Germany’s governing centre is cracking, Europe’s energy follies are becoming impossible to ignore, and Brussels is spending millions telling citizens it protects democracy.
In this episode, we ask whether Friedrich Merz survive Germany’s deepening political and economic crisis. Is Belgium’s nuclear U-turn a sign that common sense is finally returning to European energy policy? And what does the EU’s “Protect What Matters” campaign reveal about the widening gap between Brussels’ rhetoric and its record?
Host Jacob Reynolds is joined by Pieter Cleppe, editor-in-chief of Brussels Report, and Richard Schenk of MCC Brussels, for a discussion about political instability, energy realism and the increasingly propagandistic habits of the European Commission.
First, the group turn to Germany, where Friedrich Merz finds himself trapped by the very firewall politics that were supposed to preserve stability. Despite a right-wing parliamentary majority after the federal elections, the CDU/CSU remains bound to the Social Democrats, giving a defeated centre-left extraordinary leverage over the government’s agenda. The discussion explores Germany’s stagnant economy, rising debt pressures, high energy costs, military spending promises, the growing strength of the AfD, and the wider question of whether Europe’s most important country is becoming ungovernable.
The second topic is Belgium’s nuclear reversal. After years of political hostility to nuclear power, the government is now trying to halt the shutdown of existing reactors and preserve vital energy capacity. Pieter and Richard examine why this matters far beyond Belgium: cheap and abundant energy is the foundation of industrial strength, and Europe’s decision to undermine nuclear power, domestic fossil fuels and reliable electricity has left companies facing higher costs and weaker competitiveness. The panel asks whether Belgium’s decision marks the beginning of a more realistic energy debate, or merely a small correction after years of self-inflicted damage.
Finally, the episode turns to the European Commission’s new “Protect What Matters” campaign. Presented as a defence of democracy, free speech and civic life, the campaign comes from an institution increasingly associated with speech regulation, media management, selective access for journalists and a taste for moral instruction from above. The panel discusses the hypocrisy of Brussels advertising itself as the guardian of democratic freedoms while pushing laws and practices that narrow the space for open debate.
A conversation about Germany’s political paralysis, Europe’s energy reckoning, and the strange spectacle of an EU elite trying to advertise its way out of a democratic crisis.
Ireland