How would Europe's €800 billion defence plan actually work?

Europe is set to spend an eye-wateringly huge amount of money on building up its militaries over the next few years, after That Guy In The White House signalled he's no longer that interested in helping us defend ourselves against Russia. But where is all this money supposed to come from? And does it matter if some countries are more enthusiastic about this plan than others? This week we call defence expert Marina Henke to figure out what this spending bonanza actually involves. We're also talking about a Czech-led plan to save Radio Free Europe from Trump's cuts, and why ChatGPT falsely accused a Norwegian man of murder.

  Marina is a professor of international Relations at the Hertie School in Berlin and director of the Centre for International Security. You can watch the full version of her interview here on our YouTube channel and follow her on Bluesky here.   Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!      This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.   This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: 'And Then We Danced' and The Bittersweet Life.    Other resources for this week's episode    'Trump’s decision to cut Radio Free Europe comes at a great cost to democracy' - Muhammad Tahir, editorial for MSNBC, March 24, 2025 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-voice-of-america-radio-free-europe-rcna197367    'Malfunction: the Hungarian Radio (Silence) on Chernobyl' - Archivum, April 26, 2021 https://www.archivum.org/entries/blog/malfunction-the-hungarian-radio-silence-on-chernobyl    'EU privacy body weighs in on some tricky GenAI lawfulness questions' - TechCrunch, December 18, 2024 https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/18/eu-privacy-body-weighs-in-on-some-tricky-genai-lawfulness-questions/

 

The EU's White Paper for European Defence: Readiness 2030 - March 19, 2025 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_793

 

00:34 Deep breath: it's time for another episode of The Europeans
04:47 Good Week: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
18:41 Bad Week: The Norwegian man who ChatGPT falsely accused of murder
31:41 Interview: Marina Henke on Europe's huge new defence plan
56:23 The Inspiration Station: 'And Then We Danced' and 'The Bittersweet Life'
59:45 Happy Ending: Petko Gantsjev Is Very Much Alive

 

Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

 

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