The Brussels Report Podcast BrusselsReport.eu

M'backé N'diaye holds a degree in law and political
science from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. He is a specialist in the Sahel region. His work thereby focuses on geopolitics, the history of religions and the Sahel region. He is also a political communications consultant.

In this this episode of the Brussels Report podcast, BrusselsReport.eu editor ⁠Pieter Cleppe⁠ discusses the following topics:

-        The background of the crisis and civil war in
Darfur

-        Why do there seem to be double standards with
regards to the media coverage for this conflict versus other conficts, and political attention for it in Europe and internationally?

-        The importance of the Sahel region and Islamist
terrorism for Europe

-        What can the EU and the United States do? What
could the African Union do?

-        What’s the role of Russia and China?

 https://twitter.com/philippe_dam/status/1726895169197261277

 

https://twitter.com/brussels_report/status/1726938248604516788

Brad Lips is the
chief executive officer of Atlas
Network, a US non-profit that provides training, networking and grants for
libertarian, free-market, and conservative groups around the world. It aims to
secure for all individuals the rights to economic and personal freedom, through
its global network of strategic partners.

Atlas Network was
founded in 1981 by Sir Antony Fisher, a British entrepreneur, who was
influenced by economist F.A. Hayek and his book, The Road to Serfdom.

On its website, it
notes
that “Atlas Network partners in Europe are skeptical of the illiberal right and
the socialist left. Ours is a practical agenda:

-        
To
restore economic competitiveness in Europe by removing burdensome regulations;

-        
To
rebuild trust in liberal institutions by reining in the scope of their
authority; and

-        
To
liberate individuals across the continent to use their talents within the kind
of “system of natural liberty” that Adam Smith recognized as conducive to
increasing the wealth of nations.

 

In recent months we created the Ukraine
Freedom Fund to address special challenges in this war-torn country, and in
2023 we launched a Competitiveness Reform Hub through which our European
partners can collaborate and draw inspiration in meeting the acute economic
challenges of this decade. These activities complement long-running Atlas
Network activities in Europe, including the annual Europe Liberty Forum, the
Transatlantic Think Tank CEO Summit, and the Europe
Liberty Award.”

 



 

In this this episode of
the Brussels Report podcast, BrusselsReport.eu editor ⁠Pieter Cleppe⁠ discusses the following topics:

- The differences
between the U.S. and European policy debate

- Challenges to
raise funds in various part of the world

- How to define
the "liberty movement"?

- What's the use
of party political action and parapolitics? What to tell those that have giving
up hope and focus on their private life or their business?

- How can the
liberty movement better coordinate and exploit opportunities? 

https://twitter.com/brussels_report/status/1676241378710364161

https://twitter.com/bradlips/status/1686822619071320064

https://twitter.com/AtlasNetwork/status/1692622415606522053
 

Christopher Snowdon is the head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs. His research focuses on lifestyle freedoms, prohibition and policy-based evidence. He is a regular contributor to the Spectator, Telegraph and Spiked and often appears on TV and radio discussing social and economic issues.

Snowdon’s work encompasses a diverse range of topics including ‘sin taxes’, state funding of charities, happiness economics, ‘public health’ regulation, gambling and the black market. Recent publications include
‘Drinking, Fast and Slow’, ‘The Proof of the Pudding: Denmark’s Fat Tax
Fiasco’, ‘A Safer Bet’, and ‘You Had One Job’. He is also the author of
‘Killjoys’ (2017), ‘Selfishness, Greed and Capitalism’ (2015), ‘The Art of
Suppression’ (2011), ‘The Spirit Level Delusion’ (2010), ‘Velvet Glove, Iron
Fist’ (2009).

In this this episode of the Brussels Report podcast, BrusselsReport.eu editor Pieter Cleppe discusses the Nanny State Index (NSI), which is authored by Snowdon, along with partners across Europe.

This is a league table of the worst places in Europe to eat, drink, smoke and vape. The initiative was launched in March 2016 and has been a media hit right across Europe.  

https://twitter.com/epicenterEU/status/1663806883218505728

https://twitter.com/iealondon/status/1684593206518845440

https://twitter.com/cjsnowdon/status/1684635014691008513

Rod Richardson is a philanthropist who serves as the President of the Grace Richardson Fund (GRF), which is the leading private foundation pioneering free market climate policy. He is also co-founder/co-chair of the Climate & Freedom International Coalition Meeting, co-facilitated in collaboration with Americans for Tax Reform Foundation/Tholos Foundation. 

GRF pioneers new free market solutions to emerging 21st century challenges.  Their free market climate policy consists of a set of new proposals rooted in the
observation that the key solution for climate change, poverty and the evils that follow, is one and the same thing: more freedom, noting that “all the tools in the free market toolbox — free trade, competition, property rights, supply side tax policy, democracy, and rule of law, etc. — can be combined in novel ways to powerfully accelerate not only the innovation and deployment of ever cleaner solutions, but the expansion of freedom itself — and with that, the eradication of global poverty. As a hybrid private foundation / think tank, GRF follows a strategy of collaborative policy innovation.  It convenes scores of fellow think tanks and hundreds of scholars and experts, to brainstorm and develop new freedom-expanding solutions to the pressing problems of our time.”

In this this episode of the Brussels Report podcast, BrusselsReport.eu editor Pieter Cleppe discusses the following topics with him:

- Why taxing carbon and the punitive approach to deal with climate change is simply not working

- What could be an alternative, more functional approach?

- The role of the non-Western world in the context of climate policies

- Nuclear power and liberalisation of energy markets 

Martin Kinnunen is a Member of the Swedish Parliament (SD-ECR). He has been a Member of the Riksdag since 2014, elected for the Stockholm constituency since 2018. Before, he was elected for the Gothenburg constituency. He is a member of both the EU Committee and the Environment and Agriculture affairs Committee, and serves as the climate and environmental policy spokesperson for his party.

Kinnunen has been press secretary for the Sweden Democrats in 2010–2014 and also served as Chairman of Sweden Democratic Youth between 2005 and 2007. Kinnunen is a trained economist (PhD) and has completed a bachelor of philosophy degree in economics at Stockholm University.

In this this episode of the Brussels Report podcast, BrusselsReport.eu editor Pieter Cleppe discusses the following topics with him:

- The EU's energy crisis: how did it came so far and are EU member states on the right path?

- The EU's green deal and ever more expensive climate policies: is the Swedish EU Council Presidency putting the brakes on?

- Is there a chance to put a stop to EU legislative plans to ban the combustion engine?

- The latest on the European Union's protectionist response to the American "Inflation Reduction Act"

https://twitter.com/brussels_report/status/1502312339688894470

https://twitter.com/altingetmiljo/status/1627922819454734336

https://twitter.com/Martin_Kinnunen/status/1613638903193378840

Dalibor Rohac, originally from Slovakia, is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies European political and economic trends, specifically Central and Eastern Europe, the European Union (EU) and the eurozone, US-EU relations, and the post-Communist transitions and backsliding of countries in the former Soviet bloc.

He is concurrently a research associate at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in Brussels and a fellow at Anglo-American University in Prague.

Before joining AEI, Dr. Rohac was affiliated with the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, the Max Beloff Centre at the University of Buckingham, the London-based Legatum Institute, and the Center for the New Europe in Brussels.

In this this episode of the Brussels Report podcast, BrusselsReport.eu editor Pieter Cleppe discusses the following topics with him:

- Dalibor Rohac's latest book, entitled “Governing the EU in an Age of Division”.

- The eurozone and the risks resulting from higher interest rates

- The interest in Europe amongst D.C. policy wonks, beyond pure defense issues

- The political situation, rule of law and the economic situation in Slovakia and Central Europe

Dalibor Rohac recently wrote this comment for Brussels Report as well as the following insightful articles for The Spectator and AEI.

Previously, he authored “In Defense of Globalism” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2019). His previous book, “Towards an Imperfect Union: A Conservative Case for the EU” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016), was included on Foreign Affairs magazine’s list of best books of 2016. Dr. Rohac has testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has briefed the US Helsinki Commission. His commentary has been published widely in the popular media, including in the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. His scholarly articles have been featured in policy journals, including Constitutional Political Economy, Journal of Institutional Economics, Kyklos, and Public Choice.

He has a PhD in political economy from King’s College London; an MPhil in economics from St Antony’s College, University of Oxford; an MA in economics from George Mason University; and a BA in economics from Charles University in Prague.

https://twitter.com/brussels_report/status/1610945251853598725

https://twitter.com/spectator/status/1631352628180393985

https://twitter.com/AEIfdp/status/1631731165160935424