Ukraine talks: peace progress or dead end?

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie discusses Ukraine peace talks with Bruegel’s Guntram Wolff and Nicolas Véron, and how the EU can manage the high-stakes standoff between Kyiv, Moscow and Washington. Over the past week, proposals from both sides of the Atlantic have jumpstarted efforts to find a way to stop the fighting. The EU is also locked in an internal debate over how to leverage Russia’s frozen cash to help Ukraine, a debate that affects the euro’s global reputation as well as the current budget. Bruegel’s experts take on the debate and gauge its chances for moving forward or petering out. Related research: Charles Lichfield & Nicolas Véron, An EU reparations loan is the right way to help Ukraine, Bruegel First Glance, 14 October 2025 Mejino-López, J. and G. Wolff (2025) ‘Europe’s dependence on US foreign military sales and what to do about it’ Policy Brief 27/2025, Bruegel

New ideas on reaching climate targets as COP30 gets underway In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Bruegel’s Georg Zachmann and professor Jos Delbeke, former Director General of the European Commission’s climate division, to discuss how Europe can use its ambitious climate targets to best catalyse global decarbonisation. Zachmann proposes to develop the European Emission Trading System into an anchor for mitigation activities in other sectors and countries. Delbeke acknowledges the need to enhance the ETS so that it can continue to play its important role in the efficient decarbonisation of the EU economy. But he cautions against a direct use of foreign mitigation credits in EU trading systems. Ten years after the Paris accord, how can Europe be more proactive in the global debate and make the most of this year’s UN climate conference? Related research: Zachmann, G. (2025) 'A Strawman Proposal to Use International Flexibility in Achieving Developed Countries Climate Targets to Catalyse Global Decarbonisation', De Gruyter Bill Europe’s energy future: balancing climate goals and competitiveness, Bruegel event, 14 November 2025 International decarbonisation through coalitions of the willing: carbon pricing, climate finance, trade and nature, Bruegel event, 20 November 2025 

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Alexandra Jour-Schroeder, deputy director general of the European Commission’s DG FISMA, and Bruegel’s Silvia Merler, to discuss savings, investment and financial literacy. Sharing national best practices, monitoring what works and using EU funding can all support member state efforts to keep citizens in the know. They also discuss ways the EU can support development of accessible savings accounts and products. Better understanding of financial markets allows households to save for the future in ways that reflect their own priorities.  Related research: European Commission (2025), "EU to boost financial literacy and investment opportunities for citizens", available at https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news/eu-boost-financial-literacy-and-investment-opportunities-citizens-2025-09-30_en Christie, R. McCaffrey, C. and D. Pinkus (2024) "EU savers need a single-market place to invest", Analysis, Bruegel

Fixing gender inequality could reap big gains for the entire economy In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with economist Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Bruegel’s Marie-Sophie Lappe to discuss gender inequality and how economics can help to fix it. The data shows that it costs more to be a woman in society, especially a Black woman, in areas ranging from health care, to pension savings and workplace routines. These extra burdens drag the whole economy down – but this also means that progress towards gender equality can pull the whole economy up. Related research: Christie, R. (2023) ‘Taking up space’, European Commission Christie, R. and M. De Ridder (2022) 'Closing the gender gap for self-employed women in the European Union’, Bruegel Blog, 20 July Darvas, Z. (2025) ‘How has Europe’s gender wealth gap evolved, and why?’, Bruegel Newsletter, 03 November Darvas, Z. and N. Ruer (2025) 'Gender wealth inequality in the European Union: a distributional perspective', Working Paper 26/2025, Bruegel Darvas, Z., Kreko, J., A. Laczkovich  and N. Ruer (2025) ‘Unequal wealth: Exploring socioeconomic disparities across the EU’, Eurofound  Goldin, C. (2025) ‘Babies and the macroeconomy’, Economica, 93:1-26  Lappe, M.S. and D. Pinkus (2025) ‘Europe’s savings debate should focus on the bigger picture’, First Glance, Bruegel, 11 September Opoku-Agyeman, A. G. (2025) The Double Tax: How Women of Color Are Overcharged and Underpaid, Penguin Random House Ostry, J. D. (2025) ‘Gender diversity and economic growth’, Working Paper 02/2025, Bruegel

As COP30 approaches, what is the real state of EU–China climate relations? In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan sits down with Alicia García-Herrero and Cecilia Trasi to explore the state of EU–China climate relations. The discussion explores how both economies share a vision for a green transition but follow strikingly different paths—China prioritising industrial policy and green technology exports, the EU focusing on costly emission pricing and regulation. They also identify pragmatic areas of collaboration like common taxonomies for green finance or joint circular-economy initiatives. They also reflect on whether either side can lead the global climate agenda in a fragmented geopolitical landscape. Relevant research Trasi, C. (2025) 'Convergence, not alignment: EU-China climate relations ahead of COP30', Analysis, 9 October, Bruegel García-Herrero, A. (2025) 'Escalating US-China rare earth tensions signal determination to decouple', First Glance, 15 October, Bruegel  This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

In this episode of the Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Bruegel’s Marie-Sophie Lappe and Francesco Nicoli, authors of a recent study on green public procurement, as well as Karolis Granickas of the Open Contracting Partnership non-governmental organisation. They discuss how governments decide what to buy, and what European policy can do to make this process work better. Is there a way for this purchasing to advance the climate transition agenda too? How can governments balance price, product choices and the impact on their local economies? How does this fit with the global context and balancing the pros and cons of non-EU products? This podcast aims to demystify the contracting cycle and unpack some of the issues at stake. Related research: Lappe, M. and F. Nicoli (2025) ‘Advantages and pitfalls of green public procurement as a European strategic tool’, Working Paper 21/2025, Bruegel Towards a Green Procurement Union: trade-offs and strategic choices, Bruegel event, 24 September 2025 See Open Contracting Partnership website: https://www.open-contracting.org/what-is-open-contracting/sustainability/

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie sits down with Bruegel’s Heather Grabbe and Guntram Wolff to talk about the real costs of a changing climate. With all the fuss over how to manage the climate transition, economists may be overlooking the rising expenses of the changes happening now. From the rising cost of insurance to future housing shocks, evolving weather trends and water scarcity mean the world could be facing big hits to productivity and gross domestic product. What will be the scale of the change? What should economists be studying? How should policymakers act? They discuss what happens when these shocks collide and intensify, rather than occurring one at a time, and how the world can respond.  Related research: Barata da Rocha, M., H. Grabbe and N. Poitiers (2025) ‘Climate risks to global supply chains’, Working Paper 20/2025, Bruegel  Claeys, G., M. Le Mouel, S. Tagliapietra, G.B. Wolff and G. Zachmann (2024) The Macroeconomics of Decarbonisation Implications and Policies, Cambridge University Press

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie speaks about migration trends in the Western Balkans with Bruegel’s Nina Vujanovic and Nina Ruer, as well as Professor Herbert Brücker from Berlin’s Humboldt University in Germany, Since 2015, workers have been heading to Germany from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo, aided by a regulation specific to that region. How have those workers assimilated? What has been the effect on the countries they leave behind? Can better policy address youth unemployment and skills shortages? The discussion tackles the data, the outlook and the political context for Germany, the Western Balkan countries and the EU accession process.  Relevant research: Ruer, N. and N. Vujanović (2025) ‘Migration flows from the Western Balkans to Germany: implications and recommendations’, Working Paper 19/2025, Bruegel Ruer, N. and N. Vujanović (2025) 'Understanding Serbian youth discontent through the lens of the labour market', Analysis, Bruegel

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Bruegel’s Rebecca Christie, Zsolt Darvas and Jacob Funk Kirkegaard discuss the European Commission’s budget plan and the battle for the next multiannual financial framework. Will the budget be enough to cover the EU’s needs? What is an “own resource” and how do the member states contribute? Can the EU overhaul the way it supports agriculture, and does it make sense to merge support for farmers with support for lower-income countries? And how will Europe find the money to help Ukraine and finance its own defence and security needs? As the financing debate heats up, Europe will need to decide what public goods it values enough to invest in. Relevant research: Darvas, Z., R. Dom, M.S. Lappe, P. Saint-Amans and A. Steinbach (2025) 'Bigger, better funded and focused on public goods: how to revamp the European Union budget', Blueprint 37, Bruegel, available at https://www.bruegel.org/book/bigger-better-funded-and-focused-public-goods-how-revamp-european-union-budget  Sapir, A., J. F. Kirkegaard and J. Zettelmeyer (2025) 'Geopolitical shifts and their economic impacts on Europe: Short-term risks, medium-term scenarios and policy choices', Report 1/2025, Bruegel

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan sits down with Alicia García-Herrero and Ben McWilliams to explore China’s quest for energy self-sufficiency and especially its attempt to become an “electrostate”. Can a country transform its vast energy needs into a strategic advantage; and what does it mean for the world if that country is China? And where does Europe stand in this race? Relevant research Alicia García-Herrero and Haoxin Mu, China can decarbonise the world – but even that won’t fix its overcapacity problem, Bruegel Analysis, 25 September 2025  European Clean Tech Tracker, Bruegel dataset, Compiled by Marie Jugé, Ugnė Keliauskaitė, Ben McWilliams and Simone Tagliapietra, last updated 3 September 2025  Heussaff, C. and G. Zachmann (2025) ‘Upgrading Europe’s electricity grid is about more than just money’, Policy Brief 04/2025, Bruegel How we made it: will China be the first electrostate? Financial Times, 20 May 2025 This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!