POLITICO's EU Confidential

While regular host Ryan Heath recovers from his holiday jet lag, news editor Andrew Gray presents an interview with former Irish PM John Bruton on Brexit, a roundup of the latest on Britain's departure from the EU, and discussion of stories from across the Continent. We start with POLITICO's Brexit editor James Randerson, who brings us up to date on the flurry of Brexit position papers released by the U.K. government as well as the EU's official reaction — and what it really thinks. Bruton, the former Irish prime minister who later served as the EU's ambassador to Washington, tells us what Brexit will mean for Ireland, why Britain may decide its vision of life outside the EU isn't achievable and how the rest of the European Union will fare when the negotiating gets tough. In our "EU WTF" feature, Playbook's Harry Cooper and POLITICO tech reporter Joanna Plucinska discuss Donald Trump's Scottish tax break, Cambridge University Press's Chinese challenge and a big rise in popularity for the EU. You can contact the podcast team at playbook@politico.eu. Look forward to hearing from you!

Regular host Ryan Heath is on holiday but the podcast rolls on with news editor Andrew Gray standing in once more. This week, we've dug into the archives again to bring you the highlights of a conversation between Ryan and General Petr Pavel, the head of NATO's military committee, at a Playbook event in June. Pavel talks about Turkey, Russia and defense spending among NATO allies. Germany's Social Democrats want to make military spending a key issue in their campaign to stop Chancellor Angela Merkel winning another term. With some five weeks to go until the parliamentary election, POLITICO Berlin correspondent Janosch Delcker brings us up to date on the battle for votes. Janosch explains why taking a holiday has worked out well for Merkel while challenger Martin Schulz runs from one campaign event to the next. In our "EU WTF" feature, Brussels brains trust regular Ailbhe Finn is joined by POLITICO's Harry Cooper to discuss the new job of Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who is set to join Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft, the EU's response to the North Korea crisis, and the Brexit position papers published by the British government. You can contact the podcast team at playbook@politico.eu. Look forward to hearing from you!

Europe might be slowing down for the summer but we're still going strong. Regular host Ryan Heath is on holiday so news editor Andrew Gray stands in this week. We've raided the archive to bring you something a bit different — Emmanuel Macron, before he was famous. Well, before he was French president, or even a presidential candidate. Last year, soon after founding the movement that would help propel him to power, Macron sat down for a chat with Ryan and senior Paris correspondent Pierre Briançon at a POLITICO Playbook cocktail event in Brussels. We've put together the highlights from that conversation. It's a rare chance to hear Europe's man of the moment talk — at length and in English — about French politics, Europe, trade policy... and which character he'd like to play on stage or screen. Pierre Briançon joins us from Paris to bring us up to date on how Macron is doing as president so far — and how he's changed since that conversation in Brussels. In our "EU WTF" feature, Brussels brains trust stalwart Ailbhe Finn is joined by POLITICO's Harry Cooper to discuss European commissioners' expenses following revelations that they spent €500,000 on 261 official trips in two months. And in the Dear POLITICO advice session, our panel tries to help a Brussels intern looking for networking tips.

This week, host Ryan Heath sits down with Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former NATO secretary-general and now adviser to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Rasmussen talks defense spending, Trump and how to handle Russia. And he reveals why we should spend our summer holiday in Denmark. David Herszenhorn, POLITICO's chief Brussels correspondent, brings us up to date with events in Ukraine and Russia. In our "EU WTF" section, our Brussels brains trust, Lina Aburous and Ailbhe Finn, discuss the case of Andreas Georgiou, the Greek statistician who has been convicted for telling the truth about the state of the Greek economy. And in our Dear Politico section, we hear from an NGO worker who says their organization is misusing EU funds and wants to know what to do.

This week Violeta Bulc, the European transport commissioner and a taekwondo black belt, explains why she’d have Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary as a Brexit negotiator to make sure planes can still fly from the U.K. to the EU and vice versa the day after Brexit. Bulc is also passionate about drones and tells us why there should be millions of them, why they need to be regulated and how she plans to do it. You'll also hear what it takes to establish a cross-border fast train link, and so why many obvious connections — like one between Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest — are still missing from Europe's map. Bulc even entertains the idea of giving farmers EU Common Agricultural Policy money to buy drones to help with their work. Joshua Posaner, a POLITICO transport reporter, talks us through a big week for the automotive sector. Allegations of a massive cartel in the German auto sector prompted soul-searching at the European Commission. Their response was to create a new role, which may as well be called Vice President for Sorting Out The Car Sector, given to Vice President  Jyrki Katainen. The U.K. also became the latest country after France and Norway to announce it will ban petrol and diesel cars. The catch: the ban will only kick in 23 years from now. In "EU WTF," our Brussels brains trust, Lina Aburous and Ailbhe Finn, discuss the European Commission's decision promote six men and no women to the top civil service rank, on the same day the institution released its new staff diversity policy. And in our Dear Politico section, we hear from yet another Parliament assistant: this one is worried about whether they will be linked for ever in search engines to their MEP's legally dubious behavior.

This week Mark Scott, POLITICO Europe's new chief technology correspondent, talks to us about the trends he sees as tech companies deal with the reality that their libertarian early days are coming to an end and regulators confront them in the name of protecting citizens' and national interests. Taavet Hinrikus, the Estonian member of the 2016 POLITICO 28 list who helped build Skype and went on to found and run TransferWise, is our main interview guest. Hinrikus explains how he sees the future of banking, gives advice on how to found your own start-up, tells us about living life out of a backpack, and why he might be thrown out of the U.K. because of Brexit. Our Brussels brains trust, Lina Aburous and Ailbhe Finn, give their radically different takes on David Davis' performance at this week's Brexit negotiations in Brussels. Is he a genius or a fool? You decide. And in our Dear Politico section we hear from a listener with an extraordinary allegation: he says he's an assistant to an MEP who has asked him for a €1,000 a month slice of his salary as the price for keeping the job.

This week Christian Oliver, POLITICO Europe's trade editor, talks us through the astonishing speed with which the EU completed its trade deal with Japan, and why future trade deals will not be so easy. Marietje Schaake, a Dutch liberal member of the European Parliament and member of the 2017 POLITICO 28 list, tells us why she thinks a data flows chapter could still be added into the Japan trade deal, why she thinks protestors at the G20 summit have no excuse for their violence, and why she is so worried about the Trump administration. Schaake also has a message for Theresa May. Schaake thinks May is living in a fantasy land when it comes to post-Brexit trade deals: “Where's the sense of realism and what kind of narrative are you projecting out there and how are you ever going to meet it?” she told EU Confidential. Our Brussels brains trust, Lina Aburous and Ailbhe Finn, chew over whether it's OK for Ryanair and the European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc to support special flight deals for Erasmus program exchange students. And in our Dear Politico section we hear from a listener who wants to know what she should tell her boss — a male member of the European Parliament — who asks her to babysit, for no payment, at the end of long parliament sitting days in Strasbourg. She has a PhD and her male colleagues are never asked to babysit, she says.

Host Ryan Heath, author of POLITICO's Brussels Playbook, talks to journalist Frances Robinson about the things Brexit has already wrecked — before it’s even happened. Frances reveals how it's ruined the British dating scene, and why many of Jeremy Corbyn's fans might be in for a shock when they realize what he really thinks about Brexit. Victoria Espinel, CEO of BSA, the world's biggest alliance of software companies, discusses the politics — and awesome power — of data. Our Brussels brains trust, Lina Aburous and Ailbhe Finn, talk roadworks rage and Simone Veil. And in our Dear Politico advice section, we hear from a listener who says she has experienced sexual harassment from members of the European Parliament and their aides.

Host Ryan Heath speaks to Ángel Gurría, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), who explains why it will take more than austerity to get the world economy growing faster — and why his organization has to get more political to be useful in an era of populist complaints. POLITICO competition and tech reporter Nicholas Hirst breaks down the debate around the European Commission's decision to fine Google €2.42 billion and demand the search giant change its business practices. EU Confidential's Brussels brains trust of Lina Aburous and Ailbhe Finn discuss the choice of CEZ, a Czech power company, to ask female intern applicants to enter a bikini contest. And in our Dear POLITICO section, we talk about the case of a staffer at the European Parliament who says they are mistaken for a server at official receptions because they are not caucasian.

After two pilot shows, host Ryan Heath brings you the first official episode of POLITICO’s new podcast all about the EU and European politics. Ryan talks to European trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström about Trump, Brexit, China and more. Following the start of Brexit negotiations this week, we cut through the spin with POLITICO’s Brexit news editor James Randerson. And Ryan is joined by Ailbhe Finn and Lina Aburous from his Brussels brains trust to talk about an EU court ruling on soya milk, the nomination of two openly gay European prime ministers and the perils of politicians accepting discounted property deals.

Host Ryan Heath gets some tips for Brits from Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg about what it's like to be closely linked to the EU but not part of the club. POLITICO Europe news editor Andrew Gray and Brussels reporter Harry Cooper discuss the U.K. general election and its impact on the Brexit talks. And Ryan calls in two members of his Brussels brains trust, Ailbhe Finn and Lina Aburous to talk about proposals to construct a new European Parliament building and the plight of unpaid interns.

In this pilot episode of POLITICO's new podcast, EU Confidential, host Ryan Heath talks to European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici about the future of the euro — and about what he would do if he wasn't a politician. Ryan discusses issues behind the interview with POLITICO finance reporter Bjarke Smith-Meyer and gets the views of his Brussels brains trust on EU stories big and small.

A sneak preview of the new podcast from Politico Europe. Coming soon.