Friends of Europe podcasts

This is the first episode of Overcoming Polarisaton: Paths to Common Ground, a new podcast series from Debating Europe, Friends of Europe's citizen engagement unit. Europe is feeling fractured. Whether it's politics, climate, tech, or trust in institutions, more and more people are feeling left out, unheard, and uncertain about the future. But what if we could flip the script? What if instead of fuelling division, we looked for common ground? In this series, we're diving into the real issues behind polarisation. Economic inequality, climate anxiety, digital disruption, and bringing together voices from across the spectrum. From policymakers, activists, business leaders, and most importantly, citizens' voices via our latest study “Voices for Choices”. In today's show, host Catarina Vila Nova is speaking with Miriam Gonzalez, who founded Espana Mejor, a non-for-profit organization providing new non-partisan ways for Spanish citizens to contribute to policy making, and Giles Merritt, the founder of Friends of Europe who has written extensively about Europe's demographic challenges. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Two weeks ago, the centre held in Europe after a Super Sunday of elections in Romania, Portugal and Poland. And that was in part because of Poland where the centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski narrowly beat the nationalist Karol Nawrocki in the first round of the Presidential elections. That is no longer the case. In last Sunday's run-off, Trzaskowski failed to materialize a victory and lost against Nawrocki, the candidate backed by the right-wing Law and Justice Party. Today's guests attribute Trzaskowski's failure to the fact that Prime Minister Tusk hasn't been able to pass the significant reforms he promised before being elected almost two years ago. Even though the main reason why he hasn't been able to do so is because of President Duda from the Law and Justice Party. And yet, Poles elected a President that is only going to make Tusk's life even harder if not impossible. To discuss the fallout from the Polish elections, host Catarina Vila Nova sits down with Leszek Konrad Jażdżewski, Editor-in-Chief of Liberté! and 2022 European Young Leader (EYL40), and Michał Olszewski, former deputy mayor of Warsaw who served under Rafal Trzaskowski for six years and 2015-2016 European Young Leader (EYL40) who currently serves as Board Member of PGNiG TERMIKA, Poland's leading natural gas company. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Next week, Friends of Europe is organizing the event “Re-imagining Europe's health systems”. This event aims to imagine a resilient, sustainable and innovative healthcare system for Europe. Ahead of this event, host Catarina Vila Nova sat down with Anke Van Es, Head of Europe for Hospital Patient Monitoring at Philips.

After a Super Sunday in Europe, Policy Voices brings you three guests. The three consequential elections took place in Romania, Portugal and Poland and history kept repeating itself. The centre holds far from an absolute majority, the far-right continues its speedy ascent to power and the left gets handed an embarrassing defeat. In Romania, Nicusor Dan managed to turn around the results from the first round and beat the far-right candidate George Simion in the presidential elections. To bring you up to speed, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Dacian Ciolos, former prime minister of Romania and European commissioner who currently serves as special advisor to Romania's interim President, and Andrei Popoviciu, a Romanian journalist who's been covering the elections for Politico and The Guardian. In Portugal, the Democratic Alliance (who sits with the EPP in the European Parliament), repeated last year's feat of winning again the general elections albeit far from an absolute majority. Of note is the fact that the far-right Chega came neck and neck with the Socialists who are now tied in second place. To understand the Portuguese results, Catarina speaks with the Portuguese political analyst Maria Luisa Moreira. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Pete Hegseth's decision to scrap the Women, Peace and Security agenda from the Pentagon came as a surprise given that the Women, Peace and Security Act was signed by Donald Trump in his first mandate as President of the United States. However, this decision cannot be understood in a vacuum and is part of a wider movement targeting diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the US military and elsewhere. It is also significant that this decision came when Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security from the United Nations Security Council is celebrating its 25th anniversary and countries across Europe are boosting their defence budgets. But this doesn't mean that we are also seeing an increase in the attention and money being provided to WPS projects. Quite the opposite. And even though Resolution 1325 was successful in starting conversations on why we need to include gender perspectives in peace and security, the work is far from complete. To discuss the broader implications of Hegseth's decision, host Catarina Vila Nova sat down with Floor Keuleers, Senior Analyst for Gender and Conflict at the International Crisis Group. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Today marks 75 years since the Schuman Declaration. What started first and foremost as a peace project has developed into a European Union with a single market, an official currency for 20 EU countries and freedom of movement. However, at the age of 75, the European project is being attacked from the outside by a war right at its border and an American President questioning the decades long Trans-Atlantic relationship, but also faces challenges from within. To mark Europe Day, host Catarina Vila Nova sat down with Arancha González Laya, Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po. González has previously held positions in the European Commission, United Nations, World Trade Organization and served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain. Sustainability, competitiveness and security are, according to González, the three biggest challenges facing the EU and countries can't afford to ignore any of them. There is space for disagreement, she adds, but that must be done within the rules of the game. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

It is not a new problem but the housing crisis has gotten bad enough that the European Commission created a Housing Task Force and, in the European Parliament, the Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the EU was born. In simple economic terms: there is too much demand and not enough supply. At least not enough supply to meet the demands of lower and middle income groups. Hotels, Airbnb, digital nomads, and golden visas have made the situation worse. What seemed like a sound economic policy back then ended up working too well and backfired in the faces of locals searching for affordable housing. In this episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova sits down with Irene Tinagli to address the housing crisis in the European Union. An economist by training, Tinagli is a Member of the European Parliament where she chairs the Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the EU. Catarina asked her how bad the housing crisis is in Europe, how did we get here, and what is being done to fix this problem. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

In three months, EU leaders will gather once again to decide – or not – to extend sanctions to Russia for another six months. It is a dance everyone is getting used to with Hungary threatening to make good on its veto until another EU leader finds a clever or not so clever way out. But there are real concerns that next time around Hungary and Slovakia may get to lift sanctions on Russia. That is why Daria Kaleniuk is calling for Europe to get its act together. She is the founder and executive director of the Anti-Corruption Centre, an Ukrainian NGO that has played a key role in shaping the country's powerful anti-corruption apparatus. In this conversation with host Catarina Vila Nova, she tells why she thinks Hungary and Slovakia may be the reason why sanctions to Russia will be lifted and not extended in July and makes the case for confiscating Russian assets in Europe. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Russia's war in Ukraine, rising instability in the Middle East and North Africa and an unpredictable transatlantic alliance expose deep vulnerabilities in Europe's defence architecture. Considering the precedent of the European Defence Community, the European Union now has the opportunity to implement changes that will create greater shared responsibility in defence and allow its security to be less dependent on the United States. This conversation with Sylvie Goulard, former French minister of defence and Trustee of Friends of Europe, and Federico Fabbrini, European Young Leader and Full Professor of European Law at Dublin City University (DCU), presented the outcomes of the ALCIDE (Activating the Law Creatively to Integrate Defence in Europe) project and the report “Getting Serious about European Defence Integration: The European Defence Community Precedent”. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Citizens in Europe want their governments and the EU to be more proactive on defence and cybersecurity. This is one of the conclusions of a new study soon to be published by Debating Europe, the citizens' engagement unit of Friends of Europe. On climate, citizens still feel unheard by policymakers and corporations. They want stronger policies, more corporate accountability and they don't want to bear the cost of eco-friendly options. In this episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova is joined by Adam Nyman, Director of Citizens Outreach and Engagement at Friends of Europe. He came on the show to talk about Voices for Choices, a report that will be published by Debating Europe on 7 April that is the result of an engagement of more than two thousand young citizens across Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Poland. They were asked about the big ticket items in Europe nowadays: sustainability, prosperity, security, and democracy. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

In this episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova is joined by Oleksandra Matviichuk, an Ukrainian human rights lawyer. She heads the Center for Civil Liberties which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year Russia started the large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Matviichuk's organization has documented more than 80 thousand war crimes committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine. But as she reminds us in this conversation, the war started much before 2022. They discuss the special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine which will allow for the prosecution of senior Russian officials for planning and coordinating the full-scale invasion in 2022 and fills a void created by the International Criminal Court. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

In today's episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova sits down with Sirpa Rautio, the Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). In this wide ranging interview on the state of fundamental rights in the EU, they talk everything from migration and asylum, DEI, security and defence, competitiveness, justice and the rule of law. They spoke just a few days after FRA published a landmark position paper on the creation of “return hubs” in non-EU countries for migrants who have been ordered to leave the EU. Sirpa Rautio warns that, where the “EU is taking action, you cannot have rights-free zones”. “We cannot accept that people are abused or mistreated, deported or returned, without adequate legal safeguards and without knowing their rights”, she said. On the rule of law, FRA's Director still trusts the “fairly strong infrastructures and legal frameworks in place” in the EU. The same cannot be said about the efforts to make the bloc more competitive vis-à-vis the United States. Here, Sirpa Rautio warned against rolling back commitments already made. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

The rise of far-right politicians to power across the Western world has led to a normalization of a discourse that many would be ashamed to speak just a few years ago. The normalization of misogyny in the public sphere is just the first step that leads men to think it's ok to rape a woman because her husband consented for her. Just like what happened to Gisele Pelicot. Ahead of International Women's Day, host Catarina Vila Nova sits down with Lina Galvez, Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. They spoke just a few hours after Luis Rubiales, the former head of the Spanish Football Federation, was convicted of sexual assault for kissing Jenny Hermoso without her consent during the World Cup final. In this conversation, they talk about the consequences of this case and also that of Gisele Pelicot. Two cases that alert us for all there's left to do in the feminist fight. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

The results are in and Germany chose its new chancellor. To the surprise of no one, Friedrich Merz will succeed Olaf Scholz and Europe can finally get to work after being on hold since November. The challenges are plenty and Germany's new chancellor has his plate full: not only he has to deliver on migration and the economy, he must do so to avoid even bigger electoral gains for the far-right AfD next time around. In today's episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Liana Fix, Fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations. Fix is a historian and political scientist and an expert in German and European foreign and security policy based in Washington. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Today marks the end of what was perhaps the most consequential week for the future of Europe's security and defence since the beginning of the Ukraine war. Still reeling from a shocking security conference in Munich over the weekend, European leaders then gathered in Paris to attempt a coordinated response to America's provocations. Host Catarina Vila Nova is joined today by Jamie Shea, senior fellow for Peace, Security and Defence at Friends of Europe and former deputy assistant secretary general at NATO. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

This year, the European Union will be working on amending the European Climate Law. The importance of this law cannot be understated: it is the European Climate Law that defines the goal set out in the European Green Deal to become climate-neutral by 2050. Of the many ways possible to become climate-neutral, in this episode of Policy Voices we are focusing on what is a rather niche topic: carbon dioxide removal. Host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Anna Costova, Senior Policy Analyst at Carbon Gap, an organization focusing on scaling up just and effective carbon dioxide removal. They talk about what carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is and disentangle the concepts surrounding this conversation, such as net zero and climate neutrality. Anna also explains the different ways CDR occurs – from trees to the most technologically advanced methods – and what is the cost of not doing CDR. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

How to stay hopeful on the fight against climate change during Trump 2.0? Well, a great first step is listening to Helen Mountford. Helen Mountford is the President and CEO of ClimateWorks Foundation, a global platform for philanthropy to scale-up climate solutions, and my guest for today's episode. Before joining ClimateWorks, Helen worked at Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for 16 years, advising governments on policy reforms and oversee work on things like green fiscal reform, climate change finance, and green growth. In this episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova spoke with Helen who helped put things into perspective but also left some serious homework for EU leaders. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

In just his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed a number of executive orders that threaten American democracy and are already being challenged in the courts. With the system of checks and balances in question and a Democratic Party still trying to get back on its feet, in what state is American democracy left? On what is perhaps the most difficult episode of the series on how to not lose hope under Trump 2.0, host Catarina Vila Nova is joined by Greta Bedekovics. Bedekovics is the Associate Director of Democracy Policy at the Center for American Progress, an independent, nonpartisan policy institute based in Washington. Before joining American Progress, Bedekovics worked on the US Senate as a policy advisor on voting rights and election security. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

With Trump back in power it is all too easy to lose hope. As the guest in today's episode of Policy Voices says, the next few years are going to be “a wild ride”. Nonetheless, there may be some silver linings when it comes to peace, security and defence. For example, as Rose Gottemoeller puts it: NATO countries are in a much better place than they were in 2016 when Trump first took office. Listen to the first episode of the series of Policy Voices on How to Not Lose Hope Under Trump 2.0 where host Catarina Vila Nova sat down with Rose Gottemoeller, former deputy secretary general of NATO, and former under secretary for arms control and international security at the U.S. Department of State. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

In June, Admiral Pierre Vandier became NATO's new Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. A few days ago, Admiral Vandier came to Friends of Europe for a conversation with our senior fellow Jamie Shea, who is also the former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at NATO. In this conversation, Jamie asks the Admiral about the role of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and what exactly transition means nowadays. And, of course, about the war in Ukraine. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

It has the potential to revolutionise Europe's AI future but in the midst of all the political drama from the past weeks, you probably didn't hear about it. Announced in Von der Leyen's political guidelines for the next Commission, officially it's called the European AI Research Council, but the Commission President referred to it as the CERN for AI. CERN, of course, being one of the world's largest centres for scientific research. But what is this CERN for AI? To understand the significance of this announcement, host Catarina Vila Nova sat down with Aaron Maniam, Senior Fellow for Advanced AI at the International Center for Future Generations. Aaron also teaches at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and chairs the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on the Future of Technology Policy and the OECD's Expert Group on AI Futures. For Maniam, this CERN-like structure for AI may well represent a “watershed” moment for Europe. It is a chance for the EU to get ahead of the curve in the tech race and Maniam argues that a CERN-like structure – combining the private and public sector – is the winning formula. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

It wouldn't have been COP if the negotiations had been completed by last Friday – the last scheduled day of the conference. It was a long and drawn out process that only ended when many negotiators were already with their suitcases packed and ready to fly out of Azerbaijan. The petrostate was the stage for the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference and expectations were high for a finance deal. The final agreement came in the form of 1.3 trillion dollars a year until 2035 in funds to developing nations but only 300 billion of that will come in the form they mostly called for – grants and low-interest loans from the developed world. For this week's episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova spoke with Olumide Idowu, Executive Director of the International Climate Change Development Initiative Africa, just a few days after he left Baku where he spent two weeks attending COP29. Idowu is a climate activist from Nigeria and known on social media as Mr. Climate. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

In this episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor in EU Law at HEC Paris, Founder of The Good Lobby, Trustee of Friends of Europe and 2014 European Young Leader (EYL40), about the “horse trading” that delivered Europe its new Commission. This conversation was recorded before the Parliament finally confirmed the last seven commissioners-designate putting and end to the deadlock. It is the end of an era. As the new European Commission is all set to take office on 1 December, prepare to say goodbye to the majority that has been governing Europe for decades. As Alemanno puts it, the European People's Party (EPP) wants to have its cake and eat it: it is being supported by the historical alliance of the Socialists, Liberals, and even the Greens, while slowly but steadily shifting to the far-right. The new team of commissioners features as an Executive Vice President Raffaele Fitto who hails from the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists and the EPP has already voted with the far-right block in setbacks to the green agenda. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Final results are in and are devastating for US Democrats. Republicans not only won the White House but they also regained control of the Senate and held on to the House achieving the government trifecta. In the end, Donald Trump won the election by only 2 percentage points but looking at the electoral map it certainly doesn't look like that. The US map has been swept by a red wave as Trump succeeded in winning in all seven battleground states. Democrats have spent the last week enwrapped in a blame game starting with the US President himself. Would things have been different if Biden had stepped down earlier? Was Kamala set up for failure as she was given only 100 days to make her bid for President? In today's episode, we are bringing you a collection of reactions to Trump's victory from all over Europe. We talked to people from Romania, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK at last week's event from Friends of Europe State of Europe. What you will hear in today's episode are fresh reactions to the results of the US elections as these all took place less than 24 hours after the results were announced. What stands out is a unified call for Europe to rise to the occasion. You will hear from Ciarán Devane, Executive Director of the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations and Trustee of Friends of Europe, Ahmed Abdirahman, Founder & CEO of Järvaveckan and 2024 European Young Leader (EYL40), Anders Storgaard, Member of the Frederiksberg City Council and 2024 European Young Leader (EYL40), Karien van Gennip, former Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Simina Tulbure, Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania, Gregg Jones, Regional Managing Director of the Brussels Hub of Coventry University, Jon Worth, Political Blogger and Campaigner and 2012 European Young Leader (EYL40), and Giulio Barbolani di Montauto, of the European Space Agency (ESA). If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

With COP29 starting in just a few days, world leaders are heading to Azerbaijan with images of Spanish towns wiped out by water and cars piled up on streets that hide the true devastation of one of the worst floods in Europe of this century. In this episode of Policy Voices released ahead of COP29, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with two European Young Leaders (EYL40) from this year's class: Lubomila Jordanova, Founder & CEO of Plan A, and Heïdi Sevestre, Glaciologist and Deputy Secretary of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). From Svalbard, an archipelago located 650km north of the North Pole, Heïdi is experiencing and documenting the very unique ways climate change is impacting the Artic, which will inevitably trickle down to the rest of the world. On a mission to fight climate change, Lubomila founded Plan A in 2017, developing ground-breaking software that enables businesses to monitor and reduce emissions, while improving their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESC) performance. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Mark Rutte has officially survived his first month in office. To take stock of what Rutte has been up to since his new job started, host Catarina Vila Nova sat down with Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow for Peace, Security and Defence at Friends of Europe, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at NATO. They go over Rutte's pivot to the Asia Pacific and what has been his biggest challenge so far: reports of North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine alongside Russia. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Fact-checkers in the United States have been under harsh scrutiny during the US Presidential election regardless of what they choose to do. To fact-check or not to fact-check seems to be the question but for Angie Drobnic Holan, Director of the International Fact-Checking Network, journalists should never compromise on their commitment to the truth nor should they negotiate away their right to fact-check to secure an interview. In this episode of Policy Voices published during the Global Media and Information Literacy Week, host Catarina Vila Nova and Angie Drobnic Holan discuss fact-checking in the era of misinformation. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

As much as this US presidential election has been dominated by domestic affairs such as the economy and reproductive rights – the current most consequential foreign policy issue is without a doubt the risk of a regional war in the Middle East. In this week's episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova sits down with Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. They discuss the differences between the approaches of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, if any, and Europe's limited role in the conflict. This conversation was recorded on 10 October. On 15 October, the US gave Israel an ultimatum that it would limit its military aid to Israel if humanitarian aid to Gaza doesn't dramatically increase in the next 30 days. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

Throughout this special series on AI & Democracy brought to you by Debating Europe we covered a lot of ground: from the impact on elections, to rules and regulations, ethics, and media literacy. In this episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Sebastian Hallensleben, Head of Digitalisation and AI at VDE Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies, to look ahead and understand what an ideal world looks like where AI is working for the benefit of stronger democracies and economies. In this episode, you will also hear from Lindsay Gorman, the Managing Director & Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States' Technology Program, one of the speakers at Friends of Europe's AI & Society Forum. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

With the United States winning the AI race and the EU leading on legislative power, could this be the perfect match on global collaboration? It does seem like it but there might be some unintended consequences to the EU's regulation force with the US taking a bit too personally Europe's take on digital sovereignty. Bu despair not as this week's guests remain optimistic nonetheless to the outlook of EU-US global collaboration on AI. After all, with the threat that China poses to both powers, there are, after all, good enough reasons to collaborate. In the fifth episode of the special series on AI & Democracy brought to you by Debating Europe, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Andrea Renda, Director of Research at the Centre for European Policy Studies, and Geoffrey Gertz, Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, on what a global collaboration between the EU and the US on artificial intelligence looks like.

When regulating artificial intelligence, we want to make sure that the policies in place are conducive to innovation and don't become a straightjacket. But as AI becomes a part of our daily lives, the worries that it will infringe on human rights are ever more present. In the fourth episode of the special series on AI & Democracy brought to you by Debating Europe, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Hanne Juncher, Director of Security, Integrity and Rule of Law at the Council of Europe, who was involved in the negotiations of the Council of Europe's Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and human rights, democracy and the rule of law – hailed as the first-ever international legal binding treaty in the field of artificial intelligence and democracy – and Justin Reynolds, Director for Tech Policy at the US Department of State.

Soon enough, you will be able to send an AI-generated version of yourself to that Zoom meeting you've been dreading or ask it to stay on the phone for hours with customer service to cancel that gym subscription. It sounds like a dream, right? But this also means that, soon enough, we will no longer be able to distinguish fact from fiction when watching the news. In this third episode of the special series of Policy Voices on AI & Democracy, brought to you by Debating Europe, host Catarina Vila Nova sits down with Ben Hammersley, Founder of Hammersley Futures and European Young Leader, and Ramesh Srinivasan, Professor of Information Studies at UCLA, to discuss the importance of media literacy when navigating the AI era.

When it comes to artificial intelligence, two narratives dominate: it will either be catastrophic or the solution to all of humanity's problems. The reality is not so black and white and we are actually operating in a much greyer terrain. However, there are real concerns surrounding ethics and artificial intelligence but there are ways to preserve democratic principles in the AI era we find ourselves. In this second episode of the Policy Voices series on AI & Democracy brought to you by Debating Europe, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Olivia Gambelin, AI ethicist and founder of Ethical Intelligence, and Erika Staël von Holstein, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Re-Imagine Europa. They answer what are the main ethical challenges when AI is inserted in politics and how to overcome them for a healthier democracy and brighter AI future. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

With the arrival of artificial intelligence, elections are a significant area of concern. AI has the potential to supercharge the misinformation and disinformation space but as much as these fears are legitimate, the concerns appear to be overblown. Nonetheless, with the US elections less than two months away, the time is ripe for caution around the use of AI during the campaign, especially by foreign actors with malign intentions. In the first episode of the special series of Policy Voices on AI & Democracy, host Catarina Vila Nova sits down with Rachael Dean Wilson, Managing Director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, and Joe Elborn, Executive Director of the Evens Foundation, to unveil the impact of AI in elections. Not everything is doom and gloom as Rachael and Joe share solutions to counteract the negative effects of AI at the end of the episode. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

So much has happened in the first half of this year and to take stock of where we find ourselves now, Dharmendra Kanani, Chief Spokesperson at Friends of Europe, spoke with Dacian Cioloș, former Romanian prime minister, and former European commissioner for agriculture, and Pauline Neville-Jones, Member of the House of the Lords National Security Strategy Joint Committee.

The success of last week's NATO Summit in Washington was mostly due to the management of expectations. The Ukrainian President already knew not to expect a formal invitation to join the military alliance and had to content himself with knowing that Ukraine's path to NATO's membership was “irreversible”. With that in mind, the summit was a success, even if overshadowed by a possible Trump return to the White House and Biden still trying to prove he's up for the job. Also looming large was China's military exercises with Belarus right outside NATO's border. To unpack the summit, host Catarina Vila Nova spoke to Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow for Peace, Security and Defence at Friends of Europe, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary-General for Emerging Security Challenges at NATO. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

In France, an unexpected election sent the far-right National Rally to third place while the New Popular Front clinched first place. Without a clear majority, the question now is who will be the new French Prime Minister. Across the English Channel, everything seemed set in stone for a clear Labor victory – the first after 14 years of Conservative rule. Here, the question was not if Labor would win but by how much. In the first part of today's show, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Shahin Vallée, Head of the Geo-Economics Programme at the German Council on Foreign Relations and a European Young Leader, about the French results. In the second part of today's episode, you'll hear from Magid Magid Magid, Founder and Director of Union of Justice, Trustee of Friends of Europe and 2019 European Young Leader (EYL40), about the British elections. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

The curtain has finally been lifted on who the new leaders of the European Union will be. After months of speculation, the heads of government of the EU member states landed on three names: Ursula Von der Leyen, Antonio Costa and Kaja Kallas. Von der Leyen will most likely stay on as the Commission President and will bring with her the still Estonian Prime Minister as the EU foreign policy chief. That is once the new European Parliament votes on the new College. As for Costa, well, that's a done deal and he will be replacing Charles Michel at the end of this year. But what about the process that brought us here? Host Catarina Vila Nova spoke to Caroline de Gruyter, Europe correspondent at NRC, and Johannes Tralla, Journalist at Estonian Public Broadcasting and European Young Leader (EYL40). They both agree that the process was democratic because, at the end of the day, decisions are made by the heads of government. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

In today's episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Katrin Hugendubel, Advocacy Director at ILGA Europe. Katrin warns that, in Europe, we still don't have the necessary laws in place that protect the LGBTI community and laws are very often the last line of defence of LGBTI people. The LGBTI community is usually a target of the far-right, being used as a scapegoat, and this year's European elections were no exception. From Hungary to Italy, the examples are many but, surprisingly, France stands as a sign of hope. Why is that? Even though Katrin is concerned about the upcoming elections, she reminds us that just a few months ago, France enshrined the right to abortion in its constitution. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

On the week the World Refugee Day is commemorated, host Catarina Vila Nova spoke with Jonathan Fowler, Senior Communications Manager for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Jonathan joined UNRWA shortly after the 7 October attacks and is currently based in East Jerusalem. What he details is an intense campaign against UNRWA by the Israeli authorities. But nowhere is this situation more egregious than in the Gaza Strip. As Jonathan calls it, “it is a war of superlatives” and at no point in the history of the United Nations have so many UN personnel been killed in a war. The staff UNRWA employs in Gaza are local staff and are themselves refugees. During this episode of Policy Voices, Jonathan tells their stories. Like the story of a sanitation engineer who lost his family and kept showing up for work to prevent a worsening health situation in his community. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

It wasn't as bad as every poll predicted but, nonetheless, ¼ of the next European Parliament will be made up of, to put it mildly, “parties that are difficult to qualify under one label”. As Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor in EU Law at HEC Paris and Founder of the Good Lobby, says, in this episode of Policy Voices hosted by Catarina Vila Nova, “far-right does not do justice to all of them”. Some are “nationalist”, others “sovereigntist”, and others yet are “rebellious vis-à-vis the European process”. Clearly not the ideal composition for a European Parliament. The good news? “They tend to be disunited but they're not going to be able to form a majority or come together as a group. This weakens their ability to influence as much as they could”, predicts Alemanno. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail: press@friendsofeurope.org

In the fifth and final episode of the five-part special series of Policy Voices on the EU elections, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with representatives from five parties on the key issue of the EU budget and the cost of living. In this episode, you will hear from Siegfried Mureșan, MEP for the European People's Party, Didrik de Schaetzen, Secretary-General of the ALDE Party, Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, Simon McKeagney, Head of Communications of The Greens, and David Lundy, Head of Communications of The Left. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

In this fourth episode of the five-part special series of Policy Voices on the EU elections, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with representatives from five parties on the key issue of migration and fundamental rights. In this episode, you will hear from Lena Düpont, MEP for the European People's Party, Didrik de Schaetzen, Secretary-General of the ALDE Party, Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, Simon McKeagney, Head of Communications of The Greens, and David Lundy, Head of Communications of The Left. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

In this third episode of the five-part special series of Policy Voices on the EU elections, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with representatives from five parties on the key issue of climate change. In this episode, you will hear from Peter Liese, MEP for the European People's Party, Didrik de Schaetzen, Secretary-General of the ALDE Party, Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, Simon McKeagney, Head of Communications of The Greens, and David Lundy, Head of Communications of The Left. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

In the second episode of the five-part special series of Policy Voices on the EU elections, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with representatives from five parties on the key issue of artificial intelligence. In this episode, you will hear from Didrik de Schaetzen, Secretary-General of the ALDE Party, Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, Simon McKeagney, Head of Communications of The Greens, David Lundy, Head of Communications of The Left, and Axel Voss, MEP for the European People's Party. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

In this first episode of the five-part special series of Policy Voices on the EU elections, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with representatives from five parties on the key issue of European security and defence. In this episode, you will hear from Rasa Juknevičienė, MEP for the European People's Party, Didrik de Schaetzen, Secretary-General of the ALDE Party, Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, Simon McKeagney, Head of Communications of The Greens, and David Lundy, Head of Communications of The Left.

In today's episode, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, former secretary-general of NATO. According to Scheffer, as long as Russia is engaging in war with Ukraine, Ukraine has no chance of joining the military alliance. This means no formal invitation to join in the upcoming NATO's July Summit in Washington. The former NATO chief spoke candidly about Ukraine's slim chances of joining the military alliance that were first put on the table in 2008, during the Bucharest Summit, when Scheffer was then NATO's chief. Looking back on that period, Scheffer admits that it wasn't “NATO's finest hour” because it made a promise to Ukraine that it knew it could not deliver. Scheffer now warns the European Union to not follow the same path of NATO as talks to kickstart formal negotiations over Ukraine joining the EU are set to start as soon as next month. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

On this episode of Policy Voices, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks to Julia Symon, Head of Research and Advocacy at Finance Watch, and Luke O'Callaghan White, Programme Manager for Climate, Energy and Sustainability at Friends of Europe. Friends of Europe recently launched a report on the EU's sustainable finance agenda. Long gone are the days when tackling climate change was the number one priority of the Commission. With war raging in the continent, priorities have shifted from climate change to security. But as Luke, the co-author of the report, argues, there are immense benefits the EU can amass if it ditches this short-term mentality and starts focusing on long-term climate goals. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org

On World Press Freedom Day, host Catarina Vila Nova spoke to Jonathan Dagher, Head of the Middle East Desk at Reporters Without Borders (RSF). At least 100 journalists have died since the war in Gaza began, 22 during the course of their work. RSF has been monitoring and reporting the crimes being perpetrated against reporters in Gaza which Dagher describes as “systemic” and an attack on journalism as a whole. Jonathan Dagher recently returned from Doha where he met with Palestinian journalists who escaped from Gaza and told their tales of being targeted by Israel. What Dagher described is a pattern of impunity with journalists facing the unimaginable situation of covering the deaths of their family members, friends and colleagues. On World Press Freedom Day, we wanted to dedicate this episode of Policy Voices to the journalists in Gaza reporting a war while seeking shelter, water and food. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

Today in our show we wanted to do something different. Instead of our usual interview, we want to play the speech Alexander Stubb, the Finnish President, gave recently at Friends of Europe during his trip to Brussels where he met with Ursula von der Leyen, Jens Stoltenberg, among others. Before that, he had been in Ukraine where he encountered President Zelenskyy. The Finnish President spoke freely, openly and candidly about Finland's place in NATO, European defence at large, and how the EU and NATO must work together. As he put it: “National defence and international cooperation can and must go hand in hand. It is not either or. It is both.” On Ukraine, Stubb's message couldn't be clearer: “Ukraine's place is as a full member of NATO and progress towards membership is irreversible”. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

The first Citizens Global Assembly took place around COP26 in Glasgow and it provided a true snapshot of what humanity looks like. It was co-initiated by Jamie Kelsey and kickstarted because of climate change but its potential goes beyond this single issue. By bringing people together from truly diverse backgrounds it can be a solution to the polarised world we live in today. That's why host Catarina Vila Nova spoke to Jamie Kelsey, from the Citizens Global Assembly, for the third and last episode of this series on the rise of the far-right in Europe. If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.