What do the Epstein files reveal about Europe’s elite?

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer

News, Society & Culture, Politics

4.8 • 162 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It has been an absolutely Awful Week for everyone who has been paying attention to the latest release of the Epstein files, both on this continent and around the world. We’re taking a look at what the documents reveal about Europe’s rich and powerful and whether any overdue reckonings might come out of the horrific revelations. On the brighter side: we also discuss a sitting president who does NOT want to be handed the Nobel Peace Prize. A win for us all!

Our guest this week is journalist Salsabil Fayed, co-author of the recent Follow the Money investigation “U.S. donors bankroll Europe’s policy ideas through think tanks”. (Gulp.) What does it mean that some of the biggest American tech companies are financing some of the work of some of the most influential think tanks on this side of the Atlantic? Salsabil spells it all out.

This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are Fairphone and not looking at your phone in the morning. So…go out and touch grass. (But catch up on your podcasts first.)

Resources for this episode:

“Moldovan president rejects Nobel Peace Prize nomination, says Ukrainian POWs deserve it instead” – Yahoo! News, 6 February 2026
“Holding the Line Between Democracy and Putin | President of Moldova, Maia Sandu” – The Rest is Politics, 11 January 2026
“Los ‘miles de fallos’ que exponen a las víctimas de los papeles de Epstein” – El Pais, 4 February 2026
“A survivor on the Epstein files – podcast” – The Guardian, 5 February 2026
Soundos el Ahmadi sets the record straight about misogynist violence on Flemish TV – De Afspraak, 7 February 2026
“U.S. donors bankroll Europe’s policy ideas through think tanks” – Follow the Money, 23 October 2025
“Podcast | The hidden U.S. influence on Europe’s policymaking” – Follow the Money, 10 December 2025
“US pressure revives call for powerful EU tech regulator” – Politico Europe, 18 January 2026
Screen time increases risk of dementia – Brankele Frank on Brainwash, January 2026 (In Dutch)
“Digital dementia in the internet generation: excessive screen time during brain development will increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in adulthood” – Journal of Integrative Neuroscience, 28 January 2022

Are you a visual learner rather than an auditory one? We got you. Here’s our new newsletter. (Almost) all of what you like from the weekly podcast, but…quieter. It’s nice. Try it.

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 and Wojciech Oleksiak

Editorial support from Katy Lee
Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

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 this latest episode of the Europeans, your weekly dose of
0:52.1	Eurochatter to be consumed via your ears.
0:56.9	This week we'll be talking about a European leader who doesn't think they should get the Nobel Peace Prize.
1:03.2	We'll be looking into the European fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files,
1:06.7	and we'll be finding out about an investigation into US donors bankrolling European policy ideas
1:13.4	through think tanks. That's all coming up this week and more because we'll have our usual
1:19.7	cultural picks and a happy ending to close out the show. I'm Dominic Kramer and I'm joined by Katz Laslo
1:27.0	this week. Hi Katz. Hi. How are you doing? Are you recovering from seeing everyone in full human form last week? Yeah, we don't need to catch up. I really know how you are. It's true. Let's get on and make a podcast. Let's do that. I was going to ask you if you've been watching the Olympics, but actually I haven't and you probably haven't either.
1:45.9	No, I definitely haven't.
1:47.0	Let's get on with the show then.
1:51.2	Good week.
1:57.1	Should we start with you, Dominic? Who's had a good week?
1:59.5	Well, there were various options for me to choose from this week.
2:02.5	For example, Portugal just elected a centre-left socialist president.
2:06.9	But he isn't getting good week.
2:09.7	I'm giving good week to the president of Moldova.
2:12.9	Another president, Maya Sandu, who gave a masterclass in how to respond to news that you have been
2:19.6	nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this past week. She effectively distance herself from the nomination,
2:26.3	saying on the Moldovan TV show, Kutia Nyagra, that Ukrainian prisoners of war deserve the prize
2:33.4	more than her.
2:34.8	Wow, it's so refreshing to hear about a leader who isn't desperately trying to get their hands on a Nobel Peace Prize.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.