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Mark Leonard's World in 30 Minutes

by ECFR

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Latest episodes

  • Europe’s next budget fight

    October 16, 2026 · 29 min

    This week, Mark Leonard welcomes Guntram Wolf, senior fellow at Bruegel and professor of economics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and Pierre Heilbronn, former vice-president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development…

  • Sánchez’s biggest gamble yet

    October 9, 2026 · 30 min

    In late September, 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from the Madrid flat she had lived in for seven decades, sparking nationwide protests over Spain’s housing crisis. Pedro Sánchez’s government responded with two emergency…

  • The ideas of Israel

    October 2, 2026 · 37 min

    In September 2025, Binyamin Netanyahu told Israelis their country was in “a sort of isolation” and would need to become a “super-Sparta”: its economy would have “autarkic characteristics” and its arms industry would be able to produce what…

  • Turkey’s place in Europe

    September 25, 2026 · 30 min

    This week Mark Leonard welcomes Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, associate senior policy fellow at ECFR and a fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution in Washington, to discuss a recent policy brief for ECFR…

  • Ukraine’s winter of pressure

    September 18, 2026 · 27 min

    This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Jana Kobzova, co-director of ECFR’s European Security programme, to discuss the mounting pressures facing Ukraine as it enters another wartime winter. Despite Ukraine’s success in disrupting Russian…

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  • The geopolitics of global hunger

    September 11, 2026 · 28 min

    This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Cary Fowler, founder and president of the Food Security Leadership Council and former US global food security envoy, and Jim O’Brien, ECFR distinguished visiting fellow and former US assistant secretary…

  • Emergency Room: The AfD’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt

    September 8, 2026 · 21 min

    This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Jana Puglierin, senior policy fellow and head of ECFR’s Berlin office, in a World in 30 Minutes Emergency Room episode to discuss the latest in German politics. The AfD’s win in the small eastern state…

  • Maximum pressure on Iran, round two

    September 4, 2026 · 33 min

    This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Ellie Geranmayeh, deputy director of ECFR's Middle East and North Africa programme, to unpack a volatile new chapter in the confrontation between the United States and Iran. After months of managed…

  • Can a Ceasefire Survive Israel’s Election?

    August 28, 2026 · 28 min

    This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Hugh Lovatt, senior policy fellow at ECFR, to unpack a turbulent summer in Israel and the Palestinian territories. While Palestinian factions in Gaza have agreed in principle to decommission their…

  • Germany’s second China shock

    August 21, 2026 · 36 min

    This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Janka Oertel, director of ECFR’s DARE* initiative, and Andrew Small, head of ECFR’s Asia programme, to examine the growing impact of the “China shock 2.0” on Germany and Europe.  A new wave of Chinese…

  • Political crisis in Germany

    August 14, 2026 · 30 min

    This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Jörg Lau, international correspondent at Die Zeit and Jana Puglierin, head of ECFR’s Berlin office, to explore the political turmoil in Germany ahead of an electoral autumn. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s…

  • Latin America’s new imaginaries

    August 7, 2026 · 35 min

    This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Adriana Abdenur, a Brazilian policy expert and co-president of the Global Fund for a New Economy, and Jorge Castañeda, former foreign minister of Mexico and professor at Sciences Po, to explore debates…

Full episode archive on Apple Podcasts →

About the show

Weekly podcast on the events, policies and ideas that will shape the world.World in 30 minutes is curated by Mark Leonard, Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), and features top-level speakers from across the EU and beyond to debate and discuss Europe’s role in the world. It was awarded “Best podcasts on EU politics” by PolicyLab in 2019.Member of the EuroPod network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.