State of the European Union — German election latest

Brussels Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.4 • 204 Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ursula von der Leyen's State of the European Union address and the closing stages of the race to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor are our two big topics this week. POLITICO's Andrew Gray, Rym Momtaz and Matthew Karnitschnig bring us up to speed on the German election, which is now just over a week away. It's turning into a two-man race between Olaf Scholz, the candidate for the Social Democrats (SPD) who is now in the lead, and conservative Armin Laschet. But will talk of the SPD teaming up with more radical left-wing forces give Germans pause when considering their vote for the center-left party? We also take an early look at next spring's French presidential election, with a number of candidates already throwing their hats into the ring. Then we turn to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday. The annual set-piece moment gives Commission chiefs the chance to tout their successes and set out priorities for the next year. How did von der Leyen's speech stack up? POLITICO's team has the full analysis, starting with a dispatch from Strasbourg from Maïa de La Baume and Suzanne Lynch. Then David M. Herszenhorn addresses von der Leyen's remarks on Afghanistan and her push for greater European defense capabilities. Sarah Wheaton clarifies where the Commission president rightfully has bragging rights when it comes to the pandemic response and where she fell short. Paola Tamma takes stock of Europe's economic recovery efforts. And Karl Mathiesen and Clothilde Goujard take on two of von der Leyen's biggest legislative priorities: climate and digitization. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	EU Confidential gets started right after this.
0:03.5	This episode is presented by Google.
0:05.9	Hi, this is Elena.
0:07.3	Today, billions of people turn to Google for help in moments big and small.
0:11.4	It's our responsibility to keep you safe online by protecting your personal information and respecting your privacy.
0:18.0	So every day is safer with Google.
0:20.8	We are connected to the world by narrow straits, stormy seas and vast land borders.
0:27.1	And because of that geography, Europe knows better than anyone else that if you don't deal in time with a crisis abroad, this crisis will come to you.
0:37.8	Welcome to EU Confidential Europe's number one politics podcast. I'm Andrew Gray, Politico's
0:43.7	EU editor in Brussels. And you just heard European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
0:49.3	giving her big set piece speech of the year, the state of the European Union, at the European Parliament
0:56.8	in Strasbourg. Yes, the pilgrimage or travelling circus, depending on your point of view, is back,
1:03.2	with MEPs, officials and journalists all trooping down to the Parliament's official home in
1:08.9	Alsace for the first time in a long while.
1:12.4	Later in the podcast, we will give you a taste of what the atmosphere was like and we'll dive
1:16.8	deep into von der Leyen's speech, bringing you the highlights, as well as our own political
1:21.9	analysis of how she tackled some of the big issues facing Europe, including the pandemic,
1:29.8	climate change, digitisation,
1:36.4	economic recovery and foreign policy. All that's coming up in just a moment, but first let's turn to our podcast panel to look at the big European political story hanging over everything
1:42.1	at the moment, including the State of the Union. That's the
1:45.6	German election campaign. Welcome to Riem in Paris. Hi Riem. Hello, Wohl. And Matt in Berlin. Hi, Matt.
1:53.8	Hello. And we'll start with you, the German election, entering its final days just over a week to go. What do you think has been
	...

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