Is peace in Ukraine even possible? | MCC Brussels Podcast

27/10/2025 26 min
Is peace in Ukraine even possible? | MCC Brussels Podcast

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Episode Synopsis

Jacob Reynolds is joined by executive director Frank Furedi and Brussels Signal’s Carl Deconinck to dissect a week where Europe’s self-image met reality – from a mooted Trump–Putin peace summit in Budapest to Britain’s two-tier policing and Brussels’ plan to import North Africa via Erasmus.BUDAPEST PEACE SUMMIT – EUROPE SIDELINEDBudapest is on the verge of a historic Trump-Putin summit. The meeting might be on ice for now, but the panic in Brussels at the prospect of a peace deal told it's own story. With the exception of Orban, European leaders are either a sideshow or an obstruction when it comes to peace. But as peace talks rumble on, does anyone, even Trump, have a way out of the war? BRITAIN’S NO-GO DILEMMA – JEWISH SAFETY AND TWO-TIER POLICINGBirmingham’s block on Maccabi Tel-Aviv fans was sold as public order – but the gloating of the pro-Gaza MPs was revealing. This was an effort to ban Jewish Israelis because of the anti-Semitic Islamism taken root in the West. ERASMUS WITHOUT EUROPE – THE NORTH AFRICA GAMBITBrussels’ €42 billion Pact for the Mediterranean now promises Erasmus-style openings for North Africa. It is billed as “values” – in practice, incentives for more migration, taxpayer-funded brain drain and yet another distortion of a struggling higher-education system. Youth unemployment is high at home, standards are slipping, and – as ever – the Commission pushes for ever more migration.

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