REPCO

A whole bunch of plastic objects are about to become illegal across the European Union: everything from coffee stirrers to straws and cotton buds. As we count down to the big day on July 3, we're revisiting last year's special episode about how the EU is even able to make laws like this for 27 countries. This week we're asking: "How the hell do you make an EU law?" Originally released in February 2020, this episode was part of our mini-series Bursting the Bubble, an attempt to explain how EU institutions work in the least boring way possible. Huge thanks to the European Cultural Foundation for funding this series. They support projects that promote Europe as an open and democratic space. Written and produced by Katz Laszlo, with help from Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review. This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family. Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Jens Thoms Ivarsson has one of this continent's most fascinating jobs: chief "rain man" for the city of Gothenburg. We chat to the creative director of Rain Gothenburg about the Swedish city's rather wonderful plan to become the best place in the world when it's raining. Also this week: expensive Finnish breakfasts, accidental asparagus, and why Budapest's plans to build a Chinese university campus have gone down so badly. This week's Isolation Inspiration: "Inside the last matriarchy in Europe", Zero, and "Portrait of a pigeon racer". You can read about Rain Gothenburg here in The Guardian. This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a brand-new collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review. Senior producer: Katz Laszlo Producers: Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family. Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

This week, a murky spying scandal and a huge climate lawsuit. It seems that our American friends may have been using Denmark's internet cables to spy on European politicians. But how much did Denmark know about it? We're also talking about the landmark Dutch court ruling that could force Shell to drastically cut its carbon emissions. Plus, the European Review of Books! We chat to George Blaustein and Sander Pleij about why they're setting up a new magazine of ideas for the continent. You can help crowd-fund the European Review of Books here and read about the grime-eating bacteria in the Medici Chapel here. This week's Isolation Inspiration: Day X and The Mole. This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a brand-new collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review. Senior producer: Katz Laszlo Producers: Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family. Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

We have a very special episode for you this week. From the south of Italy, a father and son's coming of age stories, told in parallel. This is the first episode of our series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like: intimate stories from across the continent, as told by the young Europeans experiencing them. This series is produced with Are We Europe and made in cooperation with Allianz Kulturstiftung, an independent not-for-profit cultural foundation committed to strengthening cohesion in Europe using the tools of art and culture. Find out more at kulturstiftung.allianz.de. Producers: Katz Laszlo and Josh Prezioso Editorial support: Dominic Kraemer, Katy Lee, Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar Music: Tarantella del Gargano by Marco Beasley & represented by Out Here Music; Italian Opera by UV Protection; Andante (Italian Concerto) written by Bach and performed by Catrina Finch; Amore Mio by Mina with Warner Music Italy; Tomb by Veshza; La Luna E Fisarmonica by Ziv Moran; Disco Ball by Evgeny Barduzha, and Jim Barne. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions: Kilkerrin by Scalcairn; Sylvestor by One Such Village; Angel Academy by Marc Oakley; Toby or not Toby by Mark Oakley. SFX from Freesounds.org: Wescwave; GeorgeHopkins; suonidigallipoli; samararaine; cmusounddesign; suonidibologna; wolkenunddreck; ancorapazzo; soundforest. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review. This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family. Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

This week, Eurovision, panthers, and a celebration of Cyrillic writing. Ahead of a Cyrillic national holiday in several Eastern European countries, we chat to typography designers Maria Doreuli and Krista Radoeva about what makes the script so special. We're also talking about the Paris mayor's war on cars, and why Slovenia's populist prime minister is really, really into panthers. Plus, a special edition of Isolation Inspiration for the Eurovision nerds. You can follow Maria and Krista here and here on Instagram and check out their Cyrillicsy design workshops here on Twitter. Donate to Covax | Donate to Medecins Sans Frontières The Swedish Ambassador's Guide to Eurovision can be found here. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review. Producer: Katz Laszlo Assistant producers: Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family. Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Like everyone else, we Europeans have been watching a LOT of television over the past year. But something rather nice has been happening: we've been watching *each other's* television. Could streaming giants like Netflix be helping develop a shared European culture, as we all sit down to enjoy shows like Lupin and Money Heist? This week we speak to Jérôme Dechesne of European producers' group CEPI about the Europeanisation of binge-watching. We're also talking about the prince who apparently-accidentally shot Romania's largest bear, and the Belgian farmer who may have apparently-accidentally moved the French border. This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a brand-new collective of independent European media. Find out more at sphera-hub.com. This week's Isolation Inspiration: Quo Vadis, Aida?, Toksvig's Almanac 2021, and The Economist: How Netflix is creating a common European culture. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review. Producer: Katz Laszlo Assistant producers: Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family. Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

The Oscar-nominated Romanian film Collective is enraging and inspiring in equal measure. This week we hear from Răzvan Luțac, one of the investigative journalists who uncovered the vast healthcare scandal at the heart of the film. We're also talking about a fascinating court case brought by young German climate activists, censorship allegations on Italian TV, and a missing finger. Special thanks to Maja and Zoe in Ukraine, Ruben in Switzerland, Leo and Florence in France, Remy in the UK and Raul in Germany for lending us their voices to help us celebrate Europe Day this week. For more Europe Day inspiration, check out europeday.eu. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review. Producer: Katz Laszlo Assistant producers: Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina The Europeans is part of the Are We Europe family. You can find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family. Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

This week we're delighted to have an excuse to talk about Dominic's favourite salty cheese. Halloumi has just been recognised as a product unique to Cyprus — something that eurocrats have hailed as a positive step towards reconciliation on the divided Mediterranean island. Is there any truth to that? Cypriot podcaster Natalie Lamprou is here for a great chat about cheese, politics and Cypriot identity. We're also talking about the French mayor running a town from his jail cell, and the German gymnasts taking a stand against sexualisation in sport. This is our first-ever episode as part of Sphera, a new collective of brilliant independent media outlets from across Europe. We are excited to be a part of it! Sign up to follow Sphera on Instagram, TikTok and more: https://linktr.ee/Sphera You can find Natalie's podcast Evris here and read her beautiful piece about Cypriot identity here. This week's Isolation Inspiration: Romanian documentary Collective, virtual reality experience Pollinator Park, and the Feel Good Film Festival. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review. Producer: Katz Laszlo Assistant producers: Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina This podcast is a proud partner of Are We Europe. If you enjoy beautiful, border-breaking journalism, check out their website and buy their latest magazine. Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

It's a green-themed episode this week: we're talking about why Germany's Greens are the party of the moment, and taking a look at the environmentalists now running the Danish territory of Greenland. Plus, Katy's been chatting to the Polish artist Joanna Rajkowska about why she put a giant palm tree on a Warsaw roundabout. You can visit the palm tree here and read an interview with Joanna by friend of the show Ania Jakubek here. Joanna's latest work, Rhizopolis, sadly can't be visited right now because of the pandemic, but you can check out this beautiful environmental work on her website. This week's Isolation Inspiration: Anne+ and The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review! Producer: Katz Laszlo Assistant producers: Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina This podcast is a proud partner of Are We Europe. If you enjoy beautiful, border-breaking journalism, check out their website and buy their latest magazine. Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Why are so many British people completely clueless when it comes to understanding Northern Ireland, given that it's part of the UK? After days of rioting in Northern Irish towns and cities, we speak to historian Tim Mc Inerney, co-host of the excellent podcast The Irish Passport, about the strange island-of-Ireland-shaped hole in many Brits' understanding of their own history. We're also talking about Czech vaccines, Spanish vultures, and Brigadier Broccoli, the Swiss army cat. You should all listen to The Irish Passport! Find it in all the usual places, as well as here on their website. This week's Isolation Inspiration: Louis Theroux: Shooting Joe Exotic and "Jemima!" from jingle man Jim Barne and his writing partner Kit Buchan. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few euros / dollars / pounds a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast. Producer: Katz Laszlo Assistant producers: Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar This podcast is a proud partner of Are We Europe. If you enjoy beautiful, border-breaking journalism, check out their website and buy their latest magazine. Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | hello@europeanspodcast.com