Is this the end of Georgia's European dream?

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer

Society & Culture, News

4.8 • 274 Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Georgia's pro-Russian ruling party claims to have won last weekend's election — a fraudulent election, according to a mounting pile of evidence. A country that was once on the path to EU membership is now veering much closer to the Kremlin. Is there any hope left? We ring Anna Gvarishvili, Tbilisi-based journalist and head of the Investigative Media Lab, to unpack what just happened and what might happen next. We're also discussing two suitably scary topics in this Halloween episode: France's money problems, and the noxious substances spewing out of your gas cooker. This episode was recorded before Wednesday's devastating floods in Spain. You can donate to the Cruz Roja (Spanish Red Cross) relief efforts here. Thanks for listening. If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available). If you're short on cash but still want to support us, it would be amazing if you could leave us five juicy stars, as Dominic put it, on Pocket Casts: https://pocketcasts.com/ratings. This week's Inspiration Station picks: fave dei morti (recipe here) and the Swiss video game Mundaun. Other resources for this episode Search Engine: 'Why is it so hard to tax billionaires? (Part 1)', October 18, 2024 https://www.searchengine.show/listen/search-engine-1/why-is-it-so-hard-to-tax-billionaires-part-1 'They will protest ketchup': Hugh Vuillier's Europe Letter newsletter, October 3, 2024 https://hughvuillier.substack.com/p/french-budget-not-good Universitat Jaume I's study on the health impact of gas stoves, October 28, 2024 https://repositori.uji.es/items/156fbd65-070d-4ca4-9856-9415513d505f 00:23 It's Halloween, but we won't be talking about He Who Must Not Be Named02:15 Good Week: French efforts to tax the super-rich16:42 Bad Week: Gas stove fans24:55 Please rate us on Pocket Casts!26:06 Interview: Anna Gvarishvili on Georgia's elections43:26 The Inspiration Station: Fave dei morti and 'Mundaun'46:08 Happy Ending (?): Norway's teen social media ban Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Are we doing a spooky intro to the podcast this week? Because it's Halloween.
0:26.6	Okay. Yeah. You do it because you've got a deeper voice than me.
0:30.4	Hello and welcome to a spooky-wooky episode of the Europeans. Do you think that suffices?
0:36.0	Spooky-woogie.
0:37.3	It's spooky-wooky, yes. Because it's Halloween.
0:40.2	It's Halloween, and this is a podcast about a creepy, old continent called Europe
0:46.0	that is full of scary things like old buildings and bureaucracy.
0:53.0	Are you going to speak like this for the whole episode?
0:55.1	Yes, I am.
0:56.2	Honestly, I think it's not just Europe that's scary right now.
0:58.7	I'm finding the whole world pretty terrifying,
1:00.7	and that Halloween is taking on a whole new meaning for me.
1:04.6	But I have promised that we're not going to talk about
1:06.8	he who must not be named in the election
1:08.4	that's taking place on the other side of the Atlantic next week. We've got more than enough European elections to talk about.
1:15.6	Yeah, well, there's been loads this week, haven't there? There's been Lithuania and Bulgaria,
1:19.6	but we're going to be speaking about one in particular.
1:21.6	Yes, we're going to be talking about what I would argue is the most significant European election of the last week,
1:26.6	the one in Georgia. An election that would decide whether the most significant European election of the last week, the one in Georgia,
1:28.9	an election that would decide whether the country moves towards the EU or towards Russia.
1:34.9	The ruling pro-Russian party have claimed a win, but there have been protests since the election
1:41.6	from the opposition backed by the president of the country
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -151 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.