Episode Details

In this episode, why has air conditioning suddenly become a political dividing line in Europe? Will Ireland’s EU presidency push Brussels further into NGO funding, speech regulation and woke priorities? And is the crisis at Volkswagen a warning of what the Green Deal is doing to Europe’s industrial base?

Host Jacob Reynolds is joined by Richard Schenk and James Holland, a parliamentary adviser and long-time Brussels observer, to discuss the week’s biggest political stories from inside the EU bubble.

First, the panel turns to Europe’s increasingly absurd air-conditioning debate. As temperatures rise across the continent, the simple question of whether people should be able to cool their homes, hospitals and workplaces has somehow become a culture-war issue. Richard Schenk argues that the obsession with net zero is crowding out practical solutions for the elderly, the sick and those who have to work through the heat. James Holland warns against Brussels using the crisis as yet another excuse to regulate what should be decided nationally and locally.

The second topic is Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. Ireland has long been seen in Brussels as the model pupil, rarely inclined to pick fights with the Commission. But with major budget negotiations ahead, the panel asks whether Dublin will defend its farmers and tax advantages, or simply help steer through more funding for NGOs, media projects and democracy programmes that too often reinforce Brussels’ own worldview.

Finally, the episode turns to Europe’s car industry. With fresh alarm over Volkswagen and the wider German economy, the panel examines how the EU’s hostility to combustion engines, high energy costs and green dogma are putting one of Europe’s most important industries under pressure. James Holland explains how Brussels regulation often rewards big players while crushing smaller suppliers, while Richard Schenk argues that Europe has trapped itself in a one-track electric-vehicle strategy just as competitors pursue a broader industrial approach.