MCC Brussels Podcast

For more than a century, the car has expanded personal freedom, economic opportunity and independence. Yet across Europe, policymakers increasingly treat driving itself as a problem to be managed away.

In this MCC Brussels Deep Dive, John O’Brien speaks to Brussels lobbyist Conor Allen about Europe’s growing hostility to the car, from traffic policies designed to discourage driving to the regulatory push for electric vehicles.

Allen argues that too much transport policy is now driven by political goals rather than consumer choice. The result, he says, is a system that punishes drivers, sidelines indu...

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 acr...

In this episode: Is the Democracy Shield really about protecting elections from foreign interference, or about policing dissent at home? Ten years after Brexit, did the EU learn from Britain’s revolt, or double down on the federalist habits that caused it? And why is Brussels talking to the Taliban - realpolitik at last, or geopolitical naivety dressed up as diplomacy?

Host Jacob Reynolds is joined by Frank Furedi, MCC Brussels’ executive director, and Dr Philipp Siegert, our deputy research director, to discuss free speech, sovereignty, Brexit, migration, and the increasingly brittle politics of the Brussels establishment.
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In this episode: is Péter Magyar restoring Hungarian democracy, or using constitutional power to remove his main rival? Does the export controls and shutdown of Anthropic’s Mythos model show how desperately far behind the EU is on cutting-edge technology?  And has the EU Transparency Register become a neutral accountability tool, or a bureaucratic weapon against dissenting voices in Brussels?

Host Jacob Reynolds is joined by Richard Schenk and Javier Villamor, Brussels-based EU/NATO correspondent for The European Conservative.

First, the panel turns to Hungary, where the new Tisza government has pushed through a retr...

In this MCC Brussels Deep Dive, John O’Brien speaks to Professor Samuele Furfari, one of Europe’s most experienced voices on energy policy.

Furfari spent decades inside the European Commission working on energy and sustainable development. His warning is blunt: Europe’s energy crisis did not begin with the war in Ukraine. It began when EU policymakers abandoned the old priority of cheap, abundant and secure energy, and replaced it with a decarbonisation-first agenda.

For decades, European energy policy understood a basic truth: prosperity depends on power. Industry, jobs, living standards and national security all re...

In this episode, is Belgium becoming a warning sign for the rest of Europe? Has the EU’s obsession with digital regulation made Europeans technologically weaker? And are American conservatives right to call out Europe’s migration crisis, or is Europe being talked down to again?

Host Jacob Reynolds is joined by MCC’s Richard Schenk and Lennert Van Hauwermeiren from the Flemish Institute for Policy and Strategy to discuss migration, state authority, digital control and the growing tensions between Europe and America.

First, the panel turns to Belgium, where riots in Brussels, unrest on the co...

In this episode: Is Trump’s 4 July deadline a tariff threat, or a demand for reciprocity from Brussels? Can “remigration” be defined as lawful return policy without sliding into something more dangerous? And do the Paris riots after PSG’s Champions League victory expose a deeper crisis of law, order and elite denial in Europe’s cities?

Host Jacob Reynolds is joined by Richard Schenk and Paul McCarthy, Senior Research Fellow in European Affairs at the Heritage Foundation.

First, the panel turns to the latest tensions in EU-US relations. Trump’s deadline for Brussels to implement th...

In this episode: is Bart de Wever’s Belgium a genuine model for reform, or a warning about how difficult reform has become? Has Europe really shifted right on migration, deportations and return hubs? And as Brussels demands more money for defence, Ukraine, migration and industrial policy, who is actually going to pay?

Host John O’Brien is joined by Dr Philipp Siegert from MCC Brussels and Carl Deconinck of Brussels Signal to discuss the political pressures now shaping Belgium and the wider European Union.

First, the panel turns to Belgium, where Bart de Wever’s gove...

Britain’s political class thought populism could be contained through censorship, speaker bans and moral blackmail. Instead, the revolt is spreading.

In this episode, host John O’Brien is joined by Frank Furedi and Richard Schenk to examine the growing divide between Europe’s governing elites and ordinary citizens. From the huge “Unite the Kingdom” rally in London to Brussels’ ideological campaigns, the discussion explores why millions of Europeans increasingly feel politically homeless.

First, the panel discusses Britain’s populist revolt and the collapse of establishment authority. Why are governments so terrified of anti-establishment movements? Has censorship...

In this episode: Has Reform UK’s surge shattered Britain’s old Labour-Conservative order? Are the UN and EU using migration policy to weaken national control over borders? And has Eurovision become yet another stage for anti-Israel politics?

Host Jacob Reynolds is joined by Richard Schenk and Barbara Bonte, MEP for Vlaams Belang in the Patriots for Europe group.

First, the panel turns to the local and regional elections in the UK, where Reform UK’s breakthrough has thrown Keir Starmer and the Labour Party into turmoil. Richard argues that Reform’s success at local level ma...

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, fo...

The European Commission has mutated from a body of cooperation into a monster that even its own founders no longer recognise.

Host Jacob Reynolds is joined by Carl Deconinck of the Brussels Signal and MCC Brussels’ Richard Schenk to discuss a week of institutional overreach in the European capital. They break down the flurry of proposals to rein in Ursula von der Leyen, the prospect of "climate lockdowns" as energy prices soar, and the plans for an eye-watering €2 trillion EU budget.

Taming the Commission. The European Commission has mutated from a practical body of c...

The European Court of Justice has issued a first-of-its-kind ruling against Hungary, declaring its child-protection laws in breach of “fundamental EU values”. Celebrated in Brussels as progress, it raises a more troubling question: has the Court just claimed the power to define Europe’s moral compas?
 
In this episode, Jacob Reynolds, Richard Schenk, and special guest Stephen Bartulica MEP break down the ECJ’s judicial activism, the "pro-Russia" panic over the Bulgarian elections, and the mass amnesty plans in Spain that threaten the stability of the Schengen area.
 
Inside this Episode:
 
The ECJ’s Judicial Co...

Viktor Orbán’s 16-year tenure with a landslide victory. While the Berlaymont and the European mainstream celebrate the fall of their favourite villain, the MCC Brussels team digs into the uncomfortable reality of what this means for the European Right and the future of national sovereignty.

In this episode, Jacob Reynolds, Tony Gilland, and Agnieszka Kolek break down the strategic lessons of the Fidesz defeat, the "Net Zero" fuel insurgency currently paralysing Ireland, and the Poland’s magical dismissal of the rule of law.

Inside this Episode:

The Hungarian Landslide: We digest the s...

Brussels does not change course lightly. When it does, it is usually forced. This week, something shifted.
 
Jacob Reynolds is joined by Marieke Ehlers MEP and Agnieszka Kołek to dissect a rare moment where the European Parliament moved in a direction voters have been demanding for years. A tougher return regime has been backed, giving member states the tools to send illegal migrants back and reassert some control over their borders.
 
The Return Regime Breakthrough
On migration, something has clearly moved. After years of paralysis, the European Parliament has backed a tougher returns reg...

Europe’s old parties are losing their voters, free speech is coming under pressure, and trust in the media is collapsing.

In this episode, we look at three fault lines running through European politics. Why are the old social democratic parties no longer the natural home of workers? What happens when courts and governments begin narrowing the space for moral and political dissent? And why are so many voters losing faith in the media narratives pushed around major elections?

Host John O’Brien is joined by Carl Deconinck of Brussels Signal and Dr Philipp Siegert, Depu...

While the Brussels machine churns out endless reports on "Strategic Autonomy," the reality on the ground different. Professor Bill Durodié joins us to expose the cavernous gap between EU security rhetoric and the stark reality of a continent that has forgotten how to inspire its own people to defend it. Is there anyone left in the Berlaymont who understands that a flag without a demos is just a piece of cloth? 

The Hollow Flag & The Crisis of Patriotism 
The EU’s attempt to manufacture a "European security identity" is failing because it lacks the one essential ingre...

The war in Iran didn’t create Europe’s energy crisis, it hit a continent already drowning in Green energy chaos and sky-high taxes. This week on the podcast, John O'Brien sits down with Rebecca Mistereggen and Richard Schenk to discuss the energy fallout of the Iran war, the judicial sabotage of democratic mandates in Italy, the rising tide of Islamist extremism on our doorsteps, and the cynical elite hunt for Brussels power in Norway and Iceland.

The Energy Tax Heist:
Richard argues that while the war in Iran provides a convenient excuse, the real culprit for...

Brussels is terrified of a nation it cannot control. While the Euro-elites plot to unseat Viktor Orbán through legal warfare and funded proxies, Professor Werner Patzelt joins Richard Schenk to reveal the truth behind the "Brussels vs. Budapest" saga. From the weaponisation of "Rule of Law" to the rise of the EU-backed opposition, this is the honest account of a rebellion the mainstream media refuses to cover.

 The Siege of Sovereignty:  The European Union has moved beyond mere disagreement; it is now engaged in an open attempt to unseat a democratically elected leader. By funneling vast sum...

In this episode, we talk about the EU’s unprecedented digital interference in the Hungarian election, the undemocratic "Cordon Sanitaire" rigging French local politics, and the shameful rise of anti-Semitic violence in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Host Jacob Reynolds is joined by MCC Brussels’ Head of Cultural Engagement Agnieszka Kolek and Research Fellow Richard Schenk to discuss the EU's direct intervention in national elections, what the French municipal elections tell us about the cordon sanitaire, and the deteriorating security situation for Jewish communities in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The...