A divorce and a birthday: Five years of Brexit, 10 years of POLITICO
With POLITICO turning 10 and Brexit hitting 5 earlier this year, this episode of EU Confidential takes stock of two milestones that shaped Brussels — in very different ways.
Host Sarah Wheaton kicks things off with Zoya Sheftalovich, editor of Global Playbook, reflecting on POLITICO Europe’s early days and its first big scoop: Jean-Claude Juncker’s kidney stones.
Then we head to Maastricht for highlights from a debate organized by Studio Europa Maastricht, where Sarah moderated a conversation on Brexit’s legacy with Joris Luyendijk, Fleur Launspach, Oliver Garner and Ferenc Laczó.
Finally, Sarah checks in with former MEP — and Nigel Farage confidant — Alex Phillips to ask: Did Brexit deliver?
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44:21
Holiday special: Driving toward a trade war with China
This week, EU Confidential is on a spring break — but with trade tensions between the U.S. and the rest of the world (China in particular) escalating, we thought it was the perfect moment to revisit a timely episode from our archives.
As Trump’s new trade war heats up, with triple-digit tariffs hitting Chinese goods and Beijing retaliating, the global trade landscape is shifting dramatically. These developments have significant implications for Europe, especially as the EU navigates its own challenges with Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) and has imposed duties to protect its market.
In this episode, we delve into the complexities of the EU's approach to Chinese EVs. Abigaël Vasselier from the Mercator Institute for China Studies joins POLITICO’s Koen Verhelst and Jordyn Dahl to unpack these contradictions, with host Sarah Wheaton guiding the conversation.
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31:33
Trump blinks on tariffs. Can Europe exhale?
A tariff storm was brewing — and then, just like that, the forecast changed. Donald Trump shocked everyone by pausing his planned tariffs for 90 days (for all countries except China), throwing global markets a lifeline and leaving the EU wondering what game he’s playing.
In this episode of EU Confidential, host Sarah Wheaton unpacks the fallout from Trump’s trade U-turn with Josh Lipsky, senior director at the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center, and Doug Busvine, POLITICO’s editor for agriculture and trade. They dig into whether this is a moment of de-escalation in Trump’s trade war — or just the eye of the storm — as well as how Brussels might respond, and what it all means for the future of globalization and free trade.
As always, the situation is fluid. All information and figures were accurate at the time of recording.
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30:25
Beautiful beef: Le Pen, Varoufakis and the horseshoe theory of politics
What do Marine Le Pen, Yanis Varoufakis and Donald Trump have in common? More than you'd think.
In this episode of EU Confidential, host Sarah Wheaton breaks down the court decision that could end Le Pen's political career as well as the fallout for France's far right. With POLITICO’s Clea Caulcutt giving us the latest from Paris, Yanis Varoufakis — the former Greek finance minister and leader of left-wing party Mera25 — joins to discuss his controversial defense of Le Pen, and why he believes Europe’s political future is on the line.
His stance got us thinking about the horseshoe theory of politics: Are the far left and far right really that different?
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42:52
Erdoğan, not Trump, is Europe's new best friend on security
Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul’s mayor and the main political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been arrested. So what is Europe doing about it? Staying pretty quiet, it seems. Mass protests are breaking out across Turkey but Brussels is keeping its counsel.
In this episode Sarah Wheaton speaks with Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former journalist in Turkey, about what’s really driving Erdoğan’s shift toward authoritarianism and how Europe is responding — especially with a view to Turkey’s growing importance for European security.
But Europe’s focus isn’t all on defense. We also examine some of the EU’s overlooked policy changes, from food and textile waste to agriculture and medicine shortages. Sarah is joined by Politico’s experts on sustainability, agriculture and health — Marianne Gros, Bartosz Brzeziński and Rory O’Neill — for an insightful dive into what’s going on behind the scenes.
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EU Confidential is a weekly European news and politics podcast published every Friday by POLITICO Europe. Each 30-minute episode features POLITICO’s analysis of the top stories driving EU politics, as well as notable guests shaping European policy and deep-dive stories from around the Continent. It’s hosted by Sarah Wheaton, POLITICO’s chief policy correspondent, who is joined by reporters from around Europe. Discover our show notes for EU Confidential here: https://www.politico.eu/eu-confidential-podcast/
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