Inside Europe - 12 September 2024

How Gen Z-led protests toppled the Bulgarian government, a close look at Denmark's hardline asylum policies, and what should be done about the Dutch housing crisis. Then: A Scottish island castle for sale, Vilnius' bid to become Europe's biggest start-up hub, exhumations of political prisoners in Prague, and how the French Post Office tries to stay relevant.

The Netherlands honors international human rights defenders, whilst the Council of Europe moves to weaken the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Then: the Dayton Peace Agreement at 30, and the 22-year-old tackling medical inequality one skin-pic at a time. + skinforall.co.uk +

Spain's radically different approach to migration, how Norway is taking the fun out of gambling and a rare glimpse into an Italian prison amid a push to reform. Then: the brutal murder of journalist and environmental defender Hakan Tosun, NVIDIA's new AI hub in Armenia, and our first Age is Just a Number profile, featuring Lefteris Arapakis – a man on a mission to clean up the Mediterranean.

Europe responds with caution to the latest peace-push in Ukraine. We’ll be looking at the EU’s military mobility plans and what Ukraine can teach Europe about total defence. Also on the show: Sir Nicholas Winton and the Kindertransport, the second coming of Milorad Dodik, Turkey's Balkans ambitions and fast-fashion vs wooly jumpers.

We zoom in on the EU's newly announced emissions reduction targets and two lithium mine projects in Serbia and Portugal facing tough resistance. Then: the battle of olive farmers against solar parks in Spain, the role of Greenland's glaciers in a crucial tipping point, and a trip to the first ever Venice Noir Festival.

The sanctions loophole allowing EU countries to import Russian LNG, the climate knowledge gap left by war, and the EU’s largest rare-earth magnet factory… right on Estonia’s Russian border. Later: inter-European high-speed rail travel, reducing the carbon footprint of cement, French reforestation and UK wine. + LNG report https://shorturl.at/nj93t + Cement report https://shorturl.at/qeXYY + ?maca=en-podcast_inside-europe-949-xml-mrss

Youth leaders meet in Munich for the One Young World Summit, the EU releases its annual Enlargement Report, and Serbia marks a year since the Novi Sad Railway Station disaster. Also: Italy's controversial Messina Bridge project, Spanish paternity leave and Estonian composer Arvo Pärt at 90.

General elections put the Netherlands back on a centrist course, Ireland elects a leftwing independent candidate as President, and why European leaders are keen to visit Turkey. Then: the world's largest dance music summit in Amsterdam, classical music's most prestigious prize in Stockholm, and 80 years of the Moomins.

In this special "Alternative Economies" edition, we take a break from the news to rethink business as usual. This episode features concrete examples of European business and budget experiments, ranging from the reformist to the downright radical.

All you need to know about Laszlo Krasznahorka: the Hungarian winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize for Literature, a gloriously anarchic celebration of an Italian children’s classic, an Icelandic murder mystery set on the Spanish island of Tenerife, poet and musician Matthew McDonald, and a race up a Slovenian mountain, pursued by Tadej Pogacar.