Speaking of Europe

While Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his conservative-liberal party VVD won his fourth election in a row, the other victories went to radically progressive parties, like D66 and pan-European party Volt, but also to three upcoming far-right parties. Jules argues that the Dutch election results are a battlefield between conservative-nationalists and progressive-Europeanists. "All the parties who didn't want to show their colour in that spectrum, lost seats", he argues when talking about the Left's failure to gain momentum. Federico respectfully disagrees: "The real problem of the Left is that it has lost its touch with its people". How should we understand the Dutch elections? And how does this shine a light on future earthquakes in political Europe, like October's upcoming German elections? Is this a battle between nationalists and Europeanists? Is the left once again losing? Does it even make sense to talk about left/right differences? Speaking of Europe will guide you through the messy world of Dutch politics!

新年快乐! Happy Chinese New Year! But is it such a happy new year for the Europeans? Under the pressure of Berlin, the European Parliament is challenged to decide on a controversial EU-China Deal. New economic opportunities are promised, but no mention of China's Muslim concentration camps, the way it handled the pandemic and the violations of human rights in Hong Kong. Hong Kong-born journalist and political scientist Iverson Ng speaks with Jules Ortjens and Federico Giovannini about the new EU-China Deal.

Admit it. You forgot about the refugee crisis. COVID-19 does a lot of nasty stuff to us, and one of its most neglected symptoms is our ability to forget about all the other crises in Europe. The massive waves of asylum-seekers seem gone, mostly. But how come they are? Plenty of reasons to name here, but one of them is Frontex: the newly established European Border and Coast Guard. Being the first body that can call itself a kind of "European police", its aim is to defend the EU's borders at any costs. The costs are, as expected, high. And they're paid by the refugee. Martin Alberdí Rodriguez (a Madrid political scientist), Jules Ortjens (a Dutch local leader of liberal European party Volt), and Federico Giovannini (a Bologna-based Marxist political philosopher) get you in 40 minutes through the chaos at the shores of Greece. Who are Europe's new police forces? And is Frontex actually a good idea? MUSIC: Charles Ortjens-Straatman PICTURE: Edward Lich

Nowhere in Europe has the Coronavirus impacted society as much as in Belarus. For the past two months, the streets of Minsk have been turned into the stage of a possible revolution. Together with Budapest-based researcher Zhenya Belyakov, Martin and Jules dive into the complicated history of "Europe's last dictatorship". Who are the Belarusians? What do they want? And why only now? Picture: "Révolution" (1948-51), by Belarusian painter Marc Chagall

Where does democracy start? "As local as possible!" Ever since 2002, Jacek Lipiński has managed to remain a liberal and progressive mayor of a small rural town in the middle of Central Poland's conservative heartland. Joined by his son Lech, Lipiński explains how he brought democratic politics back to the people of small-town life in Aleksandrów Łódzki, despite the dangers of illiberalism, polarisation and authoritarianism. In a time of repression all across the East of Europe, from Belarus to Hungary and from Armenia to Azerbaijan, the town of Aleksandrów Łódzki seems to be a little light in the darkness. Painting: "Dożynki" (1910), by Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski

Can a conservative Pole marry a liberal Pole? Polish jurist Lech Lipiński can't imagine that picture. In this episode, Martin and Jules speak with Lech about Poland's increasing polarisation, the country's widening gap between city and village, the recent presidential elections, and Romeo and Juliet's forbidden love. Because whether you like it or not, Warsaw is becoming an increasingly important force in the Brussels decision-making process, and so is its polarising force. Music: "Roméo et Juliette", an 1867 opera by Charles Gounod. Act V, Final Scene. (Recorded: 1948, in Russian) Painting: "The Reconciliation of Esau and Jacob" (1624) by Peter Paul Rubens

Easter is long gone, and so is the long Biblical road of suffering. But the EU's political suffering has only started. In theory, Europe's exit strategy already exists. But in reality, EU leaders cannot agree on how to get out of the political crisis beyond the coronavirus. Today we talk, once again, with Spanish political scientist Martín Alberdi Rodriguez on the common understanding of how Europe's exit strategy should look and why, despite this consensus, there's no strategy.

Many European governments are experiencing a rise of popularity in the polls. Epidemics seem to make people support the status quo. But not in Spain. So what went wrong? Starting with a scene from 1869 opera "Les brigands" by Jacques Offenbach, where the fundamental questions of solidarity, poverty and trust come to the fore, we'll talk with Madrid-based economist and political scientist Martín Rodríguez Alberdi about the mistakes made by Spain's Sánchez-government and why the Northern European governments' reluctance to meet the South's financial demands is both logical and problematic. Picture: "Five of Coins - Solidarity in Poverty", by Pamela Colman Smith (1910)

The Coronavirus is taking over the continent, but the EU isn't. Together with Italian political philosopher Federico Giovannini, we reveal Italy's and Europe's underlying political crisis and we listen to "La Bohème", Giacomo Puccini's opera about disease, solidarity and poverty. Why's the Netherlands making it particularly difficult for Southern Europe to survive this crisis? Where is the EU? What's wrong with Italy's healthcare system? And what does this mean for Europe's political future? Picture: "The Sick Child" (1907) by Edvard Munch

Italy has fallen in a governance crisis. Again. But this time it's different. Not the mainstream establishment, but the far right is losing its grip on power. Far right leader Matteo Salvini quickly may be the most popular European politician in terms of retweets, last week's attempt to call for snap election didn't turn out well for him. While his government has started to crumble, his political enemies are smelling his blood. What went wrong with the Far Right superstar? And what does this crisis mean for Italy and Europe? We talk about it with Italian political philosopher Federico Giovannini.

How homophobic is Russia really? From the perspective of music history, you'd be surprised to see a very different image of Russia. In the European pop music of the last decades, Russia is not only a flourishing space of LGBT music; it's a trendsetter. Does Russia have a more dominant LGBT-scene than the rest of Europe? Or is it about something else? Something that's about Russia's peculiar relation with the rest of Europe? A relation that goes back way back into history? We are talking this episode with Roman Gerasimov, a Russian journalist and the most pop music-obsessed guy I've ever met. With him, we'll get into the story of two very different Russian music acts that shook Europe: T.A.T.u. and Pussy Riot. Speaking of Europe, there is more: Italy is getting ready for new elections, a failed terrorist attack took place in Norway, and Luxembourg legalises cannabis (and no, the Netherlands still doesn't). Photo by Victoria Borodinova from Pexels

In July, Greece went to the voting ballot to vote for change. The far-left party Syriza has been voted out of office, and the old right-wing party, New Democracy, has formed the new government under prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Not the economic crisis, but the controversial name deal with Greece's northern neighboring country was the reason for Syriza to lose. Under Syriza, Greece has agreed to call the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) North Macedonia. Many Greeks are unhappy with the deal. In this episode, we will ask historian Giannis Mavrogenis: Why does the Macedonian issue matter so much to many Greeks? And why was the 'Macedonia question' a bigger issue in the Greek elections than the economic crisis?

In this very first episode of Speaking of Europe, we dive into the messy politics of Italy with Federico Giovannini. Why did the Far Right take over Italian politics so quickly? And what happened to the Italian left? Is there anything left of the left? Speaking of Europe, there's more: Ukraine turned a Netflix series into an actual parliament, UK's new PM Boris Johnson really - really - loves Turkey, and Moscow people are hitting the streets.