Standing Up to Bullies With Frans Timmermans
Standing up to bullies was ingrained in Frans Timmermans from his schooldays. The Dutchman came to prominence six years ago as his country's foreign minister with an emotional speech at the United Nat...
12 Maj 202046min
Winning the Car Wars
Lockdowns in response to the coronavirus mean cities are quieter, skies clearer, and breathing is easier. For many city dwellers the lack of cars tearing through their streets has been a revelation am...
5 Maj 202040min
Angst Over Italexit
Italians were hit hardest when the coronavirus landed in Europe but the European Union was slow to help the country. The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has apologised — twic...
20 Apr 202032min
The High Price of Muzzling Media
The coronavirus outbreak has been a pretext for government censorship and a crackdown on journalists, who have been exposed to new criminal charges as well as violent attacks. Among those targeted by ...
12 Apr 202030min
Crisis Communications
Eric Mamer took over last year as chief spokesperson for the European Commission, an institution he’s served since mid-1990s. When journalists were barred from his press room in March because of coron...
5 Apr 202030min
Věra Jourová on Surveillance and Covid-19
Věra Jourová is the Czech politician who is vice-president for values and transparency at the European Commission, the body that proposes and enforces laws across the European Union. She was listed am...
29 Mars 202028min
Coronavirus vs. Democracy
Concern is growing that emergency powers deployed to control the coronavirus pandemic are being used to erode democracy and civil rights. Joelle Grogan, a senior lecturer in law at Middlesex Universit...
23 Mars 202021min
A Field Guide to Autocrats
Michael Peel of the Financial Times unpicks the patterns underlying the authoritarian revival in Europe and worldwide. His recently published book, The Fabulists, explores how leaders menace democracy...
11 Mars 202028min
