Introducing: The Brussels Playbook Podcast

Brussels Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.4 • 202 Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2026

⏱️ 2 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

POLITICO’s daily audio briefing on what’s moving Brussels — and why it matters. The Brussels Playbook Podcast is the audio extension of the Brussels Playbook newsletter. Hosted by the Chief EU Correspondent Zoya Sheftalovich, the podcast runs Monday through Thursday, offering a clear, reporting-driven guide to EU politics in under 15 minutes. It’s a perfect companion for your morning coffee. Each episode takes listeners inside the decisions, power shifts and debates shaping the day in Brussels — and explains how they connect to national capitals across Europe. Clear, conversational and shaped by reporting from the heart of the EU, the Brussels Playbook Podcast brings context to EU politics as your day begins. On Fridays, the same feed features a longer episode that goes deeper into the week’s biggest themes, offering context and analysis beyond the daily news cycle — with Sarah Wheaton behind the mic. **A message from Amazon: Across Europe, businesses are growing with the AWS Cloud to build innovative, scalable products. From Europe’s largest enterprises and government agencies to the continent’s fastest growing startups, learn more about how AWS Cloud is helping businesses across Europe grow at AWS.eu.** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The best Brussels stories don't start with an announcement.
0:04.0	They start quietly.
0:06.1	There's a coffee in tomele, a call from a diplomat, a flurry of WhatsApp messages,
0:12.3	and then suddenly I start to notice that there's been a shift in tone from EU officials.
0:18.1	That's usually how you know something's moving and when the real reporting begins.
0:23.1	It's the part of the story you don't usually see, and it's exactly what we'll be bringing
0:27.5	you on our new podcast. It's called The Brussels Playbook podcast, and it'll be in your ears
0:34.5	Monday through Thursday. In under 15 minutes, we'll take you inside what's actually driving EU politics.
0:41.2	We'll show you the conversations, the signals and the power plays.
0:45.2	I'll share more in a sec. But first, a few words about me.
0:49.2	I'm Zoya Shephtalovic, Politico's chief EU correspondent,
0:53.0	and I've been with the company for 11 years.
0:55.6	I started here in Brussels, then moved to Australia. That's where the accent's from.
1:00.1	And I was born in Ukraine, which is where the name is from. What else? I run on good coffee,
1:06.1	cherry gummy bears and borsh. For years, I edited Brussels Playbook, the newsletter that lands in
1:11.5	boxes across Brussels every morning. And now I'm back in town. You might see me around.
1:17.1	You'll definitely be hearing a lot more of my reporting and audio. Yep, that's where the
1:22.6	Brussels Playbook podcast comes in. We've built the show to fit your morning routine.
1:28.2	Easy to listen to with your coffee or on the way to work, when you're stuck in traffic
1:31.8	or on your bike.
1:33.5	Short, sharp, insightful conversations about the stories driving the day, with the journalists
1:38.6	who break them, explain them, and sometimes argue about what it all really means.
	...

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