EU Scream

Estonia, a tiny Baltic state, was hit by a giant shockwave in March when a political party promoting white supremacist views won nearly 18 percent of the vote in a general election. A second shockwave hit when Jüri Ratas, the leader of the liberal-left Centre Party, invited the party, called EKRE, to form a coalition government...

You may have heard how large numbers of European Union citizens in Britain could not exercise their right to vote in the bloc’s elections. They were disenfranchised by British ineptitude and perhaps outright discrimination. But look beyond that group and there are 17.5 million more EU residents of voting age formally excluded because they lack a European passport...

Yanis Varoufakis is the leftist former Greek finance minister who tried and failed to end austerity. Like him or loathe him, Varoufakis is worth a look ahead of EU elections where centrists are struggling to compete with the far right’s clear and simple, if deceptive, messages. After a brief and tumultuous term in office, Varoufakis created the Democracy in Europe Movement, DiEM25...

Is the contest to become the next president of the European Commission just make-believe democracy? We look for answers in the Dutch city of Maastricht, where candidates held their first official debate on April 29th.

Christine Neuhold, the professor of EU Democratic Governance at Maastricht University, which helped organise the event, talks about what was real, and surreal, about the debate...

This week we’re in conversation with Carl Dolan, the outgoing director at the EU office for anti-corruption organisation Transparency International. He explores links between populism and corruption at the European Parliament and in Hungary.

We also meet civil society activist Julia Krzyszkowska. She and data geek Xavier Dutoit struggled — and succeeded — in creating an online tool called MEP Watch...

Margrethe Vestager is the European Union antitrust enforcer who's earned global recognition for pushing Silicon Valley giants like Apple, Google and Facebook to treat consumers and competitors fairly.

Last month she put herself in the running to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission. That makes her a Spitzenkandidat, a German word that is EU jargon for being one of the lead candidates for Mr. Juncker’s job...

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...

This episode of EU Scream aired a couple of weeks ago amid expectations Europe’s conservatives would expel Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary and his Fidesz party for violating the rule of law and insulting EU leaders.

Last week the European People’s Party, as the conservatives are known, agreed a mere suspension. 

Rather than showing contrition, Orbán immediately resumed his belligerent stance against migrants and the European Commission...

As kids worldwide strike for action on climate change, James and Tom take a look at a group who doesn’t share their sense of urgency: Europe’s far right.

The UK Independence Party has a long history of denying climate science while Marine Le Pen of the French National Rally uses global warming to whip up fears about mass arrivals of refugees...

The regime run by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary uses smear campaigns to feed an atmosphere of political and psychological warfare. The smears are felt far beyond Hungary and could serve as a model for other strong men and autocrats in Europe...