further splinter the European left when it needs to be united against the far right, which appears in the ascendant. Varoufakis has found allies among a motley but enthusiastic crew: cerebral artists and musicians like Brian Eno; philosophers and intellectuals who name-drop Heidegger and Arendt at political rallies; and activists like Pamela Anderson, the ex-Playboy model and Baywatch star. We go on the trail of Varoufakis and his movement with Eleni Varvitsioti, the Greek journalist who has covered her country’s crises in masterful detail for Skai TV and the newspaper Kathimerini. Please visit our website for episode art and more EU Scream. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Make-Believe Democracy

Sun, 05 May 2019 14:00:00 GMT

Is the contest to become the next president of the European Commission just make-believe democracy? We look for answers in the Dutch city of Maastricht, where candidates held their first official debate on April 29th.

Christine Neuhold, the professor of EU Democratic Governance at Maastricht University, which helped organise the event, talks about what was real, and surreal, about the debate.

We also hear from another EU expert who was in the audience: Pelle Christy Geertsen of Brussels consultancy Euraffex. Geertsen, who spoke with EU Scream in November about citizen democracy, shares his thoughts on an evening spent on Planet Europe.

Please visit our website for episode art and more about EU Scream.

“Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Transparency Tales

Sun, 28 Apr 2019 14:00:00 GMT

This week we’re in conversation with Carl Dolan, the outgoing director at the EU office for anti-corruption organisation Transparency International. He explores links between populism and corruption at the European Parliament and in Hungary.

We also meet civil society activist Julia Krzyszkowska. She and data geek Xavier Dutoit struggled — and succeeded — in creating an online tool called MEP Watch. Their goal is helping campaign groups track voting by members of the European Parliament.

Please visit our website for episode art and more about EU Scream.

“Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Should Europe ❤ Vestager?

Sun, 14 Apr 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Margrethe Vestager is the European Union antitrust enforcer who's earned global recognition for pushing Silicon Valley giants like Apple, Google and Facebook to treat consumers and competitors fairly.

Last month she put herself in the running to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission. That makes her a Spitzenkandidat, a German word that is EU jargon for being one of the lead candidates for Mr. Juncker’s job.

This conversation with Vestager is from an edited recording of a live event that was held on April 2 and organised by Res Publica Europa, a group of EU officials venturing beyond their civil service day jobs to defend the EU project.

Follow Res Publica Europe on Twitter.

The discussion was a chance to push Vestager for her stance on topics that are cornerstones of a progressive agenda such as climate protection, the rise of far-right nationalism, the power of social media platforms and tax justice.

It also was an opportunity to hear about some of her other preferences. The Beatles versus The Rolling Stones, for starters.

Please visit our website for episode art and for more about EU Scream.

“Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Disinformation in Perspective

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 23:00:00 GMT

Historian Heidi Tworek talks about her book, News From Germany, which deals with the malign influence campaigns that foretold Nazism.

It’s a fascinating look at the battle to control news and information in an era of immense turmoil spanning the First World War, the Weimar Republic, and the Third Reich.

One of Tworek’s core arguments is that the immense power of British, French, American and German news agencies is comparable with the power now wielded by Google Facebook and Twitter.

Tworek also says mistakes made amid hysteria over information warfare in the first half of the 20th century hold valuable lessons for safeguarding democracy in the first half of the 21st.

First, Tom and James discuss what Facebook, Google and Twitter say they are doing to curb interference in the run up to elections for a new European Parliament.

Read the platforms’ self-assessments here.

Please visit our website for episode art and for more about EU Scream.

Richard Wagner’s “Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde played by Ilaria Baldaccini is public domain. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Smeared (Update)

Sun, 24 Mar 2019 18:00:00 GMT

This episode of EU Scream aired a couple of weeks ago amid expectations Europe’s conservatives would expel Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary and his Fidesz party for violating the rule of law and insulting EU leaders.

Last week the European People’s Party, as the conservatives are known, agreed a mere suspension.

Rather than showing contrition, Orbán immediately resumed his belligerent stance against migrants and the European Commission. Listen to this update to hear Orbán indulging in post-truth politicking so fanciful that journalists burst out laughing.

It’s against this background that we are revisiting stories and analysis from three people smeared by Orban and Fidesz: the human rights activist Márta Pardavi; the European Parliamentarian Judith Sargentini; and the political scientist Péter Krekó.

The smears they describe are part of an atmosphere of political and psychological warfare in Hungary and could serve as a model for other strong men and autocrats in Europe.

Pardavi is co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights group based in Budapest and among the most prominent targets of Orbán’s ire. Last year Pardavi was honoured for her courage and work by Human Rights First in New York.

Krekó is a social psychologist and political scientist and executive director of Political Capital, a research institute and consultancy in Budapest. He’s the author of a book on the Hungarian far right and another on fake news and conspiracy theories. Krekó slams the European Commission for going too easy on Budapest for too long.

Sargentini is a member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands who wrote a damning report last year on the erosion of democracy in Hungary. The report made Sargentini one of the prime foreign targets for Budapest’s smear campaigns. She says she can no longer visit Hungary.

“Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. "Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2, S. 244-2” by Franz Liszt and played by Simone Renzi is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Climate and Populism

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 13:00:00 GMT

As kids worldwide strike for action on climate change, James and Tom take a look at a group who doesn’t share their sense of urgency: Europe’s far right.

The UK Independence Party has a long history of denying climate science while Marine Le Pen of the French National Rally uses global warming to whip up fears about mass arrivals of refugees.

In Hungary, the Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban broadly accepts the need to reduce emissions but does little to contribute to reaching that goal.

The picture can vary markedly from country to country as a recent report by Adelphi, a German research organisation, demonstrates. Click here for Adelphi’s deep dive mapping climate agendas of right-wing populist parties in Europe.

We also take another listen to our interview from December with Bas Eickhout, the Dutch green who’s vying for a top job in Brussels.

Eickhout shares his thoughts on the far-right's climate record and he talks about the bungled tax on fuel that helped spark the huge yellow vests protests in France.

Please check out the EU Scream website for episode art and more.

“Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Smeared

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 19:00:00 GMT

The regime run by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary uses smear campaigns to feed an atmosphere of political and psychological warfare. The smears are felt far beyond Hungary and could serve as a model for other strong men and autocrats in Europe.

This week we air stories and analysis from three people with direct experience of Budapest's dirty tactics: the human rights activist Márta Pardavi; the European Parliamentarian Judith Sargentini; and the political scientist Péter Krekó.

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Weber the Enabler

Sun, 03 Mar 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Manfred Weber is the leader of the conservatives in the European Parliament who wants to become the next head of the the European Commission. But has Weber tainted his candidacy — and the broader European project — by acting as an enabler for the illiberal reign of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban?

To his critics, Weber has come to represent a kind of moral black hole where democratic values go to die. They say he has engaged in a craven political calculus that makes him unsuited to run the Commission.

The charge is that Weber and his European People's Party failed to act soon enough to expel Fidesz, the party led by Orban in Hungary.

We speak with Heather Grabbe, the director of the Open Society European Policy Institute; Axel Voss, a German member of the European Parliament; Anett Bősz, a member of the Hungarian parliament; Judith Sargentini, a Green member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands; and Laurent Pech, the head of the Law and Politics Department at Middlesex University London.

Click here for the complaint that Pech and Alberto Alemanno filed against the European People’s Party on behalf of The Good Lobby, a civil society group.

First James and Tom talk about nicknames of other European politicians including Michel Barnier, Europe’s Brexit negotiator, and Matteo Renzi, the former Italian prime minister.

Please visit our website at EU Scream.

“Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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It Could Have Been Different

Sun, 24 Feb 2019 19:00:00 GMT

Barry Eichengreen was an early skeptic about the prospects for monetary union in Europe.

Nowadays the eminent economic historian acknowledges the single currency is here to stay. But he says much more should done to prevent the return of austerity that was the price millions of Europeans paid for saving the single currency this decade. A failure to make further reforms, warns Eichengreen, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, could be cataclysmic for Europe.

“There is a link between high unemployment and social distress on the one hand and voting for extremist parties by and large on the right because that then is a way to effectively shift some of the blame for what people are experiencing toward foreigners,” he says. "It’s much too easy to look at the incidence of unemployment in Germany in the 1930s and draw a link with the rise of voting for National Socialism but there is something of a link there.”

Eichengreen spoke to EU Scream in Brussels where he was giving the academic lecture at an annual meeting of the Centre for European Policy Studies and presenting his latest book, The Populist Temptation, which he wrote with his family’s suffering at the hands of the Nazis in mind. “The fact that we see resurgent nationalism, xenophobia, antisemitism all alive in Europe today certainly resonates with history, and it resonates with my personal history,” he says.

Eichengreen also identifies the perception that Brussels policymakers are overreaching as part of the narrative nationalist populists use to discredit the European Union. Brussels, he says, would be wise to pull back and return more authority to member states in the area of fiscal oversight. That would mean effectively ditching rules that oblige Brussels to punish countries violating debt and deficit limits.

Eichengreen acknowledges such a pull back would rely on Germany creating a shared system to shore up European banks that run into trouble. Yet that could help reduce tensions between northern Europeans who see southern Europeans as profligate. “If you break the so-called diabolic loop between budget problems and banking problems, at that point I think it becomes safe to return control of fiscal policies to the member states,” says Eichengreen.

The International Monetary Fund also comes in for criticism as supine by failing to insist on easier loan conditions for Greece in 2010.

“I think what I find most extraordinary is the fact that the I.M.F. laid down and accepted the European institutions unwillingness to contemplate debt restructuring in Greece,” says Eichengreen. “That was a point I think where — had Strauss-Kahn not been running for the French presidency — the Fund might have behaved differently and that could have changed the course of history,” says Eichengreen, referring to the then-managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Strauss-Kahn was running the Fund when it accepted a role in the bailout. By involving the Fund in the Greek debt drama, Strauss-Kahn raised his profile for his presidential bid. But that locked the Fund into an arrangement with Germany, which pushed for tough loan terms on Greece.

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Keep an Open Mind

Sun, 17 Feb 2019 15:00:00 GMT

Heather Grabbe of the Open Society European Policy Institute says nationalist populists are closing the minds of Europeans to the values they have in common. She presents survey findings that could embolden centrists and moderates to drop their wishy-washy approach and confront creeping authoritarianism more directly. Look for the full set of reports here on Feb. 19. Soundous Boualam, a Moroccan working at the European Parliament, talks about dealing with prejudice, curbing stereotypes, and her project to give the unloved EU more of a human face. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Stimmen im Kopf” by Hans Atom is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0. “Muscovite No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Eur♀pe

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Banners and slogans celebrating tolerance and equality make the European Quarter of Brussels look like a civil rights nirvana. The truth is more complicated. There is a critical lack of racial diversity in the institutions that run the European Union, and sexual harassment is a concern. Even before the MeToo movement exploded onto the global agenda, Jeanne Ponté, a young assistant at the European Parliament, kept a notebook documenting the harassment she and her peers experience. After Ponté talked about the notebook on French regional radio, her story was picked up by French national media and then internationally. Ponté speaks for the MeTooEP movement at the European Parliament and she explains why all candidates running in May’s EU elections should pledge to take an anti-harassment course and support reforms. Corinna Hörst is the co-founder of The Brussels Binder, a kind of Yellow Pages for female experts. It’s a refreshingly tangible push for equality in a city where much policy making remains male-dominated and where chauvinism — particularly among some German conservative lawmakers — runs deep. Hörst also is deputy director of the Brussels office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States where there's renewed urgency about preserving democracy and the rule of law as fractures within and among countries grow deeper. Hörst says such divisive times call out for a leader with the stature and skills of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Could Merkel become the first woman to fill one of the European Union's two top jobs? Joanna Maycock is executive director of the European Women’s Lobby, among the Top 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy, and a fellow at the Political Science Department at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She also has starred on the hilarious and hugely popular podcast The Guilty Feminist. Maycock reflects on the role satire has played in the feminist movement; why women are still very much second-class citizens in the European Union; and why efforts to promote women are being undermined by far-right forces including in Spain. Read her group's Manifesto for a Feminist Europe ahead of the May 2019 European elections and check out more from the dirndl-wearing duo Jogida: "Love Yodel! Hate Fascism!" For more on EU Scream please visit our website. “Muscovite No. 9” is played by Lara Natale. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Yodellers and Fellators” by radiotimes is licensed under CC by 3.0.

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Trade Storms

Tue, 29 Jan 2019 14:00:00 GMT

China, Donald Trump, and discontent after financial and debt crises that exploded last decade are buffeting trade. The European Union frequently finds itself at the center of these storms. Arancha Gonzalez, the chief of staff to Pascal Lamy when he led the World Trade Organization and a former trade spokesperson at the European Commision, makes a spirited defence of the benefits of trade. Gonzalez even sees trade recovering its lustre as greater numbers of "conscious consumers" demand higher environmental and labor standards. Reinhard Bütikofer, a member of the European Parliament and a major figure in the German Green Party, is more equivocal about the outlook. Bütikofer suggests that the most immediate threat to a multilateral future isn’t so much from Europe's homegrown nationalist populists but from the United States. He fully expects Donald Trump to go ahead and slap tariffs on Europe's car industry in defiance of Brussels and Berlin. Lorenzo Marsili has more fundamental problems with the trading system. Marsili helped to start the leftist DiEM25 political movement with Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister who hectored Germany to reform the Eurozone. Marsili reimagines how the vast trade deal between Europe and Canada agreed two years ago would have been negotiated under the kind of leadership that DiEM25 is calling for. First, James and Tom talk pork pies, foie gras, and Welsh plums. For more on EU Scream please visit our website. "Muscovite No. 9" is played by Lara Natale. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. The following are public domain: Sonata no. 17 in D minor "The Tempest," Op. 31 no. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven; Flower of Scotland; The Hebrides, Op. 26 "Fingal's Cave," by Felix Mendelssohn.

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Good Riddance

Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:00:00 GMT

With Brexit looming, James and Tom bid good riddance to two British members of the European Parliament they like the least: Daniel Hannan, a Conservative with a maniacal focus on Brexit; and Janice Atkinson, an independent who wants to Make Europe Great Again and who helps lead the far-right group created by Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders. Mujtaba Rahman, the Europe director for the Eurasia Group, lays out how nationalist populists still are poised to infiltrate democratic decision-making in Brussels and undermine it from within. Rahman correctly forecast that Europe's political leaders would save the euro currency union from collapse at the height of debt crisis in Greece. These days he foresees insurgents making significant gains in the upcoming European elections and cooperating in ways not seen before. That would create a "completely unprecedented" situation for the European Commission, he warns. We also meet two people who knew Paweł Adamowicz, the murdered mayor of Gdansk and a beacon of tolerance in Poland. At Democracy Drinks in Brussels, Roland Freudenstein, the policy director of the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, and Martin Mycielski of the Open Dialogue Foundation, reflect on the violent consequences of hateful politics and on the way Polish state-run media hounds the opposition. For more on EU Scream please visit our website. "L.T.H. (AA's Refix)" by Abstract Audio is licensed under BY CC 3.0; "Muscovite No. 9" is played by Lara Natale; Nocturne in B flat minor, Op. 9 no. 1, by Frédéric Chopin and played by Olga Gurevich, is public domain.

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Let It Go

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 23:00:00 GMT

What came of French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for ordinary citizens to lead a European political renaissance? Well it happened. Sort of. Twenty-six other European Union member states minus the UK agreed to go along with the French idea. During the past year hundreds of consultations, dialogues and debates have been held across Europe. These events amount to a new and experimental approach to connecting citizens to Europe. But they also look a lot like a Tower of Babel, lacking a common format, branding and goals, because national and European authorities retained so much individual control. We talk to Corina Stratulat of the European Policy Centre and Laura Sullivan of WeMove.EU about a form of democracy that's only going work if authorities Let it Go. Don't miss Laura's tribute to Queen Elsa who, by relinquishing her gloves and tiara, gained more mastery over her powers. Surely there's a message for Europe. First, Tom and James talk acronyms and abbreviations — including those that designate organisations and institutions meant to open up Europe to citizens and to quell criticism from eurosceptic forces. "Signor, quell’infelice” from L' Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi is public domain; "L.T.H. (AA's Refix)" by Abstract Audio is licensed under BY CC 3.0; "Muscovite No. 9" is played by Lara Natale.

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Migrating From the Truth (Update)

Fri, 14 Dec 2018 16:00:00 GMT

The far-right again sets the agenda in Europe and successfully pushes governments to oppose a UN pact on migration. Shame. An EU minister finally slaps down Italy’s Matteo Salvini for Nazi-style migrant-bashing. Respect. Karen Mets of Save the Children debunks claims by Lauren Southern, who boasts to half-a-million YouTube subscribers how she saved Europe from migrants. Campaigner Lyudmyla Kozlovska explains how far-right trolls sought to pass her off as Christine Blasey Ford. "Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125" by Papalin is licensed under CC BY 3.0. "They're coming" by Zapac is licensed under CC BY 3.0. "Muscovite No. 9" is played by Lara Natale.

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Yellow Vests, Green Europe

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:00:00 GMT

Protecting the climate and ordinary working people is a delicate exercise. Look at the huge Yellow Vests protests in France where President Macron mishandled an environmental tax and the far-right exploited the discontent. Bas Eickhout, a Dutch Green lawmaker vying for a top job in Brussels, says smarter climate policies can avoid more burning cars, flying cobblestones and mass deployments of police. Eickhout also dings far-right lawmakers for hypocrisy over fossil fuels and wasting taxpayer money. First we play a round of There Are No Good Answers featuring the British far-right lawmaker who wrote a draft opinion for a European Parliament committee denying climate science. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Stimmen im Kopf” by Hans Atom is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0. “Muscovite No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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You Say You Want a (European) Revolution

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 15:00:00 GMT

Citizen-focused movements and parties like DiEM25 and Volt Europa are looking for ways to challenge politics-as-usual. But are they a smart way to fight populism and shore up the European project? Colombe Cahen-Salvador, a one of Volt's three founders, explains why participatory budgets and software linking voters with representatives in the European Parliament are on her party's agenda. Tom says he likes Volt's optimism. He also says he's already given €25 to DiEM25. James warns of the dangers of direct democracy. Pelle Christy, an EU affairs expert from Denmark with a Eurosceptic past, says the new parties are going to have to make tough compromises if elected — or risk making Europe’s problems with populism worse. "Een Laaste Liedje" by Tres Tristes Tangos is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. "Exotica" by Les Juanitos is licensed under CC BY 2.0 FR. "Muscovite No. 9" is played by Lara Natale.

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Badass Communication

Fri, 23 Nov 2018 16:00:00 GMT

Tom interviews Proud Bear, the masters of political satire who are turning the logic of Brexit on its head. Lukas and Andrei – not their real names – masquerade as Russian military intelligence officers who helped swing the vote for Brexit. In reality, Proud Bear want to highlight the need for a full inquiry into suspected Russian meddling. Brexiteers promised to take back control from the EU. James talks with Professor Anu Bradford of Columbia Law School about why that may never happen. Hint: look at The Brussels Effect. First, Tom talks about how Leave.EU raised money to spread lies about Europe ahead of the Brexit vote. James contrasts that campaign with the EU's relatively ineffectual political messaging.

"L.T.H. (AA's Refix)" by Abstract Audio is licensed under BY CC 3.0

"Muscovite No. 9" is played by Lara Natale

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Mad About France

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 16:00:00 GMT

A new generation of far-right Europeans is deploying slick techniques to avoid being called neo-Nazis. David Ibsen, the executive director of the Counter Extremism Project, says far-right groups in France are among those to have borrowed heavily from a playbook developed in the United States. First, James and Tom discuss Marine le Pen’s refusal to undergo a psychiatric test. If the leader of the French far-right is a little crazy, what kind of crazy is she?

"L.T.H. (AA's Refix)" by Abstract Audio is licensed under BY CC 3.0

"Muscovite No. 9" is played by Lara Natale

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Migrating From the Truth

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 16:00:00 GMT

James and Tom talk about fighting incivility with incivility after an EU minister slaps down Italy’s Matteo Salvini for migrant-bashing. Respect. Far-right activist Lauren Southern tells her half-million followers she helped save Europe from refugees. James unpacks Southern’s claims — and her antics on the Mediterranean — with Karen Mets of Save the Children. Far-right Internet trolls have used a photograph of Ukrainian human rights campaigner Lyudmyla Kozlovska to give the false impression Christine Blasey Ford met George Soros. Kozlovska shares her strange tale, which offers another glimpse into post-truth politics.

"Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125" by Papalin is licensed under CC BY 3.0

"They're coming" by Zapac is licensed under CC BY 3.0 license

"Muscovite No. 9" is played by Lara Natale

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Homonationalism in Germany

Fri, 02 Nov 2018 16:00:00 GMT

James talks to a psychologist in Germany confronting one of the most startling strategies used by the far-right: homonationalism. The concept of homonationalism was developed by Jasbir Puar, a professor at Rutgers. It's often used to describe how far-right parties like the Alternative for Germany ally with LGBT community to vilify Muslim immigrants. That's a particular concern for Aileen Kakavand, who counsels LGBT migrants and refugees with Muslim backgrounds. Kakavand condemns the hypocrisy of far-right politicians like Beatrix von Storch and Nicolaus Fest for pledging to protect homosexuals from Muslims while seeking to curtail homosexual rights. First, Tom and James talk about populism and pop music. Kanye West, Lorde and Taylor Swift are among stars who’ve plunged into politics. Plus, who knew Mick Jagger spoke Polish?

"Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125" by Papalin is licensed under CC BY 3.0

"Arp No. 9" and "Muscovite No. 9" are played by Lara Natale

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Enemies of Multiculturalism

Fri, 26 Oct 2018 15:00:00 GMT

James is in Amsterdam to pick the brains of Dutchman Frits Bolkestein, a giant of conservative liberalism. Bolkestein reflects on whether his effort to discredit multiculturalism helped lay the ground for populist firebrands like Viktor Orban and Geert Wilders. Bolkestein says he was merely responding to the concerns of citizens "in the pub and in the church." Bolkestein also says it’s time for Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, to take a top European job. In post-match analysis, Tom laments Bolkestein’s failure to change stance on cultural diversity. First, James and Tom focus on a Flemish extremist student association, Schild & Vrienden, and the links some its members have with the N-VA, the nationalist party in the Belgian governing coalition.

"Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125" by Papalin is licensed under CC BY 3.0

"Sky Scraper" by Geographer is licensed under CC BY 4.0

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