Recent European Events Digested with Europe Elects Podcast

, by Kimberley Mannion

Recent European Events Digested with Europe Elects Podcast

For anyone aspiring to keep on top of all the ins and outs of European politics, the Europe Elects podcast is essential listening. Each episode includes extensive news from elections taking place around the continent, from high profile national elections to those which won’t be an international front page splash, like the Portuguese Northern Mariana Islands. All of this is brought with analysis from political party representatives and commentators from highly respected newspapers. There are even historical segments on elections of the past for when 2020 just isn’t giving you enough. Below are some highlights you can expect from the most recent episodes.

In the latest episode, host Euan Healey is joined by the Secretary-General of the European Green Party for a fascinating discussion on green party politics. The climate emergency is climbing the political agenda and becoming more urgent by the day. It is far now from being an issue only discussed by green parties, and likewise green parties have a much broader agenda. Commentators paid increased attention to the Green Party after it achieved its best result ever in the 2019 European Parliament election. That was in a time before Covid-19 stole the world’s attention, and so the podcast asks whether this support is still in place, and the ‘green wave’ as strong.

Although the podcast is very much focused on Europe, no one can help glancing westwards across the Atlantic at the moment. There is an interesting discussion on the US election results and how the polling industry got it largely wrong yet again, massively overestimating Joe Biden’s victory. We gain an insightful comparison with the European polling system; of course crucial to understanding European elections and what way the political landscape will turn.

A bit dated now but a fantastic look back to understand what was an important moment in European politics this year – the formation of the new Belgian government. The country’s politicians had finally reached an agreement after the last set of elections, held in May 2019, saw the country split, with the Flanders mostly voting to the right and Walloons to the left. After more than a year without a proper government, an executive was finally formed, comprising seven different parties. It also includes Europe’s first openly transgender minister, Petra De Sutter, as Deputy Prime Minister. Europe Elect’s Belgian correspondent fills us in on all the details.

Within the same episode is an interview with Czech Pirate Party vice-chairwoman, Olga Richterová. Despite its relative youth as a political party, the Czech Pirate Party is one of the most successful of Europe’s pirate parties. The mayor of Prague, Zdenek Hrib, represents them and they are now amongst the country’s main parties. Tune in to this episode for an analysis on Czechia’s recent elections and how the Pirate Party fared in them.

We recommend subscribing to Europe Elects to stay across all the electoral news in Europe. You can check out our interview with host Euan here.

Your comments
pre-moderation

Warning, your message will only be displayed after it has been checked and approved.

Who are you?

To show your avatar with your message, register it first on gravatar.com (free et painless) and don’t forget to indicate your Email addresse here.

Enter your comment here

This form accepts SPIP shortcuts {{bold}} {italic} -*list [text->url] <quote> <code> and HTML code <q> <del> <ins>. To create paragraphs, just leave empty lines.

Follow the comments: RSS 2.0 | Atom