Hungary's plight, kids' rights, and Spargelzeit

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer

Society & Culture, News

4.8 • 274 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Asparagus, lesbian family rights and Viktor Orbán’s latest power plays: like all good meals, this podcast episode is perfectly balanced. German food writer Ursula Heinzelmann joins us to explain the ‘Spargelzeit’ phenomenon that sees foodies going nutty for asparagus at this time of year. We’re also taking a look at LGBTQ rights in Italy and unpacking the Hungarian government’s plans to ‘starve and strangle’ civil society. Can Orbán be stopped? You can find out more about Ursula’s work on her website and follow her on Instagram here. Thanks for listening. If you have any spare cash this week, please consider donating to Hungarian civil society groups and independent media outlets before the planned passing of the ‘starve and strangle’ law in mid-June. UNITED for Intercultural Action, the NGO run by our former guest Philip Pollák, would be extremely grateful for your donations; you can also donate to any of the organisations on this list of Hungarian NGOs (get in touch if you have ideas of organisations to add to this list). Still got some spare cash? 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: Rita Payés’ Tiny Desk Concert and CMAT. Other resources for this episode: The Convention on the Rights of the Child - United Nations, November 20, 1989 Sentenza 68/2025 (Italy’s constitutional court ruling on lesbian couples and IVF) - Corte Constituzionale - May 22, 2025 ‘A Threat to the Core: Why the New Hungarian Transparency Bill is an Attack on the Foundations of the European Union’ - Verfassungsblog, May 21, 2025 00:46 The Europeans: Pouring asparagus straight into your ears 02:49 Good Week: Lesbian mothers in Italy 12:47 Bad Week: Hungary's 'starve and strangle' law 37:10 Interview: Ursula Heinzelmann on the magic of Spargelzeit 49:58 The Inspiration Station: Rita Payés and CMAT 54:10 Happy Ending: Portugal's clever teen media strategy Producer: Morgan ChildsMixing and mastering: Wojciech OleksiakMusic: Jim Barne and Mariska MartinaYouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | [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
0:22.8	podcast. Hello and welcome to the Europeans, the podcast that stubbornly insists on looking at this sprawling continent as a thing, however messy that thing is.
0:56.9	Yes.
0:57.4	I'm Dominic Kramer in Amsterdam and I've got a Katie Lee down the line in Paris.
1:02.2	How's life, Katie?
1:03.6	Life's good. I am freshly returned from a wind-swept weekend in Brittany.
1:08.4	I'm feeling very refreshed, actually.
1:10.4	Ooh, you've got some of the
1:11.2	nice sea air. I did. It makes you sleep better. I don't know if it's scientifically proven,
1:16.4	but I just, I think it kind of tires you out and then you sleep better. Everybody should live by the
1:20.8	sea. Interesting. I'm skeptical of the science behind this, but sure. Researchers, get out there
1:26.9	and prove it.
1:28.5	How are things in Amsterdam?
1:31.3	Yeah, here, everything's fine.
1:35.9	It seems like the drought that everyone's been worrying about is slightly further away because it's been raining for the past week.
1:38.3	So we're back to the national tradition of cycling through the driving rain
1:42.0	and turning up soaking wet to work every day.
1:45.5	Everything is as it should be.
1:46.3	Exactly.
1:48.9	But yeah, otherwise everything is fine with me.
1:52.0	Shall we talk about what's coming up later on in the show, Katie?
	...

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