This episode of EuropeChats is a discussion between Klara Lindström, Analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS), and TEPSA Executive Director Mariam Khotenashvili. The discussion focuses on Ukraine’s perspectives on the war, peace talks, and prospects for EU membership.

Klara Lindström is Analyst at SCEEUS at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) and Special Advisor, European Policy Institute in Kyiv (EPIK). She previously worked at East Capital Group, at the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters, and the Swedish Ministry of Defence. She also served at the Embassy of Sweden in Moscow from 2018 to 2020 and worked as a military interpreter in Ukraine in 2021. Klara Lindström is an expert on Ukraine’s domestic politics and reforms, EU enlargement, and Russian studies. She regularly travels to Ukraine, for around 2-3 weeks every other month.

EuropeChats is the flagship podcast of TEPSA and it is part of the TEPSA Podcast Channel “Europe Speaks”

Music: Worakls, 22 September 2014, Salzburg, Hungry music

This video is co-funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme of the European Union

Co-Funded by the European Union.

A final episode focused on repairs: protecting checks and balances, making accountability visible, investing in civic education and media literacy, and building resilience against inequality, distrust, and manipulation - without pretending democracy will ever be “perfect”.

Democracy Cracks is a six-episode podcast mini-series exploring the cracks in our democratic systems, from weakening trust to widening social divides, narrated by TEPSA's Programme Manager Eva Ribera and produced as part of ActEU, a Horizon Europe research project.

Host and writing: Eva Ribera Production: Florence Ferrando, Barbara Vanotti Editorial review: Mariam Khotenashvili, Alexandros-Christos Gkotinakos, Ilaria Giustacchini Music: Nicolas Gadrat

Sound credits: paper shuffle.wav by alec_mackay -- https://freesound.org/s/463682/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 ping 2.wav by cameronmusic -- https://freesound.org/s/138419/ -- License: Attribution 3.0 Magic - Cymbal Swell 2 by Vrymaa -- https://freesound.org/s/826131/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

This podcast is funded by the European Union.

If democracy feels out of sync with today’s crises, information speed, and geopolitical pressure, what does “updating” look like without breaking the core promises? Let’s examine institutional stress, experimentations, and the tension between responsiveness and stability.

Democracy Cracks is a six-episode podcast mini-series exploring the cracks in our democratic systems, from weakening trust to widening social divides, narrated by TEPSA's Programme Manager Eva Ribera and produced as part of ActEU, a Horizon Europe research project.

Host and writing: Eva Ribera Production: Florence Ferrando, Barbara Vanotti Editorial review: Mariam Khotenashvili, Alexandros-Christos Gkotinakos, Ilaria Giustacchini Music: Nicolas Gadrat

Sound credits: Robots and Electromechanics v2 - 152.wav by Headphaze -- https://freesound.org/s/268387/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 traffic horns city nervous busy.wav by klankbeeld -- https://freesound.org/s/180156/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 air horn close and loud.WAV by goose278 -- https://freesound.org/s/174819/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 demonstration-SCREAMS.wav by chazam -- https://freesound.org/s/218881/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 Frustrated Grunts Shouts.wav by Jim Goad -- https://freesound.org/s/265585/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

This podcast is funded by the European Union.