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The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

Europe's climate vibe has shifted. Now what?

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer

Society & Culture, News

4.8274 Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It hasn’t been a Good Week for the climate since, er, 1820-something? And it wasn’t last week, either. But it is a good week for The Europeans, because we’re joined by Luisa Neubauer, one of Germany’s best-known climate activists. Luisa recently wrote a terrific piece for The Economist about Europe’s climate “vibe shift”. We got her insights on what has caused the greenlash and what we ought to be doing about it. It’s a thoughtful, self-reflective, heartening conversation we think you’ll enjoy.    We’re also talking about Brussels’ proposed “military Schengen” agreement, which would allow EU member states to move troops and equipment across borders relatively swiftly. (You don’t want to know how sluggish things are now.) And we’re taking a look at Slovenia’s troubling new “Šutar Law”, a security bill that is widely understood to target the Roma minority.   In other news… The Europeans are launching a newsletter! If you want to hear more about what happened in Europe over the past week and find out what we left on the podcast-cutting-room floor, subscribe to GOOD WEEK BAD WEEK over on Substack. New issues hit inboxes on Friday mornings.   And someone else has a new newsletter, too. Our very own Katy Lee has just published the first issue of Millefeuille, an English-language newsletter “for Parisians who are bad at local news”. If you fall in the middle of the Europeans podcast–Francophile Venn diagram, subscribe here.   This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are two newly resurfaced works by Johann Sebastian Bach (here and here) and Carlo Rovelli’s book about the physics of time, The Order of Time.  And if you, too, are in the market for a novella to help you knock out your 2025 reading goals, Dominic likes Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These.    Other resources for this episode:   “The surreal 45-day trek at the heart of Nato’s defence” - Financial Times, 17 November, 2025  “Commission moves towards ‘Military Schengen' and transformation of defence industry” - European Commission press release, 19 November, 2025  “Why you probably should not re-gauge railways in Europe” - Jon Worth, 30 September, 2025 “Slovenia’s ‘Šutar Law’ Sets a Dangerous Precedent for Europe” - Roma Foundation for Europe, 18 November, 2025 “Romani Activists Fear Collective Punishment & Discrimination as Slovenia Passes New Security Bill" - European Roma Rights Centre, 7 November, 2025   This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.Produced by Morgan Childs Editorial support from Katz LaszloMixing and mastering by Wojciech OleksiakMusic by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina   YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Substack | [email protected]

Transcript

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0:00.0

This podcast has been produced in cooperation with Uranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.

0:11.4

But this podcast would not be possible without the incredibly generous support of our amazing listeners who donate a little bit each month at patreon.com forward slash Europeans podcast. Hello and welcome to the Europeans, the podcast that promises a smoother journey around Europe than any of our roads, railways or skies can offer.

0:57.7

We're here to transport you painlessly, I hope, via your ears.

1:03.3

Your drivers today are Dominic Kramer, me and Katie Lee. Hi, Katie.

1:08.5

Hi, do we think that our sort of intro metaphors are getting out of control?

1:13.6

Yes, almost certainly. But at least I went for transport and not another food one like you do almost every week.

1:21.2

It's true. Well, there's so many good food analogies to be had, but I like this, Dominic.

1:25.6

Choo-choo-choo. I'm glad. Well, how are you doing there? You were late.

1:28.9

But do you want to tell listeners why you were late?

1:32.0

I was just drifting off, sitting here staring into space, really.

1:36.0

And looking at my fringe in the preview of this call,

1:40.2

wondering if it needs a cut. Is that a good excuse?

1:43.4

It's a really good excuse.

1:44.5

Better than any, I think.

1:46.7

What's going on with you over there in Amsterdam?

1:48.7

Oh, I'm just sick again.

1:50.0

I know I was sick last week, so it feels a bit pathetic.

1:52.9

But I did get better in between, and then I got a second cold.

1:55.6

I think it's just that time of year where there are so many viruses around,

1:58.7

and it's that time of year where I realize being an opera singer and being on stage with loads of other people singing, it's just like

2:04.1

the worst super spready viral thing to be doing. So yeah, I think it's probably up there with being a

2:12.0

teacher as one of the riskiest jobs for colds. Oh, commiserations. I'm sorry to hear that.

...

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