Listen: Can the EU fine Google, Apple, Meta, without angering Trump?
Each new multi-million euro fine on Google, Apple and Meta raises a blunt question for Europeans: are tougher rules on online giants worth the risk of higher US tariffs?
Podcast
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Listen: Why are Europeans struggling to eradicate poverty?
The EU races toward its 2030 employment goal, but the real battle is over whether richer member states will back deeper social protection that could reshape power and solidarity in Europe.
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Listen: Does Pedro Sánchez stand a chance of being reelected?
With one of the EU’s last openly left-wing migration agendas and a high-profile clash with Donald Trump over the Middle East, Sánchez’s fight for survival in Madrid could reshape Europe’s political balance in 2027.
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Listen: Is Ukraine gaining the upper hand against Russia?
Disrupted fuel supplies, damaged refineries and a stalled frontline are starting to bite into Russia’s war machine, even as Ukrainians pay a steep price in money and lives.
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Listen: France legalises assisted dying, is Europe following?
With France now joining just five other EU countries that permit assisted dying, millions of Europeans still face radically different choices over how they can end unbearable suffering, depending purely on which border they live behind.
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Listen: Can Europe remain prosperous with a rapidly ageing population?
As EU leaders talk tough on cutting immigration, their own data shows that without more foreign workers Europe’s pension systems, hospitals and care homes could buckle under the weight of its ageing citizens.
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Listen: Will the EU finally ban social media for kids?
As EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen pushes to curb what experts call “addictive” online environments for under-13s, EU capitals are already split over how tough to be — and how to police it.
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Listen: When will Gaza finally find peace?
A ceasefire in name only, a blocked civilian committee in Cairo, and EU threats of sanctions that may not materialise — this episode unpacks why Gaza’s path to peace keeps slipping away.
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Listen: Is the new Hungarian prime minister Péter Magyar delivering on his promises?
As Brussels welcomes Magyar’s moves on Ukraine aid and frozen EU funds, the real battle is shifting to whether he can lock in rule-of-law reforms before entrenched Orbán loyalists regroup. Is the new prime minister delivering on his promises?
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Listen: Why Europe’s renovation boom is wasting billions, missing real energy savings
As EU funds flow into improving the energy efficiency of homes, the failure to support deep renovations risks locking entire neighbourhoods into homes that remain expensive to heat and cool for decades. So why isn’t EU funding delivering on its promise?
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Listen: Does Alexis Tsipras stand a chance of becoming Greece’s prime minister again?
As the conservative government bleeds popularity, Tsipras is testing whether a hybrid message of radical left economics and “patriotism” can redraw Greece’s political map before next year’s election.
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Listen: Is the EU a safe place for transgender people?
Europe can celebrate a landmark trans rights judgment in Luxembourg one week, yet still leave trans people fearing rising hate and legal limbo in countries just a short flight away. But what is actually the state of transgender rights in Europe?
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Listen: Could remigration become a reality in Europe?
From a Remigration Summit in Portugal to a Save Europe Act petition in Brussels, a coordinated effort is being made to mainstream a once-fringe idea that experts say breaches fundamental rights.
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Listen: How Scotland managed to cut violent crime in half
Between 2006 and 2016, the number of homicides fell by 56 percent in Glasgow alone. And across Scotland as a whole, the homicide rate dropped by more than a third.
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Listen: Hormuz latest – will oil and gas prices keep falling for the summer holidays?
Iran and the United States signed an interim agreement two weeks ago. Yet hostilities between the two countries have not completely stopped. So starting the summer holidays, what should we expect for oil and gas prices?
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Listen: Who will benefit from the new €3 tax on small parcels?
From Wednesday onwards, the European Union is introducing a new €3 customs duty on low-value parcels entering the bloc from outside the EU – will you end up paying for this?
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Listen: What’s stopping the EU from being tougher against China?
As Beijing tightens its grip on key raw materials and factories fear shutdowns, the EU’s next move on trade with China will signal whether it can defend its industries without triggering a full-blown economic clash.
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Listen: EU moves to exclude military-age Ukrainian men from protection scheme
The European Commission wants to extend unconditional protection for Ukrainians fleeing the war for another year — but not for men of fighting age. Where does this decision come from, and what could it mean for both Ukraine and the European Union?
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Listen: Is Italy’s Meloni paving the way for the National Rally in France?
As Giorgia Meloni turns Italy into a test case of far-right rule, her mix of compromise in Brussels and hardline policies at home is quietly shaping how France’s National Rally sells itself to wary voters.
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Listen: As heatwaves sweep across Europe, is the EU investing enough to adapt buildings to extreme heat?
While heatwaves force school closures, very little EU money is earmarked for adaptation projects to cool the buildings people depend on every day.
