POLITICO's EU Confidential

Former European Council President Herman Van Rompuy talks to host Ryan Heath about the future of the EU in this week's episode. EU reform and Brexit haiku: Since leaving office, Van Rompuy has been shepherding a major report on the future of the EU, the New Pact for Europe, in the name of several leading foundations and think tanks. In a challenge almost as daunting, he has composed a haiku about Brexit especially for EU Confidential listeners. Hear the haiku — in English and in Dutch — in this week's podcast. A hopeful multi-speed Europe: Van Rompuy's political goal with the report is to create the practical steps that can "turn fear into hope" across Europe. It's a modest, Belgian approach to healing some serious wounds in the EU body politic. He says multi-speed Europe can work in certain circumstances and that “the countries who want to make progress on some issues have all the instruments they need” already. We also talk to the lead author of the report, Janis A. Emmanouilidis. EU WTF moment of the week — Manic Monday: Theresa May came to Brussels expecting a Brexit deal but left empty-handed: scuppered by her own governing majority at home. Hear our take on the deal that wasn't. EU Thumbs Up: The panel looks at the efforts to map accessibility in Europe on the occasion of European Day of Persons with Disabilities. Dear POLITICO: The panel advises a man of South Asian descent who complains that an MEP is constantly confusing him with another man from the region. Though they look quite different, they have the same skin color, our correspondent says.

This week's show features back-to-back interviews with the European commissioner for health, Vytenis Andriukaitis, who is also a heart surgeon, and Bernhard Uhl, the head of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Glyphosate politics: Speaking just after the EU reapproved the use of glyphosate, Uhl, whose EFSA agency concluded there is no health risk associated with agricultural use of the weedkiller, said it's nevertheless legitimate to discuss what kind of value system should support our agriculture. He wants critics of his agency though to admit that those values debates are “not about science,” while conceding that the intersection of science and values is “always a difficult interface.” “Safest food in the world”: This month the EU celebrated 15 years of its landmark food safety law. Uhl insisted the law sets Europe apart and above other countries and regions which it comes to food “transparency,” “traceability” and “crisis preparedness.” The law was born out of the 1990s BSE crisis and “a real breakdown of trust into the whole food system and food safety system,” he said. In the podcast, hear how many of the claims proposed by food companies are rejected by Uhl's agency. “There was always the tendency to say this food makes you more intelligent, more young, more beautiful, more whatever. And if you don't have scientific substantiation for that we'll give a negative verdict,” he said. Andriukaitis: EU can now hold national governments to account. Commissioner Andriukaitis talks about the European Commission's recent “State of Health in the EU” report and country profiles. He explains why he believes better data collection will allow the EU to nudge governments “more precisely” and hold them to account. The EU's digital chain of 300 health policy laboratories: “We joined together more than 300 hospitals in 26 member states. Now we will launch an IT platform which can help us to connect from Lisbon to Helsinki," Andriukaitis said. Time to upgrade status and tools of general practitioners: Although he is a heart surgeon, Andriukaitis believes medical students need incentives to turn to general practice rather than sexier specialities that give them easy access to new technology, medical innovations and big cities. Hear how he thinks that can be done. EU WTF moment of the week: Germany's conservative Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt going rogue, and voting to renew the EU glyphosate license, without consulting Chancellor Angela Merkel and in defiance of his left-wing environment minister colleague, Barbara Hendricks. Die Welt revealed Wednesday, after this week's podcast panel had been recorded, that Hendricks herself went behind Schmidt's back to sign six executive orders banning certain types of fishing on the day before the German general election in September. Dear POLITICO: The panel tries to help a would-be EU official who passed a competitive entrance exam only to be booted out of the EU system. Hear the story and the European Commission's response in the podcast. Links to the stories mentioned in the 'EU Thumbs up' section can be found below: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/19/croatia-mental-health-pioneering-centre https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/23606-who-helps-croatia-s-lonely-isolated-old-people-meet-proplan-from-holland http://www.psycart.eu/en/news/exhibition-home-eufami-30-november-9-december

Episode 23 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee. This week, we've got two feature interviews for you. As well as Bach, there's Adecco Group board member Stephan Howeg. We also talked to POLITICO's Florian Eder about the recent political developments in Germany. German twists and turns: Florian Eder gives us a recap of what happened last week when the liberal FDP party quit the German coalition talks after weeks of exploratory talks. Together with our news editor Andrew Gray, Florian talks us through the options that are left for Chancellor Angela Merkel. Career coach: Stephan Howeg went from mechanic to board member of the Adecco Group, a Fortune 500 company. He now is an ambassador for the EU Skills Week and explains how Adecco is a career coach for millions of people. Olympics and the EU: Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is up next. He was in Brussels recently and was the first IOC president to address EU sports ministers. Bach told them he wants to work with the EU to help sport increase social inclusion. But at the same time, he is worried that competition regulators want to restrict how the IOC and its affiliates operate. Last but not least, Bach tells us what to expect from the anti-doping investigation into Russia. EU WTF moment of the week: The race to relocate the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority out of London. In selecting Amsterdam and Paris as the new homes of the agencies — which ended with the drawing of names out of a hat — it looked like they were a prize to be given away.

Episode 22 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features Eldar Sætre, the CEO of Norway's oil and gas company Statoil. We spoke to Sætre on November 9, after the COP23 global climate conference had kicked off in Bonn, Germany, but before Norway's $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund proposed dropping investments in oil and gas stocks. We also chatted with POLITICO's Sara Stefanini, who has spent the week in Bonn reporting on the climate conference. Paging Rex Tillerson: Sætre says the future of his business is green, but that it won't give up oil and gas anytime soon. Would he call U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — a former oil and gas CEO himself — to push a green message? “You know I could call Rex, but I think the U.S. politics is more complex than that. So I don't know ... I'm very open about this when I go to Washington.” Beating the dependency on subsidies: Scaling up the use of renewable energies such as wind and solar power has tended to require big upfront public investments or tax incentives. That landscape is changing quickly, Sætre said. “I remember the first projects that we engaged in requiring massive subsidies. And what we've seen in the latest project is that you're very close to having and installing offshore wind actually more or less without subsidies ... That's a tremendous journey.” EU WTF moments of the week — White supremacists march in Warsaw and European Parliament's hot water cut off: In Europe, it can be easy to dismiss white supremacy movements as merely populist or nationalist in nature. This week the podcast panel looks at how radical nationalists demanding a "White Europe" and an "Islamic Holocaust" during Polish independence day celebrations made international headlines. On a lighter note, we also discuss why MEPs have lost hot water in their offices, forcing them to take a cold shower in both literal and metaphorical terms. Dear POLITICO: The panel advises a Brussels employee who says their boss has signed at least one non-disclosure agreement with an allegedly mistreated female staff member, and that their team has been warned not to speak to the media about it.

Host Ryan Heath interviews Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the head of Greece's New Democracy party and opposition leader in parliament. The outsider and the Mitsotakis dynasty: The opposition leader is the son of a former Greek prime minister, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, yet ran for the party leadership with virtually no support from fellow MPs. Instead, he won in an open primary thanks to support from ordinary Greek center-right voters rather than party elites. “My career is not the typical career of a professional politician," he said. "I was educated in the U.S. and I spent 10 years working in the private sector before I entered politics. At the same time, I'm also considered a reformer within my own party. So I am changing my own party and this sometimes, I'll be very honest with you, is causing friction.” Mitsotakis claims Tsipras has been costly: The New Democracy leader says the price of electing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in 2015 can be counted by Greeks in cash. “If you just look at the projections of the European Commission back in 2014, they were predicting at the time that the economy would grow 2.9 percent and 3.6 percent in 2015-2016. We had a recession in both. We paid a very heavy bill for experimenting with Mr. Tsipras.” Big ambitions: Mitsotakis says he would not be tinkering around at the edges if he were to become Greek prime minister. “There's an issue of seriousness competence, professionalism in governance and government,” he said, adding that he envisions “a smaller and more efficient government. I want to streamline public spending. I want to cut taxes. I want to make Greece an attractive investment destination.” EU WTF moments of the week — Oettinger's car industry defense and UK omnishambles: The podcast panel ponders why German Commissioner Günther Oettinger went to the wall for a position defending the German car industry when all 27 other European Commissioners disagreed with him. And after the second British Cabinet ministerial resignation in a week, we wonder: Who's next? Dear POLITICO: The panel advises a male correspondent who complains that women in the EU institutions use their sexuality to manipulate men and advance their careers.

Ryan Heath interviews Rolf Falter, a historian who has worked across the Belgian and EU political landscapes: from adviser, to journalist, to get-out-the-vote advocate, to author of a new book on Europe. The dangers of absolute identity: Falter argues that one of the good things about fragmented Belgian identities is that they show how difficult and dangerous it can be to identify 100 percent with one region, one party, one identity. "None of us is a hundred percent British, or 100 percent German," he says. The result of that mindset in Belgium is the nation is adept at "subtle democracy" and the art of compromising in order to keep the country running, he said. Using Brussels to solve national political problems: Falter laments that compared to the era in which the European Union emerged from the ashes and rubble of World War II, politicians no longer use Brussels to solve domestic problems, but instead pin blame for those problems on Brussels. In the past “you could solve national political deadlocks by choosing the European way, and that's what happened,” he said. Did you know? Falter explains how France was once intent on developing a nuclear weapon as a security guarantee before it would agree to the development of a deeply integrated European community that included Germany. EU WTF moment of the week — the Catalan Circus: We taped the podcast before Spanish prosecutors called for an international arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont, but nevertheless our panelists Lina Aburous and Ailbhe Finn discuss the highs, the lows, and the big questions surrounding the chaotic arrival of Puigdemont and six other former Catalan ministers in Brussels this week. Dear POLITICO: The panel makes suggestions to a political staffer in the European Parliament who spoke of harassment from both male and female superiors. We suggest the writer needs to consider tackling the problems directly, together with colleagues, before turning to outside help.

Episode 19 of EU Confidential features a special discussion on the issue of sexual harassment and assault in the EU Brussels bubble. The podcast also includes an interview with European Commission Vice President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič, in which we discuss everything from batteries to Brexit. Harassment allegations: Joanna Maycock from the European Women's Lobby explains why she thinks the wave of recent allegations can lead to positive change. Host Ryan Heath and panelist Ailbhe Finn talk about the times they experienced sexual harassment and assault. Together with Lina Aburous, they discuss an alleged rape case involving two European Parliament staff, resulting in the alleged perpetrator leaving their job. Point of no return: “It's not just in Brussels, right? It's everywhere.” Maycock said, after decades of trying to “shine a light” on the problem that she calls a “massive structural issue.” She hopes “the outpouring of testimony means that it's a wake-up call that it's a kind of point of no return, that actually things have to be done.” Clear rules, training needed: “The European institutions need to be really clear with all staff what constitutes sexual harassment and harassment in the workplace so that nobody can claim that they don't understand what it is or can try and use some kind of cultural relativism as an excuse for what is effectively illegal behavior,” Maycock said. Who gets punished? “The negative consequences of being a victim of sexual harassment (or) sexual violence are far greater and the negative consequences on the perpetrator,” said Maycock, who believes “we need to have systems which put the onus on believing in supporting people who come forward with allegations." In the second part of the podcast, Commissioner Šefčovič talks about his career as a Slovak diplomat and his work as one of the EU’s longest-serving commissioners. What he wishes he knew on Day 1 as a Commissioner: “You have to be really patient, you'll have to work on different levels … you have to repeat and repeat and repeat it and convince your peers and in the end it works.” EU Energy Union: If you believe the EU gospel, the first article of faith is the EU single market. We talk to Šefčovič, about the gaps in that market, and why it matters that the EU project, which started as a coal and steel community, still doesn’t have a complete energy market. Spoiler alert: his keywords are climate and competitiveness. Commissions compared: Šefčovič also reveals the big differences between the Barroso and Juncker Commissions.

Episode 18 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features an interview with European Commissioner Vĕra Jourová, who leads the EU's work on data protection among her many responsibilities as commissioner for justice, consumer rights and gender equality. We also remember Daphne Caruana Galizia: Controversial and crusading, Malta's most famous journalist Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb Monday afternoon. EU Confidential speaks with Paul Dallison and Harry Cooper, two POLITICO journalist who knew her, about her approach and Malta's often toxic political environment. Caruana Galizia was selected for the 2017 POLITICO28, a list of people shaping Europe. From jail to justice commissioner: Barely 10 years ago, Vĕra Jourová was falsely accused of EU-related fraud and subject to pre-trial detention in the Czech Republic. The experience inspired her to retrain as a lawyer to learn about the system that wrongly imprisoned her: today she is the justice commissioner of the European Union and oversaw an EU directive guaranteeing the presumption of innocence. Jourová says #MeToo: In a wide-ranging interview, Jourová reveals she had her own experience of sexual violence, calling on other victims to report the perpetrators and speak out to change prevailing cultures. "A lot of people in Europe think that beating women is a normal, kind of accepted, thing," she says. "We have to change the perception of society that this is something normal." Do you have a #MeToo story to share about an incident? Email playbook@politico.eu in confidence so there can be a better understanding of sexual harassment and assault in Brussels. Jourová also talks about Catalonia, Dieselgate, a plan to deliver a "New Deal for Consumers" and her efforts to take on multinational companies selling sub-standard food in Eastern Europe. EU WTF moments of the week: First up, Theresa May's dine and dash Monday night in Brussels. Our panelists Lina Aburous and Ailbhe Finn discuss how we got to the point where May asked Jean-Claude Juncker for Brexit help. And of course, the Austrian election: Sebastian Kurz, 31, is set to become the EU's youngest leader, on the back of a populist campaign. Catalan quandary: In our Dear POLITICO advice session, we hear from an MEP's assistant with a dilemma — how should he deal with a difference of opinion with his boss on Catalonia?

Episode 17 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features back-to-back interviews with Karl-Heinz Lambertz, president of the European Committee of the Regions, and George Kaminis, the center-left mayor Athens. Theresa May — Not dead yet: We start by getting out of the Brexit weeds in a conversation with Paul Taylor, POLITICO's Europe-at-large columnist. Taylor takes us through the debate in London following Theresa May's refusal to say whether she would vote for Brexit today, and argues that the British prime minister is weakened, but not going anywhere. Next up, says Taylor: a Cabinet reshuffle, followed by strategically timed concessions to the EU. Grassroots Europe: Karl-Heinz Lambertz, head of the EU's Committee of the Regions — one of its newer and lesser-known institutions — talks to us about what he thinks needs to happen with the €350 billion the EU spends on regional subsidies in its current long-term budget. Lambertz, who this week hosted Donald Tusk's keynote speech on Brexit and Catalonia, and for years headed Belgium's German-speaking region, explains what it takes to negotiate a settlement between a national government and its restless regions. Athens on a collision course with left-wing Greek government: Mayor George Kaminis explains why he finds it hard to work with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and why his version of economic reform is a "fairytale." Kaminis pitches himself as a reformer who can be better trusted with EU money and Greek tax money than Greece's left-wing government. "Cities have performed much better than governments" on asylum and other migration issues, said Kaminis, who wants to be the center-left candidate for prime minister in elections expected in 2018 or 2019. For our EU WTF moments of the week, we head to Romania and Austria ... What came first, the chicken or the tax?: Varujan Vosganian, a former Romanian finance minister, argued that Romania will never have a strong welfare so long as poor Romanians keep denying the state high tax revenue by keeping their own chickens and making their own jam instead of buying such products from stores and paying value-added tax. Austria's burqa ban ensnared a shark and bicyclists: Our panelists Lina Aburous and Harry Cooper discuss how to cope with the unintended effects of lawmaking.

Host Ryan Heath talks to POLITICO's chief Europe correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig about a homegrown journalism experiment: POLITICO's first Global Policy Lab. We convened labor and economics experts, executives and union representatives, along with regular POLITICO readers, to develop stories about how Europe can engineer growth, and in particular to develop real policy prescriptions for how Germany's old world manufacturing base could survive the country's demographic crisis. Robots to the rescue: Germany is using robots to beat back its demographic crisis of an aging population and to keep its manufacturing competitive. For all the value delivered by robots Matthew Karnitschnig told us that "You can't just rely on robots. There really is going to be no way around dealing with the problem without more immigration." To maintain Germany's current workforce average net migration levels would need to 400,000 per year. Telecoms connects all, so must support all: Telia CEO Johan Dennelind rejects the idea of telecoms as a "siloed industry" that exists in its own corner of the economy. He says telecoms is a platform that connects everyone, so he has both business and social obligation to commit to projects like the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. No charity here: From helping to deliver corruption-free markets to better health outcomes for women, Dennelind says delivering on social goals is part of Telia's annual reporting and "part of our core business. This is good for us and our shareholders." Sweden's Stockholm second only to Silicon Valley in start-up race: Dennelind says Sweden's success "comes on the back of an ecosystem in Stockholm that is fantastic," which is due to Sweden's political framework, skills base, local attitudes and good capital funding. No need for Macron's proposed EU agency for disruptive innovation: "I don't think it's needed. What is needed is to let loose the forces that are out there," in terms of skills and capital. Dennelind added "Creating separate innovation boxes is not the overarching answer, with all respect" to President Macron. The Merkel / Macron elevator pitch: "Do you understand the potential of digitalization, do you understand Europe can fall behind, but also lead the way? If you understand that which I believe you do: create the conditions, set the framework right, just do it," based on the Commission's proposed new telecoms code which national governments have attempted to water down. How to regulate right: Dennelind's advice to EU regulators is apply a principle of "Same service, same rules. Don't regulate technology: regulate services and behaviors. Don't regulate in advance: regulate problems" "We risk entering into a phase where we don't get things done in Europe": Dennelind thinks both sides have a special obligation to be constructive given the complicated telecoms landscape of more than 120 companies in Europe, compared to just a handful in the United States and China. EU WTF moment of the week is Catalonia: Our panelists Ailbhe Finn and Lina Aburous express a shared sadness at how Sunday's independence vote in Catalonia was handled. They question what instructions were given to police in Barcelona, discuss threat to the EU's credibility as a defender of citizens' fundamental rights, look at why finding an external mediator to bring the two sides together will be difficult. Dear POLITICO discusses Brit-bashing over Brexit in Brussels: Our panel says individual Britons can't be blamed for the decisions of a whole population and its government, and shouldn't be subject to rudeness of discrimination as a result of Brexit. They advised a listener that as a Briton in Brussels he is subject now to behavior that wouldn't be acceptable if directed at him as a member of a minority group.

In a special episode this week, we feature interviews from both sides of the Catalan independence debate ahead of the Catalan regional government's referendum, planned for Sunday. Ryan Heath interviews Jorge Toledo Albiñana, Spain's secretary of state for European affairs, who makes the case for Spanish unity, as well as Amadeu Altafaj, the Catalan government's representative to the EU, who accuses Madrid of using repressive tactics that breach EU law. Ryan also speaks to POLITICO Europe's managing editor, Stephen Brown, about the challenges of covering a passionate debate where there appears to be little scope for a negotiated compromise. Independence 'is not going to happen,' says Toledo. In response, Altafaj said: "That short quote is very telling. It says a lot about the problem. Basically, this is a political challenge and it should be addressed through politics and it's being addressed by all means: the judiciary, the police forces, and undercover operations, etcetera, but not through politics." Toledo rejects the idea that "a part of Spain decides on its own what the whole of Spain is." 'Evil illegal act:' That's how Toledo describes the referendum, claiming Madrid has been acting "very moderately" to prevent the vote. Their efforts have included judicial investigations into hundreds of Catalan officials, as well as bans on pamphlets and websites promoting the referendum. Barcelona remains open to discussion: While the rhetoric of independence campaigners suggests they'll let nothing stop them from reaching their ultimate goal, Altafaj insisted there is room for negotiation. “We are open to discussion and until the very last minute before the referendum on Sunday,” he said. Madrid likens its fight to JFK's on civil rights: Toledo used an interesting analogy to describe Madrid's situation, comparing it to how the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy dealt with state officials who refused to comply with a Supreme Court ruling against segregation. "You can disagree with the law. You can change the law. But you cannot not apply the law because you think it is not fit to your purposes," said Toledo. Altafaj, meanwhile, criticized Madrid's tactics as a "black and white, passionate macho Latino approach," adding that with a different approach by the Spanish government, "most of the tensions could have been diffused years ago." Both sides said that while tensions are running high, violence is not expected. Altafaj noted there have been six years of "huge demonstrations with more than 1 million people on the street and never a single incident." Also this week, our podcast panel discusses the difficulties posed by the results of the German election. Angela Merkel came in first, but can't be described as a clear winner. She faces limited coalition government options and must also contend with the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany. And finally, Dear POLITICO discusses EU Court confusion: What do you do when an esteemed British journalist can't tell the difference between the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg? Lina Aburous and Ailbhe Finn explain what they'd do.

Host Ryan Heath interviews Toni Cowan-Brown, a vice president at NationBuilder, the software company that has powered election campaigns for Emmanuel Macron's party, Theresa May, Bernie Sanders and even Belgian communists. Also this week: POLITICO's Florian Eder looks ahead to the German election. Smashing political barriers: Cowan-Brown explains how political software is dramatically lowering the money and time it takes to launch movements and campaigns. Analog Germany: But the company is not working on the German election: because political parties wanted all the data stored in Germany. We discuss whether that attitude is likely to change. About that election: POLITICO managing editor Florian Eder previews Sunday's parliamentary vote — and discusses who Brussels would like to see in the next government. Boris Johnson's Brexit vision — fact or fantasy? Our Brussels brains trust debates what Britain's foreign secretary is up to with his recent Brexit opus and fact-checks some of his statements. The court with optional judgments: The brains trust also talks about why the European Court of Human Rights has issued 10,000 judgments that have not been implemented by its member countries. Dear POLITICO discusses "Brussels or Bust": We hear from a listener who works at a pan-EU organization, and whose CEO has decided they don't need to live in Brussels. Is that decision hurting their credibility? Lina Aburous and Ailbhe Finn weight the pros and cons.

Ryan Heath interviews Tomáš Valášek, the former Slovakian ambassador to NATO who heads the Carnegie Europe think tank. As Russia begins its Zapad war game, the West should be worried about Moscow “downright lying about the size and the type” of military exercises it holds, Valášek says. But he also says that fears Moscow will use the exercise as a springboard to attack or invade a neighbor are overblown. Valášek said the EU has finally upped its defense cooperation game in a meaningful way, and that Jean-Claude Juncker's olive branches to eastern Europe in his State of the European Union speech are an essential gesture if the EU27 is to stay united through Brexit negotiations and planning for the next long-term EU budget. Also this week, Christian Oliver, POLITICO's European trade editor, guides us through Juncker's address. We discuss the speech's many priorities, traps, and fanciful power grabs. In our panel discussion, regular guests Ailbhe Finn and Lina Aburous discussing the political hot potato of the government of Catalonia's attempt to hold a referendum on independence from Spain. And in the Dear POLITICO advice session, we hear from a listener who says she has a bullying boss in the Europe office of a large company.

Host Ryan heath talks to David McAllister, head of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and a key ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. McAllister says the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU is a "historic mistake" and Turkey's authoritarian drift is “appalling." He also says the EU cannot slam the door on the membership aspirations of Western Balkan countries. McAllister says that while “there aren't many people who really believe that Martin Schulz could become German chancellor,” it would be a terrible mistake for the ruling CDU party to be complacent about their opinion poll lead. On Brexit, McAllister warns “the clock is ticking” for negotiators and said the U.K. needs to do more to bring the divorce talks forward. Also on the podcast this week, Jack Blanchard, the editor of the new POLITICO London Playbook, explains where Brexit is likely to bite most. In our "EU WTF" feature, Ailbhe Finn and Harry Cooper discuss an extraordinary set of money laundering and bribery allegations tied to the ruling elite of Azerbaijan, which has denied the accusations. And in our Dear POLITICO advice section we hear from a staff member of the EU-funded European House of History who has a string of complaints about the working conditions there — and we hear the EU side of the story too.

Regular host Ryan Heath is back with an interview with Michael O’Flaherty, the head of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency. The interview, recorded at the European Alpbach Forum in Austria, looks at why human rights defenders have failed to make more headway in the face of populist challenges. O'Flaherty also talks about the European Commission's fights with Poland and Hungary and why he regrets Brexit from a human-rights perspective. Also on the podcast this week, POLITICO's energy and climate editor Jan Cienski, one of our resident Poland experts, walks us through the key players in the European Commission's dispute with Warsaw over the government's role in the courts and its hardline positions on independent journalism and refugees. In our "EU WTF" feature, Ailbhe Finn and Lina Aburous discuss Emmanuel Macron's massive make-up bill, his tour of eastern Europe, and the incredible lack of chemistry between chief Brexit negotiators Michel Barnier and David Davis. And in the Dear POLITICO advice session, a European Parliament assistant recounts her distress at being asked by her boss to be "extra friendly" with other MEPs and their assistants to help him get the deals he wants. You can contact the podcast team at playbook@politico.eu.