EU Scream

Historian Heidi Tworek talks about her book, News From Germany, which deals with the malign influence campaigns that foretold Nazism.
It’s a fascinating look at the battle to control news and information in an era of immense turmoil spanning the First World War, the Weimar Republic, and the Third Reich.
One of Tworek’s core arguments is that the immense power of British, French, American and German news agencies is comparable with the power now wielded by Google Facebook and Twitter.
Tworek also says mistakes made amid hysteria over information warfare in the first half of the 20th century hold valuable lessons for safeguarding democracy in the first half of the 21st.
First, Tom and James discuss what Facebook, Google and Twitter say they are doing to curb interference in the run up to elections for a new European Parliament.
Read the platforms’ self-assessments here.
Please visit our website for episode art and for more about EU Scream.
Richard Wagner’s “Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde played by Ilaria Baldaccini is public domain. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Airside No. 9” is played by Lara Natale.

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Banners and slogans celebrating tolerance and equality make the European Quarter of Brussels look like a civil rights nirvana. The truth is more complicated. There is a critical lack of racial diversity in the institutions that run the European Union, and sexual harassment is a concern. Even before the MeToo movement exploded onto the global agenda, Jeanne Ponté, a young assistant at the European Parliament, kept a notebook documenting the harassment she and her peers experience. After Ponté talked about the notebook on French regional radio, her story was picked up by French national media and then internationally. Ponté speaks for the MeTooEP movement at the European Parliament and she explains why all candidates running in May’s EU elections should pledge to take an anti-harassment course and support reforms. Corinna Hörst is the co-founder of The Brussels Binder, a kind of Yellow Pages for female experts. It’s a refreshingly tangible push for equality in a city where much policy making remains male-dominated and where chauvinism — particularly among some German conservative lawmakers — runs deep. Hörst also is deputy director of the Brussels office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States where there's renewed urgency about preserving democracy and the rule of law as fractures within and among countries grow deeper. Hörst says such divisive times call out for a leader with the stature and skills of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Could Merkel become the first woman to fill one of the European Union's two top jobs? Joanna Maycock is executive director of the European Women’s Lobby, among the Top 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy, and a fellow at the Political Science Department at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She also has starred on the hilarious and hugely popular podcast The Guilty Feminist. Maycock reflects on the role satire has played in the feminist movement; why women are still very much second-class citizens in the European Union; and why efforts to promote women are being undermined by far-right forces including in Spain. Read her group's Manifesto for a Feminist Europe ahead of the May 2019 European elections and check out more from the dirndl-wearing duo Jogida: "Love Yodel! Hate Fascism!" For more on EU Scream please visit our website. “Muscovite No. 9” is played by Lara Natale. “Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125” by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. “Yodellers and Fellators” by radiotimes is licensed under CC by 3.0.

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Politicians mostly talk about shutting migrants out. That endangers migrants' lives and obscures an important truth: that Europe already relies on large numbers of migrants for farming and manufacturing. The reliance includes significant numbers of irregular migrants and refugees. But getting honest about this phenomenon has long been taboo for Europe's political class. Giulia Laganà of the Open Society European Policy Institute unpacks the issues against the backdrop of the EU's New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Giulia also addresses how improving labor conditions for migrants can help avoid the toxic discourse on migration and borders promoted by the far right.
This episode of EU Scream is sponsored by Google. The pandemic has hit European small and medium sized businesses hard. That's why Google is offering free tools and training to help businesses in Europe grow. For more information go to g.co/growwithgoogleBeethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. Wael Koudaih kindly contributed his track “Thawra” to this episode. You’ll find more of his music under the name Rayess Bek. Visit our website for episode art and more EU Scream.

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Strategic autonomy has become the mantra for European Union officials. It started as a broadly French idea: that Europe needs sufficient military power to promote peace and security independent of the US. The idea has evolved to include power in trade and technology to enable Europe to avoid getting squeezed by China and America. Now with Joe Biden as US president-elect, the concept is again up for debate.
Nathalie Tocci wrote the European Global Strategy that gave the concept of strategic autonomy its prominence. She says strategic autonomy should remain a guiding principle for Europe, even after Donald Trump leaves the White House. Another challenge for strategic autonomy comes from EU member states with liberal economic and internationalist outlooks. Financial Times Brussels reporter Mehreen Khan talks about the implications of strategic autonomy for Europe's free traders, the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, and the durability of Europe's soft power credentials.
This episode of EU Scream is sponsored by Google. The pandemic has hit European small and medium sized businesses hard. That's why Google is offering free tools and training to help businesses in Europe grow. For more information go to g.co/growwithgoogle
Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Papalin is licensed under CC by 3.0. Wael Koudaih kindly contributed his track “Thawra” to this episode. You’ll find more of his music under the name Rayess Bek. Visit our website for episode art and for more EU Scream.

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Can the European Union do more to hold back the kinds of malign forces that overran the US Capitol claiming to defend democracy? It's not an idle question. Democratic shortcomings in the European Union are regularly invoked by the far right to whip up nationalist sentiment. The effect has been to weaponise the European project against itself. Rather than a citizens' insurrection, what's foreseen in the EU is a period of deep and prolonged citizens' reflection. The Conference on the Future of Europe is a once-in-a-political-generation opportunity to make the EU more accountable, responsive and democratic. But ensuring the conference delivers results is an immense challenge. Professor Alberto Alemanno of HEC Paris is a leading voice on democratisation, and he takes up those issues and more. Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield is a Green member of the European Parliament from France who coordinates on rule of law in Hungary. She's also on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs that's been pushing to get the Conference underway. She's now concerned the conference may not happen at all.

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