Podcast: Portugese elections, EPP’s Von der Leyen, Ukraine
Editor’s note: In the spirit of diversifying and experimentation, we’ve partnered with the reporters behind the Euroscopic podcast, who will be bringing a weekly conversational analysis of the top EU stories, coupled with interviews with some of EUobserver’s reporters on the stories we’ve published. I’ll let the kind hosts, Martin Gak and William Glucroft, take it from here:
It has been a busy week in European politics, and much of it has to do with the woman at the top and the executive office she runs. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen came back from Bucharest, the capital of Romania and the site of her EPP’s congress, last week officially anointed the conservative’s pick for another go in the top job. But questions linger over how much support she really has.
That’s an issue for von der Leyen the candidate. Von der Leyen the president has others. Her Commission keeps facing tough questions over repeated "cash for migration" deals. There’s also a cash-for-Orban trade that the European Parliament is so suspicious of they might take the Commission to court over it in a precedent-setting case.
Elena Sánchez Nicolás oversees coverage of these and other stories as EUobserver’s managing editor. She joins us to tell us what’s on her plate in an "ask the editor" segment we hope to make a regular feature of the pod.
Then, history professor and Ukraine/Russia expert Michael Kimmage calls in from Washington, D.C. with his helpful insights into the war in Ukraine — how we got here and where it might be going. He has a forthcoming book on that very subject.
You can follow Euroscopic on their Substack to receive the episodes as they’re published, or find them here on EUobserver every Wednesday (in principle). Also, drop us your questions or tips on topics for next episodes: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.