This week, we’re asking some tough questions. Is the EU friends with the Taliban now? Is your 100% cotton shirt actually made of cotton? And, our favourite, “Why Did the Frankenchicken Cross the Road?” We’re taking on a few challenging topics this week, but the Funny Lady from Luxembourg is back in the co-hosting chair, so you know to expect a fair share of laughs, too. (Listen to the end to hear her impression of a Luxembourgish whale.)

Our guest this week is none other than longtime Europeans producer Wojciech Oleksiak, whose yearslong investigative report “Why Did the Frankenchicken Cross the Road?” captured our attention and tugged on our heartstrings when it was published in April. Wojciech tells us about the massive megafarms that produce 14 million birds for slaughter each year(!) and the price that the rural community of Koden, Poland, has to pay to satisfy European appetites.

This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are DJ Baguette, the phallic arum plant at the botanical garden at the University of Ghent, and Follow the Money’s podcast episode “Europe’s second-hand clothing crisis”.

Resources for this episode:

“EU faces fierce criticism over plans to host Taliban in Brussels” – The Guardian, 23 June 2026

“OLAF helps prevent illegal dumping of thousands of tonnes of textile waste” – European Anti-Fraud Office, 25 June 2026

“Like Humans, Mediterranean Sperm Whales Have Their Own Dialects” – Yale Environment 360, 24 June 2026

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible — we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

Co-hosts: Dominic Kraemer and Nina Lamparski

Audio editing: Morgan Childs and Monika Proba

Producers: Morgan Childs, Katy Lee, Dominic Kraemer, Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

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