My guest is Glenn Mikhailif.

Glenn Mikhailov is the Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport

at the European Commission.

Welcome to the podcast, Glenn.

Thank you, Paul.

Well, you must have the longest job title, maybe, in the entire college of commissioners.

Did you expect to have such a portfolio when it was proposed to you about 18 months ago?

Paul, it's the longest but the simplest. Simplest. Because this is about everything that binds

people together in the European Union. The European Union is usually associated with making rules,

making laws, and building this infrastructure, my portfolio focuses on everything

that holds this together. It focuses on people. It focuses on culture that brings people together.

It focuses on sport that is a celebration of human excellence. It's a celebration of competition.

It's intergeneration and fairness,

how we think for those who will come after us.

And it's about youth,

which is actually the future of our societies.

So I have the longest title, but the simplest mission.

Well, it's true.

It may seem like a paradox to the outside world that the portfolios with the shortest

like competition, antitrust or trade.

They're the ones where there are the so-called community competence and the commissioners

who have those jobs are very powerful, whichever president is president of the commission at any given

...