Euroscopic S2E6: All about Ursula

It has been a busy week in European politics, and much of it has to do with the woman at the top and the executive office she runs. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen came back from Bucharest, the capital of Romania and site of her EPP’s congress, last week officially anointed the conservative’s pick for another go in the top job. But questions linger over how much support she really has.

That’s an issue for von der Leyen the candidate. Von der Leyen the president has others. Her Commission keeps facing tough questions over repeated “cash for migration” deals. There’s also a cash-for-Orban trade that European Parliament is so suspicious of they might take the Commission to court over it in a precedent-setting case.

Elena Sánchez Nicolás oversees coverage of these and other stories as EUobserver’s managing editor. She joins us to tell us what’s on her plate in an “ask the editor” segment we hope to make a regular feature of the pod.

Then, history professor and Ukraine/Russia guy Michael Kimmage calls in from Washington, D.C. with his helpful insights into the war in Ukraine — how we got here and where it might be going. He has a forthcoming book on that very subject.

Listen in and stay tuned as we further develop this venture with our partner, EUobserver. We welcome your feedback, so be in touch! You can subscribe here and get us where your ears go for podcasts:

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* EUObserver

Among other things, Martin Gak writes Inconclusive Thoughts; and William Glucroft writes The ‘Schland. We’d love to see you over there, too!

Notes:

* In case you haven’t heard it already, here’s more on the Oscars acceptance speech we play a clip of.

* Editorial change: William, not Martin, edited this episode.

As a tiny operation, we do our best to spellcheck, factcheck, and contextualize all the information presented in the podcast. But pobody’s nerfect. If you hear something that doesn’t sound right — write! We welcome your feedback. Facts matter.ds

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit euroscopic.substack.com