Brussels Playbook Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 111 — Inside UK Parliament's groping, harassment, bullying problem; Jacob Rees-Mogg reaction Aug 01, 2019

Show notes

As Boris Johnson's begins his term as U.K. prime minister on a fast and furious Brexit course, Annabelle Dickson asks the Conservative leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg, and a group of U.K. Parliament staffers, what they think about a seemingly endless list of complaints and two official independent reports of bullying, harassment, and management in the U.K. Parliament, and what can be done to improve the institution's culture.

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Episode 110: Author Peter May - Boris begins - Martin's move Jul 25, 2019

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Best-selling author Peter May talks about his political thriller set in Brussels, The Man With No Face, just republished four decades after he wrote it. Forget the heatwave sweeping the Continent and dive into a dark and wintry world of intrigue and murder as May describes the Brussels bubble of 40 years ago that formed the backdrop for the book. May talks about what has changed in Brussels and European politics since those days — and what has remained remarkably similar.

The podcast panel brings things bang up to date with Boris Johnson's Westminster wizardry — he really is very good at that disappearing Cabinet trick — and Martin Selmayr's intriguing career move. Then it's back to the literary theme with some summer reading recommendations from our panelists: "Merde in Europe" by Stephen Clarke, "Freshwater" by Akwaeke Emezi, "Reporter: A Memoir" by Seymour Hersh, and "Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence" by Rachel Sherman.

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Episode 109, presented by BP: Mette Grolleman — Debating EU presidency corporate sponsorship Jul 18, 2019

Show notes

Mette Grolleman runs the biggest lobbying office in Brussels — FleishmanHillard — and isn’t tempted to return to the Berlaymont to work for her old boss Margrethe Vestager: “When you leave, you have to leave,” she told EU Confidential.

Grolleman’s new goal is to bring nuance to how outsiders understand the EU. The different sides of the Brussels bubble need each other to deliver a functioning whole, she said: “We are an ecosystem ... I valued [lobbyist input] when I was on the inside.”

FleishmanHillard has good reason to explain its values to the world in 2019: it has been mired in a controversy over its campaign aimed at winning the reapproval of glyphosate, on behalf of Monsanto, now owned by Bayer.

Grolleman demurred when asked whether the company got its tactics right: “I can't speak so much to a specific case a because all clients need and deserve respect and privacy around what we do with them. But what I can say in more general terms is that when you are exposed to criticism … you need to take a step back and look at yourself and ask yourself whether you have acted ethically,” she said.

Grolleman predicts that the new, fractured European Parliament will be good for the lobbying business. “It's much more difficult for companies to go in and advocate their case now” because standing coalitions won’t work, and more Euroskeptics are expected to stop “wasting” their votes and get involved in legislating.

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Episode 108 — Paul Adamson, godfather of Brussels lobbying scene Jul 11, 2019

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In our latest podcast episode, we discuss the life of a lobbyist, the latest in the Brussels hustle, and the recent transatlantic twitterstorm.

This week’s feature interview is with Paul Adamson, the godfather of Brussels lobbying. He talks to Ryan about his 40-year career in the EU capital, how Boris Johnson hasn’t changed since his own whippersnapper days on the continent, and why lobbyists get a bad name. We spoke before U.K. ambassador Kim Darroch offered his resignation Wednesday.

The regular podcast panel looks into top-job nominee Ursula von der Leyen’s vote-gathering efforts, and debates the fate of the UK’s now ex-ambassador in Washington DC, Kim Darroch.

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Episode 107: Moonshot Venture's Mark MacGann —— President Ursula von der Leyen? Jul 04, 2019

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A surprise European Commission presidential nominee landed on Brussels this week: the polished and much-criticised defense minister of Germany, Ursula von der Leyen. The job is now hers to lose, and she might indeed lose it. German greens and socialists are furious about how the deal went down. Our main interview is with Mark MacGann: he’s a 25-year veteran of the EU’s tech and telecoms scene who runs Moonshot Ventures. We talk EU reform and how ended up needing 24/7 bodyguards during his time at Uber

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Episode 106, presented by Bayer: Can capitalism save the planet? Jun 27, 2019

Show notes

In the latest in our occasional series focusing on green issues, we ask whether capitalism can save the planet.

The European Commission held a sustainable finance conference this week, and two of our reporters went along to get beyond the hype. Tune in to hear them interview some of the conference participants, including the Commission's financial markets chief.

On the podcast panel, we talk about the proponents and detractors of the 2050 climate-neutrality target discussed at last week’s EU summit. And away from the green theme, our panelists pick apart the rights and wrongs of the media coverage of Boris Johnson’s row with his partner.

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Episode 105, presented by Romania's EU presidency: David Miliband & political rebrands Jun 20, 2019

Show notes

David Miliband speaks to POLITICO’s Brexit editor James Randerson in our feature interview this week.

It’s delicious timing, given the U.K. is getting a new prime minister and the EU is getting a new slate of leaders. Had history taken just a slightly different path, Miliband could have been a big player in those events.

He talks about Boris Johnson, why he thinks U.K. Labour’s Brexit policy is a disaster, the time he met the Belgian who saved his grandmother and aunt from Nazi concentration camps, and his views on how we can help the 70 million people on the run from conflict or persecution.

On the podcast panel, we talk about the strong and weak points of recent efforts by European and American politicians to rebrand themselves and their parties, and then move to the easy-listening topic of Middle East peace and development.

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Episode 104: Jean-Claude Juncker & Shada Islam Jun 13, 2019

Show notes

Hear European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in conversation with POLITICO's Florian Eder, discussing Trump, Brexit and more.
Also this week, Shada Islam from think tank Friends of Europe talks to POLITICO's Ryan Heath about educating EU newbies on Asia and how to counter Islamophobia.
In the podcast panel, POLITICO's EU editor Andrew Gray is joined by Lina Aburous, Alva Finn and Carmen Paun to discuss the battle for top EU jobs, Moldova's double-government trouble and how to respond if the U.S. president's son-in-law wants to drop by for a chat.

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Episode 103: Danny Alexander — Debating the Trump visit Jun 06, 2019

Show notes

In a week full of world-shaping history, from the 75th D-Day anniversary to the 30th anniversary of the Tianamen Square massacre, our feature interview is with former U.K. Cabinet minister Danny Alexander. He flew in from Beijing to discuss his new work as vice president at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. They're bringing the annual meeting to Luxembourg next month.

The podcast panel is Alva Finn and Ryan Heath flying solo on the Trump visit, a center-left win in Denmark's election, and whether or not the European Parliament is a "kangaroo court" as Nigel Farage claims.

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Episode 102: Martin Selmayr — EU election results May 30, 2019

Show notes

A look back at the European Parliament election results, and a look ahead to the race for EU top jobs.

Ryan Heath interviews Martin Selmayr, the powerful and controversial secretary-general of the European Commission, at a special POLITICO event the day after the election. Selmayr gives his insights on what it will take to install a new Commission, and what and who will shape its policy agenda.

The podcast panel of Alva Finn and Lina Aburous debate the meaning of the partial liberal, green and Euroskeptic waves that took away the decades-long parliamentary majority enjoyed by the European People’s Party and Party of European Socialists.

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