Europe Speaks: A TEPSA Podcast

Democracy Cracks #3 - What happens when no one believes in democracy anymore?

What does a society look like when trust in democracy crumbles? In this episode, we explore how distrust reshapes civic life, from people walking away from the ballot box to rising polarisation, conspiracy theories, and the appeal of extreme “solutions”. But we also look at the other side: how frustration can spark new forms of participation, creativity, and democratic renewal.

Democracy Cracks is a six-episode podcast mini-series exploring the cracks in our democratic systems, from weakening trust to widening social divides, narrated by TEPSA's Programme Manager Eva Ribera and produced as part of ActEU, a Horizon Europe research project.

 

Host and writing: Eva Ribera
Production: Florence Ferrando,  Barbara Vanotti
Editorial review: Mariam Khotenashvili, Alexandros-Christos Gkotinakos, Ilaria Giustacchini
Music: Nicolas Gadrat

Sound credits: 
parliament noises.wav by Eneasz -- https://freesound.org/s/178247/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
iPhone Text Sound by ukjoncollins -- https://freesound.org/s/653820/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Surfer dude - kit - Surprise n Shock kit 1 by Sadiquecat -- https://freesound.org/s/818949/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

This podcast is funded by the European Union.

Democracy Cracks #2 - Are politicians lying or have we stopped listening?

Many feel politicians don’t listen and that nothing changes. In this episode, we explore the roots of disillusionment: accountability failures, material pressures, and the way loud voices can reshape what feels “normal” in politics.

Democracy Cracks is a six-episode podcast mini-series exploring the cracks in our democratic systems, from weakening trust to widening social divides, narrated by TEPSA's Programme Manager Eva Ribera and produced as part of ActEU, a Horizon Europe research project.

Host and writing: Eva Ribera
Production: Florence Ferrando, Barbara Vanotti
Editorial review: Mariam Khotenashvili, Henrik Serup Christensen, Ilaria Giustacchini
Music: Nicolas Gadrat

Sound credits:
book_noises.wav by angients_ -- https://freesound.org/s/622081/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
cash register.mp3 by SoundCollectah -- https://freesound.org/s/108278/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

This podcast is funded by the European Union.

Democracy Cracks #1: Political trust - A thing of the past?

What does political trust really mean and can democracy survive without it? In the first episode of Democracy Cracks, we unpack what political trust is, why mistrust is not always bad, and why the “trust is collapsing everywhere” story is more uneven than it looks.

Democracy Cracks is a six-episode podcast mini-series exploring the cracks in our democratic systems, from weakening trust to widening social divides, narrated by TEPSA's Programme Manager Eva Ribera and produced as part of ActEU, a Horizon Europe research project.

 

Host and writing: Eva Ribera
Production: Florence Ferrando, Barbara Vanotti
Editorial review: Mariam Khotenashvili, Alexandros-Christos Gkotinakos, Ilaria Giustacchini
Music: Nicolas Gadrat

Sound credits:
Leiden University Netherlands by Ryding -- https://freesound.org/s/483135/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
ping 2.wav by cameronmusic -- https://freesound.org/s/138419/ -- License: Attribution 3.0
Glass Shatter 2.wav by Greg_Surr -- https://freesound.org/s/554564/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

This podcast is funded by the European Union. 

Democracy Cracks - Trailer

Democracy Cracks is a six-episode podcast mini-series exploring the cracks in our democratic systems, from weakening trust to widening social divides, through storytelling, research, and thoughtful conversation, narrated by Eva Ribera, TEPSA's Programme Manager and EU policy professional. 

Produced as part of ActEU, a Horizon Europe research project looking at trust, participation, and how democracy is changing in Europe, the series brings in science and stories to help answer a central question: is democracy breaking or breaking through?

 

Eva Ribera is Programme Manager at TEPSA. She coordinates the work of TEPSA’s Secretariat, working closely with Project Managers and Communications staff to ensure the effective implementation of the organisation’s activities. She holds an MA in International Relations (Security, Peace and Conflicts) from the Free University of Brussels and a BA in Social Sciences from Bordeaux Montaigne University. Her academic research focuses on democracy, fundamental rights, transitional justice, gender-just peace, and collective action.

 

Host & writing: Eva Ribera
Production: Florence Ferrando & Barbara Vanotti
Editorial review: Mariam Khotenashvili, Alexandros-Christos Gkotinakos & Ilaria Giustacchini
Music: Nicolas Gadrat 

This podcast is funded by the European Union.

EuropeChats - EU competitiveness, the Single Market, and the Omnibus | Discussion with Ann Mettler

This episode of EuropeChats is a discussion between Ann Mettler, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Columbia University, and TEPSA Executive Director, Mariam Khotenashvili. The discussion focuses on the EU's competitiveness, the future of the Single Market, and the Omnibus proposal by the Commission, which aims to simplify and harmonise the EU's digital laws.

Ann Mettler is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Columbia Center for Global Energy Policy. Until recently, Ann promoted the green transition at Breakthrough Energy, an organisation founded by Bill Gates, and previously she headed the European Political Strategy Centre, in-house think-tank of the European Commission during the Presidency of Jean-Claude Juncker.

EuropeChats is the flagship podcast of TEPSA and it is part of the TEPSA Podcast Channel “Europe Speaks”

Music: Worakls, 22 September 2014, Salzburg, Hungry music

This video is co-funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme of the European Union

Co-Funded by the European Union.

EuropeChats – The politics of the EU budget: Europe's Hamiltonian test? | Discussion with Klaus Welle

This episode of EuropeChats is a discussion between Klaus Welle, Former Secretary-General of the European Parliament, and TEPSA Secretary-General Jim Cloos. The discussion focuses on the EU long-term budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), covering the years 2028 – 2034.

The MFF sets the EU’s financing methods and policy priorities for the next 7 years. This episode looks at the history of the MFF, its evolution through the years, and its ability to address the challenges the EU is facing. It also explores the Commission’s recent proposal for the next MFF and questions whether it can be considered a ‘Hamiltonian moment’ for Europe.

Klaus Welle is the former Secretary-General of the European Parliament. He chairs the Martens Centre’s Academic Council since April 2023, and, in May 2025, he was appointed Special Advisor to the Commissioner for Defence and Space.

EuropeChats is the flagship podcast of TEPSA and it is part of the TEPSA Podcast Channel “Europe Speaks”

Music: Worakls, 22 September 2014, Salzburg, Hungry music

This video is co-funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme of the European Union

Co-Funded by the European Union.

EuropeChats – How has Trump changed transatlantic relations? | Discussion with Erik Jones

This episode of EuropeChats is a discussion between Erik Jones, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, Mariam Khotenashvili, Executive Director of TEPSA, and TEPSA Secretary-General Jim Cloos. The discussion, recorded in late June 2025, examines the first months of Donald Trump’s second term in the White House and what they mean for transatlantic relations.

This episode is a discussion with Erik Jones. Erik is Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute and a Nonresident Scholar at Carnegie Europe. He is the author, editor, or co-editor of books and special issues of journals on topics related to European politics and political economy. Professor Jones is co-editor of Government & Opposition and a contributing editor of Survival. His commentary has appeared in the Financial Times, the New York Times, and other major newspapers and magazines across Europe and North America.

This episode also takes place in the context of TEPSA’s latest book, to which Erik Jones has contributed. “The United States and the Future of Europe: Views from the Capitals”, is co-edited by Michael Kaeding, Johannes Pollak, and Paul Schmidt, and published by Springer.

EuropeChats is the flagship podcast of TEPSA and it is part of the TEPSA Podcast Channel “Europe Speaks”

Music: Worakls, 22 September 2014, Salzburg, Hungry music

This video is co-funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme of the European Union

Co-Funded by the European Union.

EuropeChats - Is EU enlargement geopolitical? | Discussion with Giselle Bosse

This episode of EuropeChats is a discussion between Giselle Bosse, Professor at Maastricht University, and TEPSA Executive Director Mariam Khotenashvili. The discussion focuses on the EU enlargement process in the context of a turbulent geopolitical landscape and against the backdrop of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Giselle Bosse is full professor at Maastricht University, Visiting Professor at the College of Europe and a fellow at the European Democracy Hub. She is a leading expert on EU democracy support, Eastern Neighbourhood and European security.  

EuropeChats is the flagship podcast of TEPSA and it is part of the TEPSA Podcast Channel “Europe Speaks”

Music: Worakls, 22 September 2014, Salzburg, Hungry music

This video is co-funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme of the European Union

Co-Funded by the European Union.

EU History Explained – A history of the European Commission

In this new episode of EU History Explained, Giulia Bonacquisti, Programme Manager at the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), takes a look at the history of the European Commission, the institution that proposes laws, defends the common European interest, and acts as ‘guardian of the Treaties’. We’ll look at how it grew from a bold post-war experiment into a key force shaping today’s Union.

This video takes us from Jean Monnet’s idea to pool together France and Germany’s coal and steel industries following the end of the Second World War with the European Coal and Steel Community and its High Authority, through the establishment of the European Communities and the subsequent merger of their executives, including the High Authority, into the European Commission, right up to the Commission of today.

EU History Explained is TEPSA’s video series exploring the origins of the modern EU. If you have ever wondered how the European Union of today came to be, or what lies behind the talk of politics being shaped in ‘Brussels’, then this is the series for you!

We would like to warmly thank the following institutions for their support in the production of this video: Historical Archives of the European Union, Jean Monnet House, European Parliament Partnerships Team.

Script: Giulia Bonacquisti
Recording & Editing: Barbara Vanotti & Hugh Evans
Music: Garrett Bevins - Infinite - Infinite (Wondershare Filmora X)

EU History Explained – A history of the European Parliament

In this new episode of EU History Explained, Giulia Bonacquisti, Programme Manager at the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), takes a look at the history of the European Parliament, an institution at the heart of pan-European democracy. We'll learn about the world’s first experiment in transnational democracy, whose members are unique among international parliamentary assemblies insofar as they are directly elected by the citizens they represent. We'll also learn about how the Parliament's powers have expanded over the course of the European project from the 1950s to today.

This video takes us from the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, a key step in the post-war Schuman Plan to secure lasting peace in Europe by pooling the French and German coal and steel industries, and the High Authority which managed this arrangement, through the decision to create a Common Assembly of appointed members to hold the supranational High Authority accountable, and beyond. From this origin, we trace the history of the Common Assembly under various guises - from European Parliamentary Assembly to today's directly elected European Parliament, noting the key moments where its powers and representativeness have evolved over the years.

EU History Explained is TEPSA’s video series exploring the origins of the modern EU. If you have ever wondered how the European Union of today came to be, or what lies behind the talk of politics being shaped in ‘Brussels’, then this is the series for you!

We would like to warmly thank the following institutions for their support in the production of this video: Historical Archives of the European Union, European Parliament Partnerships Team.

Script: Giulia Bonacquisti
Recording & Editing: Barbara Vanotti & Hugh Evans
Music: Garrett Bevins - Infinite - Infinite (Wondershare Filmora X)