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On the week the World Refugee Day is commemorated, host Catarina Vila Nova spoke with Jonathan Fowler, Senior Communications Manager for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Jonathan joined UNRWA shortly after the 7 October attacks and is currently based in East Jerusalem. What he details is an intense campaign against UNRWA by the Israeli authorities. But nowhere is this situation more egregious than in the Gaza Strip.

As Jonathan calls it, “it is a war of superlatives” and at no point in the history of the United Nations have so many UN personnel been killed in a war. The staff UNRWA employs in Gaza are local staff and are themselves refugees.

During this episode of Policy Voices, Jonathan tells their stories. Like the story of a sanitation engineer who lost his family and kept showing up for work to prevent a worsening health situation in his community.

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It wasn’t as bad as every poll predicted but, nonetheless, ¼ of the next European Parliament will be made up of, to put it mildly, “parties that are difficult to qualify under one label”. As Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor in EU Law at HEC Paris and Founder of the Good Lobby, says, in this episode of Policy Voices hosted by Catarina Vila Nova, “far-right does not do justice to all of them”. Some are “nationalist”, others “sovereigntist”, and others yet are “rebellious vis-à-vis the European process”. Clearly not the ideal composition for a European Parliament. The good news? “They tend to be disunited but they’re not going to be able to form a majority or come together as a group. This weakens their ability to influence as much as they could”, predicts Alemanno.

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In the fifth and final episode of the five-part special series of Policy Voices on the EU elections, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with representatives from five parties on the key issue of the EU budget and the cost of living. In this episode, you will hear from Siegfried Mureșan, MEP for the European People’s Party, Didrik de Schaetzen, Secretary-General of the ALDE Party, Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, Simon McKeagney, Head of Communications of The Greens, and David Lundy, Head of Communications of The Left.

If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

In this fourth episode of the five-part special series of Policy Voices on the EU elections, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with representatives from five parties on the key issue of migration and fundamental rights. In this episode, you will hear from Lena Düpont, MEP for the European People’s Party, Didrik de Schaetzen, Secretary-General of the ALDE Party, Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, Simon McKeagney, Head of Communications of The Greens, and David Lundy, Head of Communications of The Left.

If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

In this third episode of the five-part special series of Policy Voices on the EU elections, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with representatives from five parties on the key issue of climate change. In this episode, you will hear from Peter Liese, MEP for the European People’s Party, Didrik de Schaetzen, Secretary-General of the ALDE Party, Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, Simon McKeagney, Head of Communications of The Greens, and David Lundy, Head of Communications of The Left.

If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

In the second episode of the five-part special series of Policy Voices on the EU elections, host Catarina Vila Nova speaks with representatives from five parties on the key issue of artificial intelligence. In this episode, you will hear from Didrik de Schaetzen, Secretary-General of the ALDE Party, Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, Simon McKeagney, Head of Communications of The Greens, David Lundy, Head of Communications of The Left, and Axel Voss, MEP for the European People’s Party.

If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.