Should Canada join the EU?

Should Canada join the EU?

Author: Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer March 20, 2025 Duration: 53:36

Europe and Canada have a lot in common, from their headaches over Donald Trump to a shared belief in welfare states. If Australia can be a part of Eurovision, is there anything stopping us from welcoming our Canadian friends into the EU?! This week we talk to Stanley Pignal, The Economist's semi-Canadian Brussels bureau chief, about what would be in it for both sides. We're also looking at the escalating political crisis in Bosnia, and the places in Europe where you're likely to live the longest. 

  You can read Stanley's article about the case for Canadian EU membership here and find his Charlemagne column on European politics here. He posts 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: 'The Agency' and writing a letter to a Russian political prisoner via OVD-Info (an initiative discovered via this essay in The Dial by Francesca Mastruzzo).   Other resources for this week's episode    'The Economics Show' podcast by the Financial Times: 'Can societies age gracefully?' - January 13, 2025 https://www.ft.com/content/8ce0571d-06f0-40de-8579-4446d1fb07f3    'The EU needs a proactive approach in Bosnia' - editorial in Politico Europe by Arminka Helić, March 17, 2025 https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-bosnia-western-balkans-europe-war-bih-crisis-serbia/   00:34  Spring Is Real
02:50  Good Week: Europeans are living longer
15:00  Bad Week: Bosnia and Herzegovina
28:54  Interview: Stanley Pignal on the case for Canadian EU membership
45:38  The Inspiration Station: The Agency and letters to Russian political prisoners
50:46  Happy Ending: Germany's economy could be wurst   Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

  YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | hello@europeanspodcast.com    

Every week, Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer sit down to untangle the stories shaping the continent, moving beyond the headlines to find the human threads within European news, politics, and culture. Their conversations feel like joining two well-informed friends who are genuinely curious, offering clarity on complex political shifts in Brussels one moment and diving into a compelling film from Berlin or a novel from Lisbon the next. This isn't about dry analysis; it's about understanding the forces that define daily life from Dublin to Sofia. In this The Europeans podcast, you'll hear interviews with policymakers, artists, and everyday people, all contributing to a richer, more nuanced picture of a region in constant motion. The tone is engaging and accessible, designed for anyone who feels that Europe's narrative is too often reduced to stereotypes or institutional jargon. By weaving together current affairs with deeper cultural trends, each episode builds a more complete and surprisingly relatable portrait. If you've ever wanted to feel more connected to the ideas and debates circulating across the Channel and beyond, this is a consistent and thoughtful guide.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture
Podcast Episodes
Do you also have a Monstera in your living room? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:02
Vinyl records, coffee table books, low-maintenance pot plants: from Dublin to Dubrovnik, all good hipsters have the same stuff. The Italian writer Vincenzo Latronico captures this boring international aesthetic beautiful…
Venice has a Russia and Israel problem [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:18
‘Art and politics can totally be separated!’ said no one ever – apart from the organisers of the Venice Biennale, a.k.a. the Olympics of the art world. This week we’re diving into the fallout from the Biennale’s decision…
Can Pedro Sánchez unite the global left? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:04
This week, we’ve got a little something for everyone: gambling! Kraftwerk! Blast from the recent US political past Tim Walz! It was a Good Week yet again for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the darling of the globa…
How did Ukrainians end up sailing in Russia's shadow fleet? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:04
Shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX swept in to restore internet connectivity to areas that had been affected by Russian attacks. But SpaceX and its interne…
Where are the Zohran Mamdanis of Europe? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:35
A few weeks back, we asked you to weigh in on a question that’s been on our mind a lot lately: Who are the Zohran Mamdanis of Europe, and when, pray tell, are they going to give our beloved, ailing continent a much-neede…
Can a group of strangers solve Europe’s biggest problems? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:26
If you got a knock on your door from someone inviting you to Brussels to hash out some EU policies…you’d think it was a scam, right? Us, too. At least, that was the case until last week, when our producer Wojciech went t…
The end of Orbán? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:00
It has been 16 years since Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party assumed power in Hungary – and it might have begun to feel like things could never change. But with a parliamentary election just around the corner, there’s now a gl…
Europe's anti-Elon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:34
Back when Elon Musk was challenging Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight, Eugen Rochko was building an open-source, non-problematic Twitter alternative, completely without fanfare. Last year, the Mastodon founder announced hi…
How to keep going when the world feels broken [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:52
This week, we wanted to ask a question that has been in our hearts and on our minds for years: Is it possible to try to make positive change in the world, and still stay healthy and sane? Dutch writer, political philosop…
How feminist economics could change Europe [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:37
Imagine what would happen if our political, cultural, and economic leaders began to reconsider what it means to create “value” in Europe. What if we were supported to rest, to look after our families, and to enjoy oursel…