Podcast Selection

How South Africa discovered COVID variant Omicron

Today we’re assessing the global reaction to the Omicron variant and the allegations of injustice that surround it.

Technology: a product of unequal power?

"The effects of digital technology on work and wages. Is technology change neutral? This question is essential in the discussion under the scope of the future of work. In this episode, Bruegel’s own Giuseppe Porcaro…

Fortress Europe: Who gets to come in?

The European Union is at loggerheads with Belarus over the arrival of thousands of migrants. It alleges that President Lukashenko has created a deliberate crisis by facilitating the migrants' travel into Belarus and onwards to…

Standoff at the Belarus border

People seeking to migrate through Belarus and Poland are stuck at the border, and neither country wants them. EU officials have called it “weaponization of migrants” by Belarus, but for the people at the border,…

Could conflict return to the Balkans?

The peace deal that ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina 25 years ago is in danger of unravelling. Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, is threatening to pull out of state-level institutions, raising fears that the unity…

Nadia Calviño: Is Europe too fragmented to shape the 21st Century?

The covid pandemic and emerging superpower rivalries have presented the EU with troubling questions. Stephen Sackur speaks to Spain's Deputy Prime Minister and Economy minister Nadia Calviño. Is Europe too inward looking and too fragmented…

The EU recovery fund – state of play and outlook

"Live from the Annual Meetings: Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff discusses the EU recovery fund, its state of play and outlook with Nadia Calviño, First Vice-President and Minister for Economy and Digitalization of Spain and Professor…

How digital labour platforms can provide decent jobs for young refugees

Digital labour platforms can transform how young refugees make a living. But the unequal spread of internet connectivity, inequalities in digital skills and the specific obstacles that many refugee population face daily make it difficult…

Does the Global Economic Recovery Depend on Southeast Asia?

Economist Trinh Nguyen joins Doug this week to discuss Southeast Asia and the future of the global economic recovery.

Delta fears and the EU’s ‘politically suicidal’ carbon market

This week our podcast focuses on the spread of the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant and the threat it poses to Europe's long-awaited return to normality after almost 18 months of restrictions and lockdowns.

Restarting the economy?

"While the end of the pandemic is still far, the economy will have to restart. When COVID-19 struck last spring, European governments rapidly implemented measures to keep businesses afloat. Did those policies support productive firms…

European Pillar of Social Rights: Gothenburg, Porto and beyond

The social pillar is to be the fifth pillar of the economic and monetary union. It is to serve as a compass for updating the EU's welfare states and labour markets to the new realities…