We are a few days away from the European elections, and there is a frenzied atmosphere in Brussels for what the results might mean for the future of sustainability in the EU, Europe's Green Deal and for its implications for business.

In this week’s episode, Richard Howitt welcomes Antonia Zimmermann, trade reporter for Politico Europe, which reports on European politics and policy, and Anna Brunetti, experienced financial journalist and economy editor at Euractiv.

This conversation is going to guide you through what's happening and what might happen in the future. Together they discuss:

• What caused the backlash against the Green Deal and the green agenda in Europe?
• If Europe needs to play catch-up when it comes to financing the green transition
• What is the tone of this EU Elections campaign?
• Their predictions on the outcome of the 2024 EU elections
• Despite the risks, the challenges, the fears and the dangers, will climate stay on the agenda in the upcoming mandate?

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In this Frankly Speaking episode, Richard Howitt welcomes MEP Heidi Hautala (Greens/ EFA), vice president of the European Parliament, founder of the EP’s working group for Responsible Business Conduct and former development minister of Finland.

This year, Heidi has declared that she will step down at the forthcoming European elections. As one of the foremost advocates of business and human rights in Europe and a lead campaigner for Europe's new corporate sustainability due diligence law (#CSDDD), who better and what better time to ask Heidi about what has been achieved and what still needs to happen.

A warm thank you to Heidi Hautala not only for coming on the podcast but most importantly for all the work done on the business and human rights agenda in the past 30 years.

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** Note to the listeners: due to technical difficulties, we recommend listening to this episode on Spotify while the audio is being updated on all platforms. Thank you for your patience and for bearing with us while we fix this technical issue.

This week in the podcast, Richard Howitt welcomes one of the leading business voices on supply chain management in the world, Linda Kromjong, president of amfori, Global Business Association and a key advocate of open and sustainable trade in Europe and in the world.

Together they discuss:

• Why is due diligence important for companies?
• Why is the CSDDD a pro-business directive? Why is this good for business?
• An insider view on what happened in the last moments before new and unexpected deals had to be done by Member States.
• How environmental due diligence and human rights due diligence go hand in hand
• Linda’s message to businesses about implementing the CSDDD

Listen in and follow us on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠!

***Participate in our anonymous survey: Help us understand what you enjoy in the show, what you want us to do better, and who you want to listen to next!

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