Inside Europe 22 May 2025

A protest special as we look at recent events in Budapest and Belgrade - two cities experiencing mass-scale demonstrations in defiance of strongman leaders. And, as the UK parliament votes to proscribe Palestine Action, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights outlines his concerns.

A NATO Summit special with the view from Turkey, France, Spain and The Netherlands, Security Correspondent Teri Schultz answering listener questions from The Hague and Political Correspondent Thomas Sparrow on Friedrich Merz’s foreign policy gamble. Then: Sami rights, Bezos in Venice and Ye in Bratislava.

An “Alternative Economies” special, featuring concrete examples of European experiments with rethinking business as usual… ranging from the reformist, to the downright radical.

“We took democracy for granted…. don’t make the same mistake!”: an interview with Klára Dobrev MEP, leader of Hungary’s Democratic Coalition Party and former Vice President of the European Parliament. Plus: the cost of climate change, Valencia after the floods and rebuilding quake-struck Hatay.

“We took democracy for granted…. don’t make the same mistake!”: An extended interview with Klára Dobrev MEP, leader of Hungary’s Democratic Coalition Party and former Vice President of the European Union. Later: the cost of climate change, Valencia after the floods and Hatay after the earthquake.

Political earthquakes in Poland and the Netherlands, France’s crypto entrepreneur kidnappings, Russia doubles down on traditional gender roles, Ian Urbina feels the pull of the ocean, a haven for migrants near Rome’s central station, and the uplifting story of the Spanish Refugee National Football Team.

Released RFE journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on her colleague Farid Mehralizada, who is facing a 12 year prison sentence in Azerbaijan. We meet some of the young people on trial in Turkey following the recent crackdown on dissent, and take a look at the Franco-US relationship in the run up to D-Day.

On the show this week: Poland’s presidential elections reveal a country on a knife-edge, Exercise Hedgehog in Estonia and the Baltics’ hybrid warfare fears. Plus a Hungarian spy ring, Icelandic intrigue, Swiss bunkers, and Syrians returning home from Europe. A security special packed with stories from the frontlines of Europe’s shifting geopolitics.

Romania goes to the polls in the final round of high-stakes presidential elections, Albania's Edi Rama sails to victory once again, and the PKK disbands. Later: Pope Leo XIV, Russian volunteers help Ukrainians in Armenia, Eurovision attempts a reset in politically neutral Switzerland, and an adult toy craze that’s perhaps more “constructive” than most…

Germany’s new chancellor gets off to a bumpy start. Is Google helping Turkey to strangle independent media? And Malta is forced to abandon a lucrative business model. Then a VE Day Special: Nathalie Tocci on Europe, a look at Britain and France’s “coalition of the willing”, and a very personal tour of synagogues in the Netherlands.