Does the EU's housing and energy guy get any sleep?

5 Nov

If you had to pick the two most stressful topics in European policy right now, might you say… energy and housing? Those two areas are the remit of one (remarkably chill) EU commissioner, Dan Jørgensen, the Commissioner for Energy and Housing. We don’t typically interview politicians, but when Commissioner Jørgensen’s team came our way, we said yes – because when it comes to his two areas of European policy, right now, we have no shortage of questions to ask. Also on the docket this week: the fight over Poland’s constitutional court and Norway’s cheeky rebuke to the lame duck in the White House.

Inspiration Station recommendations:

This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are Sharon Horgan’s HBO series Youth and Pussy Riot’s Riot Days tour (thanks to listener Pia for the rec!).

Other resources for this episode:

“Every Heidi Klum Halloween Costume Through the Years: From Dominatrix to Medusa” – Women’s Wear Daily, 31 October 2026
No Wojciech brain? Try Notes from Poland
“Restoring Poland’s court is not a coup” – European Question Time (Alberto Alemanno’s Substack), 1 November 2026
Visit Norway’s video “Norway makes sh*thouses great again!”
The Norwegian Consumer Council’s video “A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator”
“Three Italian ‘hobbits’ flew to Ireland to return this man’s ring – and it was precious” – CBC, 17 October 2026
“Who Does It Best?” – our 2025 mini-series on the best-practice European policies worth stealing, from housing to childcare

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of Ece Temelkuran’s Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century in advance of our book club with the European Review of Books on 10 December. If you’ve read the book and want to share your thoughts, send in your comments via voice memo to hello@europeanspodcast.com. AND… if you’re in the area of Freiburg/Strasbourg/Basel/Karlsruhe, hit us up to be connected with a listener hoping to arrange an IRL reading group. We love listener-matchmaking 🥰

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