The Europeans | European news, politics and culture Podcast By Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer cover art

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

By: Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer
Listen for free

About this listen

 The Europeans is a fresh and entertaining weekly podcast about European politics and culture, recorded each week between Paris and Amsterdam with fascinating guests joining from across Europe. This multiple award-winning podcast fills you in on the major European politics stories and other European news of the week, as well as fun and quirky nuggets that have been missed by most media outlets. Hosted by Katy Lee, a journalist based in Paris, and Dominic Kraemer, an opera singer in Amsterdam, The Europeans covers everything from elections and climate policy to the best new European films and TV shows. We also produce investigative podcasts about everything from the European farming lobby to oat milk. Yes, oat milk. Katy and Dominic are old friends, and the warmth and intimacy of their conversations will soon make you feel like you’ve known them a long time too. They approach topics with a light and humorous tone that makes The Europeans stand out from other European news podcasts, while remaining journalistically rigorous and meticulously fact-checked. The Europeans has been recommended by The New York Times, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, The Financial Times, and many other outlets. Katy Lee, a British-French reporter, has written for major outlets including The Guardian, Politico Europe, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Foreign Policy and The New Statesman for more than a decade, covering French and European politics and more recently, climate change. Dominic Kraemer, a British-German opera singer, performs across Europe when he is not co-hosting The Europeans, with roles recently at the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Dutch National Opera and the Münchener Biennale. The Europeans’ team is completed by producers Katz Laszlo in Amsterdam and Wojciech Oleksiak in Warsaw. You’ll hear them joining Katy and Dominic from time to time, particularly during investigative episodes like ‘The Oatly Chronicles’ and ‘The Big-Agri Bully Boys’. The Europeans’ breezy, informal approach to covering European news has won awards such as a Covering Climate Now award for an episode about the Swiss women who sued their government at the European Court of Human Rights demanding more climate action; Germany’s prestigious CIVIS Media Prize for ‘Mohamed’, an episode that explores the everyday life of a young undocumented man in Amsterdam; and best LGBTQIA+ short at the MiraBan UK Film Awards for ‘Josh and Franco’, the coming-of-age story of a father and son, both gay. Our guests have included everyone from major figures in European politics such as Alexander Stubb, now the President of Finland, and Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, to star chefs Asma Khan and Christian Puglisi, celebrated illustrator Christoph Niemann, and environmentalist George Monbiot. Since launching in 2017, we’ve talked about everything from elections in France, Italy and many more countries besides, to the politics of halloumi cheese in Cyprus, to why Donald Trump is so hard for TV interpreters to translate. We pride ourselves on covering European politics, European news and European culture from a pan-European perspective. You’ll often hear stories on The Europeans from parts of the continent that don’t usually receive enough attention from major international media outlets, especially Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. You might enjoy The Europeans if you also enjoy one of these other podcasts: The News Agents, On the Media, Today in Focus, Inside Europe, The Journal, EU Confidential, The Daily, The Globalist, Reasons to be Cheerful, The Media Show, Power Play, and The New Statesman. Whether you’re already a European news nerd, or simply someone who’d like to be better informed about what’s happening across Europe, The Europeans is the podcast for you. Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/europeanspodcastAssociation The Europeans Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • What the hell just happened in Romania (and at Eurovision)?

    What the hell just happened in Romania (and at Eurovision)?
    May 22 2025

    Romania, Poland, Portugal... and of course, most importantly of all (?), Eurovision. It's been a huge week of voting across Europe! This week we're mostly diving into Romania's election drama with Codruţa Simina, a journalist with an extremely helpful specialism in online misinformation and disinformation. We're also tackling the controversy over Israel's continued participation in Eurovision, as well as the Pfizergate scandal: will we ever get to read the text messages Ursula von der Leyen sent to one of the world's most powerful pharmaceutical bosses?

    Codruţa's excellent newsletter, Misreport, can be found here. Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast! This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: The EU's personal carbon footprint calculator and 'Apeirogon' by Column McCann. You can find McCann's conversation with Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan, recorded in November 2023, here. Other resources for this episode: 'Politics by WhatsApp? Even "Pfizergate" won’t end that' - Politico Europe, May 14, 2025 'The maths behind the public votes at Eurovision 2025' - RTE, May 18, 2025 'Wasted love?: broadcasting and fandom at a crossroads after Eurovision 2025' - Catherine Baker, May 18, 2025 'Why doesn't the EBU kick Israel out of Eurovision?' - Overthinking It, May 8, 2025 'Coal produces less than half of Poland’s power for first time' - Notes from Poland, May 13, 2025 00:00:46 An election bonanza hangover 00:06:58 Bad Week: Pfizergate 00:21:50 Good Week (?): Austrian Eurovision winner JJ 00:45:12 Interview: Codruţa Simina on Romania's election drama 01:02:51 The Inspiration Station: The EU's personal carbon footprint calculator, and 'Apeirogon' by Colum McCann 01:07:00 Happy Ending: Is Poland finally kicking its coal habit?

    Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | hello@europeanspodcast.com
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Europe, an unfinished love story

    Europe, an unfinished love story
    May 15 2025

    This week, a not-so-classic 'girl meets boy' story. Başak Layic, storyteller extraordinaire, reflects on what the European Dream looks like from the outside.

    This story was recorded live at SPUI25 in Amsterdam as part of 'Europe Up For Grabs?', an event organised for Europe Day 2025 by DutchCulture and the European Cultural Foundation. You can watch a livestream of the whole event here.

    You can find out more about Başak's work on her website and follow her on Instagram here.

    Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!

    This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.

    Producers: Morgan Childs and Katy Lee

    Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

    Music: Jim Barne

    YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | hello@europeanspodcast.com
    Show more Show less
    18 mins
  • Is a pregnant nun about to crash Poland's election?

    Is a pregnant nun about to crash Poland's election?
    May 8 2025

    In theory, the government's guy looks set to win Poland's presidential election, making life a hell of a lot easier for Donald Tusk as he attempts to undo eight years of destructive authoritarian rule under the previous rightwing populists. But might a pregnant nun swoop in and change everything at the last minute? For an explanation of this metaphor (and yes, it is just a metaphor), listen in to this week's great interview with Poland's best political YouTubers, Dominika Sitnicka and Agata Szczęśniak. We're also digging into Sweden's plans to crack down on porn influencers, and celebrating the sweeter side of last week's mass blackouts in Spain and Portugal.

    Dominika and Agata are reporters at OKO.PRESS and co-hosts of its YouTube show, Program Polityczny (which can be watched with English auto-subtitles). Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast! This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' (especially the Ankh-Morpork City Watch series), and Carême. Bonus recommendations: 'The Butterfly Effect' and 'The Last Days of August'. We'll be at two events in Amsterdam for Europe Day on May 9! You can buy a ticket to EuropaNacht at Paradiso here; tickets to the earlier event, at SPUI25, are available here. With many thanks to our friends at the European Cultural Foundation, DutchCulture and De Kiesmannen. Other resources for this episode: 'In the Madrid power cuts, I saw patience and common sense – but we were woefully unprepared' - María Ramírez, The Guardian, April 29, 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/29/madrid-power-cuts-blackout-radio-internet 'In case of crisis or war' - Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), November 2024 https://rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf 'The EU Commission's survival kits - fearmongering or necessary preparedness?' - Euronews, April 2, 2025 https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/04/02/the-eu-commissions-survival-kits-fearmongering-or-necessary-preparedness 00:00:46 Smoke, bureaucracy and extra outfits: get ready for May in Europe 00:03:51 Good Week: Blackout behaviour 00:22:22 Bad Week: OnlyFans influencers in Sweden 00:38:20 Interview: Dominika Sitnicka and Agata Szczęśniak on Poland's upcoming presidential election 01:03:14 The Inspiration Station: Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' and Carême 01:07:51 Happy Ending: An off-the-pitch win for Norway's women's team

    Producers: Morgan Childs and Katy Lee

    Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak Music: Jim Barne

    YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | hello@europeanspodcast.com
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 13 mins
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup
No reviews yet