CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: The 2025 NATO summit

On this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, the CER's director Charles Grant sat down with Sophie Pedder, The Economist’s Paris bureau chief, to discuss France and Macron’s unstable government. They discussed the deadlocked French Parliament, the growing popularity of the Rassemblement National and of Jordan Bardella, and whether France’s influence in the European Union is understood domestically and what Macron has achieved in his 8 years as President.

On this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, CER's Zselyke Csaky sat down with Ben Ansell of Oxford University and John Springford of the CER to discuss the causes of populism's rise in Europe. They discussed the relationship between immigration, trade and populism, and whether moderate politicians would be better off challenging or accommodating voters attracted by populist messaging.

On this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, deputy director Ian Bond sat down with Donald Jensen of Johns Hopkins University and a former US diplomat and Iuliia Osmolovska, head of the GLOBSEC Kyiv Office to discuss Russian negotiating tactics, Ukraine's negotiating objectives and how Ukraine and its allies can get the best outcome if and when Putin decides to negotiate seriously. They discussed Russian approach to negotiating, preconditions for Ukraine to negotiate successfully with Russia and the dynamics of US-Russia relations.

On this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, chief economist Sander Tordoir sat down with Zach Meyers, director of research at the Centre on Regulation in Europe and an associate fellow at the CER to talk about tech and tech regulation. They discussed the key priorities of the regulations that have been passed by Europe and why Europe's lagging behind the US and China in its technology sector.

On this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, research fellow Aslak Berg sat down with Agathe Demarais, senior policy fellow in Geoeconomics at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) to discuss where EU trade policy stands since the signing the EU-US trade agreement in July. They discussed how and why the EU prioritised damage limitation, where EU trade policy goes from here, the impact on the global trade system and priorities for the EU going forward.

On this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, research fellow Aslak Berg sat down with assistant director Elisabetta Cornago and chief economist Sander Tordoir to discuss where the EU stands one year after the landmark Draghi report which dissected the reasons behind Europe's sluggish growth. They discussed Draghi’s sombre diagnosis of the European economy after what some have called the “summer of humiliation” for the European Union.

On this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, deputy director Ian Bond sat down with Dr Hanna Shelest of the Foreign Policy Council "Ukrainian Prism" to discuss the Ukrainian assessment of recent diplomatic manoeuvres and whether they bring peace or even a ceasefire any closer. They discussed European military and diplomatic support for Ukraine and how important it is to prevent Russian influence on Ukrainian politics, elections and political stability.

On this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, senior research fellow Zselyke Csaky sat down with Zach Meyers, director of research at the Centre on Regulation in Europe and an associate fellow at the CER, to discuss digital policy as Trump's tariffs are back on the agenda, with the deadline for a new trade deal approaching on 1st August. They discussed how the EU should approach tech policy in the trade talks and whether changes to its digital toolkit should be on the table at all.

On this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, associate fellow John Springford sat down with Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University and deputy chair of the Migration Advisory Committee to discuss the British government's white paper on immigration, which proposes some more reforms to a migration regime that has been going through a lot of change over the last few years. They spoke about new restrictions on middle-skilled jobs, which will no longer be eligible for skilled worker visas.

On this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, director Charles Grant sat down with Luigi Scazzieri, senior policy analyst at the European Institute of Security Studies and a non-resident associate fellow at the CER, to discuss the recent NATO summit of 25-26 June. They spoke about what was agreed at the summit and whether Trump has turned out to be less disruptive to NATO than expected.