What's the best approach to fighting the hard right? Suppressing toxic views? Or contesting them publicly? The answer lies in the middle of course — an open society must retain the means to reject intolerance and hate. But what's clear from recent events in Brussels is that hasty and ham-fisted bans on the hard right can amplify rather than diminish their message. In this episode the Charlemagne columnist at The Economist Stanley Pignal describes how Brussels mayors sought to shutout a conference organised by the National Conservativism movement. Those efforts backfired spectacularly. Not only did the hard-right's show go on (albeit at a down-at-heel dancehall and events venue) but the National Conservatives garnered global media attention. The likes of Nigel Farage, Viktor Orbán and Éric Zemmour lined up to claim they were victims of cancel culture. But the deleterious effects of their policies on Ukraine's war effort, women's health, the LGBTQI community and racialised communities got far less attention. Read Stanley's Charlemagne column about how the NatCon conference morphed into a crisis for liberalism. 

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Some people love Eurovision. Others don't get it. But beyond the camp and kitsch of the annual song contest there's much to observe about the politics of Europe and the wider region. In this episode, author and broadcaster Dave Keating starts with discord between Sweden and France over language. The sourest notes were struck in the mid-1970s after the Swedish group ABBA won with a song in English alluding to the historic French defeat at Waterloo. The French then stepped up their campaign against contestants using lyrics other than in their national languages. The so-called ban on English was only lifted in 1999 just as Sweden was once again emerging as a pop music powerhouse and as Eastern and Central Europe states were emerging from behind the Iron Curtain. They too were keen to sing in English. Since the turn of the century Eurovision has been buffeted by tensions between Russia and countries like Georgia and Ukraine that have used their performances to denounce Moscow. The dissonance has sorely tested the European Broadcasting Union, the state and public media alliance covering 56 countries behind Eurovision. Russia has traditionally been a major TV market for the contest and the Union only excluded Russian participation in 2022, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the build-up to this year's contest in Malmö, Sweden, on May 11, the focus has been on Israel's entrant Eden Golan amid the ongoing bloodletting in Gaza. Despite an outcry from artists and performers against the participation of Israel — and despite accusations of double standards now that Russia has been excluded — Golan looks set to perform. Israeli visitors to Malmö have been advised to keep a low profile while Swedish authorities have said they're well prepared for protests, including inside the contest arena. Read Dave's latest Substack about Eurovision.

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Opposition to French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura performing at the Paris Olympics is whipped up by the "fachosphère" in France. The former head of the EU Border and Coast Guard joins the far-right and accuses former colleagues of a "project" to encourage migration. Those are just two recent examples of the kinds of prejudice and conspiracy theory that Julie Pascoet confronts at the European Network Against Racism, ENAR. In this episode Julie, who is based in Brussels, talks about poor representation of racialised groups at the only directly elected EU institution, the European Parliament. A recent study commissioned by ENAR shows that the proportion of racialised lawmakers stands at just 3.3 percent since the departure of British members. That compares to an estimated proportion of racialised people in Europe of around 10 percent, says Tina Magazzini of Integrim Lab, which conducted the study. Tina now expects the percentage at the parliament to sink even lower following EU elections in June. Also in this episode: European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson answers questions about the infiltration of law enforcement by extremist forces, gang violence in Sweden, and police brutality in France — and she encourages much greater diversity in policing. "What we also see is a very male, white police force” but “it’s important that the police also reflect the whole society." 

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Donald Trump wanted to buy it; Mette Frederiksen said it wasn't for sale. Greenland and its ownership is for Greenlanders to decide, the Danish prime minister told President Trump five years ago. In this episode Karin Axelsson, EU correspondent for the respected Danish daily Politiken, reflects on why the world's biggest island, which gained autonomy from Denmark 45 years ago and then withdrew from the European Union, is back in the headlines. Reasons include the visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the Greenlandic capital Nuuk to inaugurate an EU office. High on her agenda: accessing the island's abundant deposits of critical metals and minerals for industries of the future. Karin also discusses growing unease over the threat posed by Russia. Jitters in Denmark were exacerbated by French President Emmanuel Macron's comments about putting European boots on the ground in Ukraine — and by Prime Minister Frederiksen's comments evoking World War Three. On the topics of migration and asylum, Karin explains how Prime Minister Frederiksen's plan to outsource controls to Rwanda went beyond what was envisaged by similarly hawkish leaders in Britain. That Danish plan is now stalled, says Karin, but it would go as far as blocking people granted asylum from choosing to come to Denmark. Such Rwanda-style plans were previously seen as too extreme by EU policymakers. But that may be changing. An election manifesto put forward by von der Leyen's center-right European political family would outsource such controls to non-EU countries while capping the numbers of people granted asylum eligible to come to the EU.  

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Frontex, the EU border and coast guard, is the bloc's best funded agency costing upwards of a billion euros a year. There are plans for a standing corps of 10,000 uniformed personnel this decade. But something is badly amiss. Migrants keep drowning in large numbers under Frontex's watch. That includes what is thought to be the worst disaster of its kind when the fishing vessel Adriana capsized in June last year in Greek waters with some 750 people aboard. An estimated 600 people perished in that catastrophe. In response, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, looked under the hood at Frontex and at its relations with national coast guards. She found an institution that calls itself a border and coast guard but that lacks the power to carry out some of the basic duties that come with such an important job. Frontex must check with national authorities like the Hellenic Coast Guard before rescues and even before conducting additional surveillance. As for issuing emergency Mayday alerts — something Frontex can do — the agency still has no set protocol. You might say that weaker-than-advertised EU institutions are a reality of a European project where member states are reluctant to cede sovereignty. But in the case of Frontex the results are so lethal and inhumane that EU claims to uphold fundamental rights are undermined on a daily basis. In this episode Emily describes her inquiry into the Adriana and lays out her recommendations for fixing some of what ails Frontex. Emily also discusses the move by France to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution. She does so from the perspective of a former journalist who wrote about reproductive rights in Ireland in the 1980s and 90s, including in her book Masterminds of the Right. 

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The world is growing more violent. Worst affected countries include Myanmar, Syria and Mexico as well as those experiencing more obvious crises like Gaza and Ukraine. That's according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project or ACLED. But there's also growing concern about more developed countries with longer established democratic traditions like the United States. In this episode ACLED chief of external affairs Hugh Pope talks about how data can give a uniquely accurate and new perspective on unfolding events and help anticipate where conflicts will worsen and where peace building efforts should be targeted. "One of the reasons that people miss what they think are unexpected ‘black swans’ is they weren't watching the data," says Hugh, who notes that current ACLED early warning data show conflict in countries including Lebanon and Sudan at alarming levels. Among other recent findings: the upsurge in conflict in West Bank Palestinian territories last summer that may have presaged the attack by Hamas in October; and how peaceful Black Lives Matters protests were in the United States in 2000 relative to the gatherings involving armed militias. Among European findings: and the very high number of protests by German farmers in January compared to neighbouring countries like France. That suggests the potential for German farmers to mobilise again — especially if cost-of-living issues continue to bite and the far-right Alternative for Germany takes advantage of the movement. Hugh also recalls his warnings against the rush to war in Iraq in the early 2000s when he was a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal — and when he discovered how an astrologer's guidance could prove more compelling than his own reporting. There is a strong case, says Hugh, for promoting "data for a more peaceful world."

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Markus Becker of Der Spiegel describes a developing situation in Germany where the popularity of the far-right AfD party has surged over the past year. Revelations that members of the AfD discussed deportations of non-assimilated people and of those with non-German backgrounds has prompted a huge backlash including mass demonstrations. The AfD has created further headaches for itself by calling for a so-called Dexit, or an exit from the European Union. Markus says that's likely to turn off large swathes of voters in a country where industry and exports underpin prosperity. Markus also discusses his powerful editorial laying out how to fortify Germany's constitution in the event that the AfD acts to dismantle democracy in future. In our news review we assess Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's threat to veto EU aid for Ukraine a second time. Orbán quickly dropped that idea after finding himself effectively isolated in the European Council facing threats serious enough to impact his grip on power. But Orbán was active on other fronts in Brussels. He met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and reportedly deepened his Fidesz party's ties with her Brothers of Italy. Orbán also filmed himself among ranks of tractors showing support for a large and unruly protest by farmers. Shortly afterwards the farmers tore down a 19th century statue in a square opposite the European Parliament. The monument, to a steel mechanic, was left cracked and partly melted by fires. Amid the disorder Europe's leaders were quick to offer further concessions — just the latest sign of the grossly disproportionate power farmers exercise in Europe.

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Terry Reintke unhesitatingly describes some EU lawmakers with anti-European and far-right views as fascists. Her directness stands in sharp contrast to bland circumlocutions more common to Brussels. Now Terry, a German who co-heads the Greens in the European Parliament, wants the chamber to launch an inquiry into whether its extreme right Identity and Democracy Group, or ID Group, adheres to European values. That inquiry, she says, should run in parallel to efforts in Germany to determine whether to ban one of the ID Group's main members, the Alternative for Germany or AfD. Terry made her proposal on Thursday, on the same day Marine Le Pen sought to put some distance between her far-right Rassemblement National and the ID Group. Terry's proposal and Le Pen's jitters come against the backdrop of mass demonstrations in Germany against the AfD. The demonstrations were prompted by a report that AfD members discussed deportations of non-assimilated people and of those with non-German backgrounds in what amounted to a disturbing echo of Nazi-era practices. The EU-level inquiry proposed by Terry would be based on Article 2 of the EU treaty. Any findings leading to restrictions or a ban on the ID Group would need to stand up in court, says Terry, who is widely expected to be a lead candidate in upcoming European elections. Also in this conversation: Terry discusses the basis of her antifascism; her vulnerability as a highly visible lesbian politician; how to manage conflicting priorities between Berlin and Brussels; and the divide with the US Green party over Ukraine.

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The prospect of a wider conflict with Russia under a scenario where Donald Trump is back in the White House has spooked Europe. Thierry Breton, a European commissioner, is among those sounding the alarm. This month Breton made headlines by recalling how Trump said NATO was dead and the United States would never come to Europe's rescue. The journalist talking to Breton when he made those remarks is Teri Schultz. Teri has focused on European security for three decades, and her reports for National Public Radio and Deutsche Welle are often the first and last word on NATO and defence. In this episode, Teri discusses her exchange with Breton as well as key moments when Trump shook NATO to its core. Teri also reviews the announcement that NATO will hold its largest military exercise for decades. And she assesses her own readiness to follow NATO Military Committee chief Rob Bauer's advice to stock up on a flashlight, a radio, batteries, and water. Such items, says Bauer, are needed to survive the first 36 hours of a conflict of the kind that Swedish officials have been warning citizens about. "It's not a given that we are in peace," Bauer told a news conference. In addition: why Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte is likely to beat Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in the race to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as the next NATO secretary general. 

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Mario Draghi is the obvious candidate to be the next president of the European Council. The job involves leading the meetings of EU heads of state and government. And it's wide open since incumbent Charles Michel announced he's quitting. But despite Draghi's notable achievements, including saving the euro and crafting game-changing policies on vaccines and sanctions, "Super Mario" seems unlikely to make the final cut. That's down to the reluctance of EU national leaders to be overshadowed by someone like Draghi who could truly command the world stage, says journalist David Carretta. David has worked with the Italian newspaper Il Foglio and Italian station Radio Radicale for more than two decades, and he's just launched an excellent morning newsletter with colleague Christian Spillman. In this episode, David discusses other runners and riders for the European Council job. He also talks about why the political centre is likely to hold, in one form or other, even if far-right parties make strong gains in the European Parliament elections in June. And then there's the story behind the Acca Laurentia rally in Rome on January 7, the failure of Italy to deal with its past, and how both help to explain the ascent of Giorgia Meloni and her neofascist Brothers of Italy party. Meloni, warns David, could easily revert to being pro-Putin if the war in Ukraine turns in Russia's favour and Donald Trump returns to the White House. Subscribe to David's and Christian's newsletter in Italian or French. 

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Jacques Delors passed away this week. He was the longest serving president of the European Commission. But what made Delors such a towering figure was his headlong rush to unify the continent. Monetary union. Free movement. The Single Market. Delors is the preeminent architect of the modern European project. Fast forward three decades and that architecture acutely concerns admirers of Delors. Among them is the well-known liberal lawmaker Sophie in ‘t Veld. Sophie has a lot to say about how the present-day Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen has grown timid in the face of pressures from national governments. Sophie also says those weaknesses have helped extremists like Viktor Orbán tighten their grip on power. In this year-end news review, Sophie talks about von der Leyen's appeasement of Orbán; the mess made by Brussels at the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war; and the dangers Geert Wilders poses for Europe. You may not agree with all of Sophie's views on, well, more Europe. But her experience and passion and eloquence mean her warnings about the dangers of our political moment cannot be ignored. We are, says Sophie, "sleepwalking" into a new era of autocracy and repression. As for Sophie herself, she plans to run for a fifth term as a member of the European Parliament. Her decision has been welcomed by those who robustly support democracy and want more oversight of the EU by elected lawmakers. However, she will run from Belgium, not Holland, and as part of a new pan-European movement called Volt, instead of D66, the party that's long been her home. It's time for a change. Volt, says Sophie, is not as prone to the cliquishness found in some political groups, nor is it beholden to those EU decision-makers that continue to accommodate Europe's autocrats and kleptocrats.

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Big Meat had a good year in Europe. Plans to set emission limits for large-scale cattle farms were scrapped. Rules requiring landowners to restore wetlands were mostly gutted. And a keenly anticipated reform of the animal welfare rules was mostly consigned to the deep freeze. Among those promised animal welfare reforms: legislation to End the Cage Age. The idea was that hens, pigs, calves, rabbits, and quail would no longer be reared in conditions that inflict suffering and that underpin industrial farming, which is responsible for large amounts of greenhouse gases and other pollution. The campaign to end cages was the result of a European Citizens Initiative that garnered 1.4 million signatories and was backed by key European commissioners, parliamentarians, and scores of environmental and consumer rights and animal protection advocates. But in her state of the union speech, in September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made no mention of animal welfare, let alone cages. And by October, the European Commission was in full retreat. So, what happened? In this episode: a deep dive into the activities and influence of a group called European Livestock Voice with Andrea Bertaglio, who is a journalist and the group’s campaign manager. Also in this episode: Thin Lei Win, the lead food systems reporter for Lighthouse Reports that oversaw the investigation; Arthur Neslen, a freelance journalist for The Guardian; Silvia Lazzaris, editor at Food Unfolded; and Olga Kikou, the head of Compassion in World Farming in Brussels. “This takes us far beyond animal welfare,” says Olga. “It’s a democracy issue.”

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EU industrial policy for silicon chips to space technologies to electric vehicles too often seems to rely on Europeans prevailing in a global race to mine. The phrase "drill, baby, drill" applies as much to metals and minerals as oil and gas these days. But the EU's industry hawks are in denial. This is a race Europe can't ever win. The EU has relatively few metals and minerals of its own and little capacity to process the vast quantities it will require. To make matters worse, the short-term approach risks alienating the partners Europe says it needs for a sustainable energy transition. But the voices questioning the coherence and viability of the EU strategy are easily drowned out — and so that's why we tracked them down for this episode on rethinking the race to mine. MEP Mohammed Chahim says the EU's forthcoming Critical Raw Materials Act should do more to allow supplier countries and regions to get enough value from their resources to industrialise and give people better lives. Diego Marin of the European Environmental Bureau explains why reuse is one of the most important strategies for mitigating demand and reducing the negative social and environmental impacts of mining. Elle Merete Omma of the Saami Council says mining should only be permissible within environmental limits — and only with the full consent of indigenous people like the Sámi. Together they show how misaligned Europe is becoming with parts of the world like Africa, the High North and South America on which it will be relying for supplies in future — and how a more cooperative and mutually beneficial approach is needed with the Global South if Europe wants reliable access to the building blocks of its industrial future. This episode was made in partnership with the Open Society Foundations. 

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The problem of X as a source of hate and a threat to democracy is back at the top of the policy agenda. Elon Musk's social media platform circulated a large amount of false information as well as images of extreme violence during the recent terror attack in Israel. A European Commissioner, Thierry Breton, said that content probably was illegal in Europe and threatened X with fines. That standoff is likely to drag on for a while. But there's another European on Musk's case. His name is Imran Ahmed and he's already done much to hold X, and Musk, to account. Imran, who's British, runs a research and advocacy non-profit: The Center for Countering Digital Hate. The Center campaigns to get social media platforms to suspend or remove harmful accounts and stop advertisers spending money at sites spreading harmful content. And whereas Musk has kept his exchanges with Breton cordial, Musk has treated Imran like, well, vermin. The tension between Musk and Imran began after the Centre published its Toxic Twitter report in February. That report said that Musk had allowed large numbers of bad actors — Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, misogynists and conspiracists — back onto the platform with the goal of getting more eyeballs and advertising dollars. Now X is suing Imran's Center for losses amounting to tens of millions of dollars in advertising and other costs. How X's lawsuit in a California court pans out remains to be seen. But the discomfort Imran has already inflicted on Musk shows that David still can take on Goliath. And Imran's approach also holds lessons for regulators, like Mr. Breton, for the battles ahead. By way of disclosure: a board member at EU Scream also serves as a member of the board of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. 

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We need to talk about a Far Right EU. Nativists and ultraconservatives are being actively courted by the European mainstream including at the level of the EU. There's the advent of prime minister Giorgia Meloni, with her party's roots in Italian fascism, and then there's the popularity in France of Marine Le Pen, previously seen as too extreme. But would a Le Pen presidency really mark a fundamental change for the EU? Or even an existential threat, as commentators have long warned? The disarming answer from the author and think tanker Hans Kundnani is, probably not. The EU has already veered onto a course that's compatible with the likes of Le Pen and Meloni — away from social welfare as a defining feature and more toward an agenda that draws on ethnic and cultural identity. It's one of the ideas that Hans unpacks in his new book, Eurowhiteness. In this second of two episodes that take their cue from that book, Hans is in conversation with Mehreen Khan. Mehreen was an EU correspondent for the Financial Times in Brussels, before joining The Times of London as economics editor. She observes how pro-Europeans can also make pretty good nativists — and how many are prepared to tolerate the far right, just as long as they don't challenge European monetary union or foreign policy. So with far-right ideas in the ascendant, is there scope for optimism? Europe's second largest political group, the Socialists & Democrats, could consider a spell in opposition. That would avoid a grand coalition with the group that's currently the largest, the centre right, together with the far right. But that may be wishful thinking. And as for the Greens, their agenda may make it hard to rely on them to take a stand. Hans and Mehreen are joined by Helena Malikova, who moderates this episode, which is part of our Brussels So White series about race and the EU. Helena Malikova is talking in a personal capacity and the views expressed are not attributable to her employer, the European Commission. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to listen to Part 1, How Eurowhiteness Shapes the EU.

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Europeans are comfortable talking about whiteness in the American context. But when it comes to their own continent, not so much. That serves to shut down an important conversation about police brutality, decolonisation and migration. The resistance to discussing whiteness is starkly apparent at the level of the EU and it's another sign the European project is heading in a troubling direction. That's the assessment of Hans Kundnani, the author of a ground-breaking new book titled Eurowhiteness. Hans is an associate fellow at the think tank Chatham House in London, and he was previously with the German Marshall Fund and the European Centre for Foreign Relations. In his book, Hans describes an EU that still presents itself as congenial and cosmopolitan. In reality, he says, the EU has become much harder edged — and much more about protecting cultural and ethnic identity. Marking her return to EU Scream is Mehreen Khan, a former EU correspondent for the Financial Times in Brussels and now economics editor at The Times of London. Mehreen says Eurowhiteness is a rich concept — one that helps shed light on the Balkan wars, the colonial reflexes of senior EU figures as well as the quasi religious aspect of some pro-Europeanism. Hans and Mehreen are joined by Helena Malikova, who moderates the first of two episodes that are part of our BrusselsSoWhite series about race in the EU. Helena is talking in a personal capacity and the views expressed are not attributable to her employer, the European Commission. If you enjoy this episode, look out for Part 2 on Eurowhiteness and a far right EU. 

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News from Spain where a far-right political party called Vox lost seats in the recent general election. Vox are culture warriors in the mould of the US MAGA movement: anti-migrant, anti-LGBT+, anti-Islam, anti-feminist and with a predilection for blocking action on EU climate goals. The response in Brussels to Vox's poor showing was triumphalism. But the uncomfortable truth is that Vox could well have been headed into power as the preferred coalition partner for Alberto Feijóo, the leader of the Spanish conservatives. As it turned out, the July 23 election was a stalemate. A coalition with Vox looks less likely, for now. But Vox could yet form part of a conservative-led government in future. And the prospect of conservatives relying on the far-right mirrors a similar dynamic across Europe. Conservatives already partner with the far-right in Italy, Sweden and Finland and at the regional level in Spain and Austria. Even the leader of Germany's conservative CDU has been eyeing such an arrangement. So how to make sense of this courtship of far-right parties? Can conservatives defang those to their right by co-opting them? Or does co-option merely give bigotry a bigger platform and move politics in a more radical direction? Whatever the case, conservatives bear a special responsibility when making alliances to their right. That special responsibility was the topic of our episode with Harvard professor Daniel Ziblatt a couple of years ago. We're re-running an abridged version of that conversation in response to what's happening in Spain — and because we're in the run up to EU election season. The European People’s Party, which groups together centre-right national parties, is flirting more openly than ever with potential allies who represent a new era of blood and soil politics, and who balk at modern progressive democracy — including the need to address climate change. Conservative parties "have to deal with and think about and worry about what happens on their right edges," says Dan.  They must "figure out a strategy to distance themselves from these groups, but at the same time not allow these groups to get out of control, and shape politics."

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Polish state media still is treated as a legitimate public service by European authorities. Yet many Poles refer to it as a factory of hate. They say Polish state TV and radio first and foremost serve to advance the agenda of the ruling Law and Justice party in Warsaw. And while Silvio Berlusconi of Italy was a pioneer in bullying media, and Viktor Orbán of Hungary took state control to new extremes, the Polish hard right has been quick to catch up. Since Law and Justice came to power eight years ago, Polish state media has become an outlet for demonising judges, LGBT people, and opposition politicians — and the deleterious effects are even felt beyond Poland. In the case of Dorota Bawołek, a respected Polish TV correspondent in Brussels, the abuse appears to follow a pattern. First her words and actions are misrepresented; next those misrepresentations are turned into lurid stories broadcast by Polish state media; and finally Dorota is confronted by an avalanche of online trolling. The attacks on Dorota are part of wider concerns about press freedom that have prompted EU plans for a Media Freedom Act. Among the Act's priorities is stopping governments turning public service media into their mouthpieces — although few observers expect any immediate impact. For its part, the European Broadcasting Union has warned about the undue influence of "political masters" and it says it wants independent oversight of public media. Yet Polish state radio and television remain full EBU members. The latest attack on Dorota came in October after she interviewed Polish politician and former president of the European Council Donald Tusk. Tusk's centre-right Civic Platform is the only real viable challenger to Law and Justice in Poland's upcoming elections. But there are worries the elections will prove neither free nor fair, especially in a media environment largely controlled by Law and Justice. "The game is not fair, for sure," says Dorota. The "media are the fourth power" but "we are being killed and the EU is watching." Listen (in Polish) to Dorota's podcast Stacja Bruksela.

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Philippe Lamberts is advancing one of the most progressive agendas ever to reach the upper echelons of the EU power structure. This month the co-head of the Greens at the European Parliament will convene a conference that seeks to change, well, just about everything. The conference is called Beyond Growth — an umbrella term for thinking about how growth in a materially finite world is reaching its limits. All 1,500 seats have been snapped up and thousands of people are expected to watch via the Internet. But what's more remarkable is how Philippe got some of the EU's heaviest hitters to come along too. Among those expected to address the conference: Ursula von der Leyen, the conservative president of the European Commission. Her presence shows the growth debate is no longer "for loonies," says Philippe. But Philippe may also be cover for von der Leyen: she may want to be remembered as someone who at least tried to seek alternatives to growth models and metrics like GDP before the climate crisis worsens. For now, most policymakers are stuck on the idea that we'll be able to find a source of nearly unlimited high efficiency low carbon energy, and that we'll do so in time to avoid sharp declines in standards of living. The resulting inertia infuriates activists like those who disrupted the Brussels Economic Forum this month. They are demanding that the EU jettison an "ideology of infinite economic growth" without delay. But such demands sit awkwardly with winning steady and sustained buy-in from lobbies and voters. So how to face the future with the odds stacked so heavily against a satisfactory outcome? Philippe starts this episode with thoughts on how his Christianity informs his thinking on Beyond Growth — and on how his faith helps him deal with the existential questions we all must now live with.

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Conveniently at the heart of the EU Qatargate corruption scandal is a rogue NGO. Conveniently, that is, for EU officials and lawmakers who dislike non-governmental organisations. NGOs frequently end up in an awkward relationship with states and international organisations, says Thomas Davies at City University, and that awkwardness increasingly seems to include the EU too. The trigger for the current tensions is an NGO ("Fight Impunity") that allegedly worked with Morocco and Qatar to channel cash to socialist members of the European Parliament. Conservatives, ultraliberals and the far right now are calling for NGOs to pass a kind of EU loyalty test and to classify some NGOs as foreign agents. Carlotta Besozzi, the head of Civil Society Europe, is among those who detect an increasingly hostile environment for NGOs. Among organisations under assault is Femyso, the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations. EU support for Femyso irks MEPs who dislike its fight against Islamophobia and who suggest it has links to the Muslim Brotherhood. Femyso says such allegations are false and malicious and designed to undermine an organisation with no ties to political parties or political movements. Femyso's former president Youssef Himmat was smeared in similar ways by the United Arab Emirates — and his story now forms part of a must-read article in a recent edition of The New Yorker. With thanks to the Open Society Foundations for partnering with EU Scream on this episode.

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Families can go wrong. And unless you've been under a rock these last weeks, you'll know that a number of members of the Socialist family at the European Parliament went very wrong. They allegedly took sack loads of Qatari cash on top of their already generous salaries and benefits in return, it seems, for trying to block their own Socialist colleagues from criticising Qatar's record on human rights. In this episode, Lara Wolters, a Socialist member, gives a first-hand account of being obstructed and misled by two of the prime suspects in the scandal. She also shares her feelings of vindication now that the truth is coming out. Yet Lara shows compassion for Eva Kaili, a young mother like herself, who has been implicated in the so-called Qatargate scandal and separated from her daughter. Also in this episode, a lawmaker from outside the Socialist family: co-president of the Left group Manon Aubry. Manon was convinced she saw the heavy hand of Qatar on lawmakers weeks before news about the scandal broke. So she blew the whistle on social media, where her video on the topic has racked up nearly 70,000 views. Manon, who has emerged as one of the firmest advocates for an EU ethics overhaul, reserves some of her most acid criticism for the conservative EPP group, which she says perpetuated a culture of opacity that has helped breed corruption.

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Putin's barbarism is somehow felt by us all even though it can be hard to get to grips with the magnitude of what's at stake. One reason may be what writer and academic Tom Nichols calls normalcy bias, an inherent resistance to accepting that large changes can upend our lives. Another may be what Lithuanian arts curator Raimundas Malasauskas calls unlearned lessons from history about Russia's imperialist and colonialist drives. Political scientist David Rowe is a Fulbright NATO Security Studies scholar and a visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund, and he has been looking into why so much of Europe wasn't ready for Putin. David, who's on sabbatical from Kenyon College in the US, gives his personal views about how the EU needs to rethink the role of war and peace in building and maintaining liberal democracy. Among points he addresses in this podcast are the consequences for the Western allies of not spilling their own blood in Ukraine, and the resentment Ukrainians will surely feel if the door to the EU club isn't really open after all. David starts with a description of the philosophical roots — laid some two centuries ago — of the EU's approach to international politics. It's an approach that's helped much of Europe keep the peace over recent decades. But it may also have left Europe flat-footed in the face of abhorrent aggression. "The problem," says David, "is that peace seems so evidently good, that it is very easy to overlook the deep structures that give rise to it."

Poem 11/22 by Ariana Reines.
Video from Mars Returns in Kaunas. 

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The European Parliament is reeling from corruption allegations involving the Gulf state of Qatar. Members' offices have been sealed. Raids have been carried out by Italian and Belgian authorities. And large sums of cash seized including sacks of banknotes from the father of one of the lawmakers at the centre of the scandal. That lawmaker, Eva Kaili, was with the Greek socialist Pasok party. She was a vice president of the European Parliament — and she'd been strongly promoting Qatar. Kaili has now been stripped of her title and is in custody. Of course it's far from the first corruption scandal in the EU. But in this case there's the promise of further lurid revelations of cash-fuelled influence peddling on a much bigger scale than previously thought. And now the race is on to apportion blame. Some lawmakers suggest malign foreign interference is mainly responsible. Others say non-governmental organisations and campaign groups should be in the crosshairs. Still others stress that there will always be bad apples and so there should be no need for collective guilt in a Parliament with 705 members. But such finger-pointing mostly amounts to denial and deflection. That's because the dumpster fire at the European Parliament may be largely of the EU's own making. Foreign governments still can meet lawmakers largely undetected, and there's still no central independent investigator and no system for anonymous whistle-blowers. It's what Transparency International calls a complete lack of independent ethics oversight. And while the EU has many gifted politicians and policymakers who are above reproach — still too many are low grade national party hacks and worse. One of the leading voices on making the E.U. more accountable and transparent is Alberto Alemanno. Alberto is Jean Monnet Professor in European Union Law at HEC Paris, and he sits on the board of several civil society organisations. He's also a good sport for taking a scooter through downtown Brussels, in the dark, on an icy evening, to come talk about, yes, "Qatargate".

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The European Union wants India as a strategic ally. And India loves the positive attention it's getting from Europe. Both sides are trying to speed up a long stalled-trade agreement amid steadily tightening relations. But that only serves to magnify a glaring double standard in EU foreign policy. While the EU openly criticises China for abusing its the mostly Muslim Uyghur population, the EU turns a blind eye to the way India treats its own Muslim minority. The problems run deeper still. India's prime minister Narendra Modi has his roots in a fascist Hindu movement. And like Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Modi is associated with a rise in the kind of right-wing national populism that the EU supposedly deplores. So while the EU still describes India as the world's largest democracy, a looming question is how much longer that will continue to be the case. Journalist Rana Ayyub has emerged as one of the most prominent critics of Modi. She went undercover to investigate the extent of official complicity in mass killings of Muslims in Gujarat when Modi was the state's chief minister. Rana has been profiled in Time magazine and the New Yorker, and she's now a columnist for The Washington Post. She says any rapprochement with India mustn't come at the expense of the truth about Modi's authoritarian instincts and links to brutality against minorities. Also in this episode: Dutch member of the European Parliament Agnes Jongerius on her priorities for trade talks with India. Agnes represents the Socialists & Democrats group within the influential trade committee.

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Decolonisation is a new way of confronting racism. It means rooting out colonial-era attitudes of white superiority that linger in our societies and institutions. The push for decolonisation in the US and parts of Europe took wings with the Black Lives Matter movement. But the EU still is nowhere near starting the process of decolonisation. Its reticence was underlined this month when top EU diplomat Josep Borrell branded most of the world a jungle and then got away with making only a grudging apology. In this episode: a look back at Borrell's offensive comments at the College of Europe; and a look ahead at how to decolonise EU foreign aid, with Shada Islam and Dylan Mathews of Peace Direct.  

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