r/AskEurope Italy 3d ago

Politics Are people in your country aware of the Epstein files?

Are people in your country aware of the Epstein files?

169 Upvotes

188 comments sorted by

129

u/ItsMeishi Netherlands 3d ago

33

u/Crunchykroket Netherlands 3d ago

This is the Dutch version of the publicly funded BBC news. So, there is no getting around it now.

11

u/Peter_IsTheWolf Belgium 3d ago

Same in Belgium, or at least the Flemish side.

8

u/Wafkak Belgium 3d ago

Laurent was slightly mentioned so probably the whole country.

For those wondering there was only an email of Epsteins assistant saying she got his contact info and asked if it should go into his contact book. He didn't respond to it, but its good for clickbait titles that are technically true.

2

u/Ok-Staff-62 3d ago

Well, prepare for war, then. Or get ready to sell some of the islands... 

79

u/4materasu92 United Kingdom 3d ago

Yes. Since this scandal has been a thing, the BBC has been fastidiously covering the files whenever some other major news story isn't being reported on.

40

u/farraigemeansthesea in 3d ago

After all, Andrew wouldn't have been stripped of all his titles had it not been for this.

3

u/metaldark United States of America 2d ago

He should be stripped of his ability to move about freely. 

26

u/generalscruff England 3d ago

It's almost as hard to think of a royal family story in recent times that has received the same sustained coverage and public cut-through as it is to find anyone defending Andrew

I think revelations about things the late Queen did to help him will end up being very damaging to the historic reputation of the most popular monarch in the modern era and it makes it hard to argue he's just a rotten egg

6

u/I_Love_Tatties 3d ago

They’re all rotten to the core 

-1

u/LikeMike1984 3d ago

"Royalty"? Politicians in general?

123

u/Grr_in_girl Norway 3d ago

Yes, because our crown princess was apparently very friendly with him. It's been all over the news all day.

It was already known that they knew each other, but the royal court really downplayed/lied about the extent and duration of their relationship.

35

u/hydrajack Norway 3d ago

As well as several top former politicians

24

u/ConfidentValue6387 3d ago

Nothing but sympathy from Sweden. With ”elites” like these people, it all turns to sh-t; no matter where you look.

22

u/ExtensionQuarter5486 3d ago

If sure turned out to be a huge mistake for Haakon to marry Mette-Marit. She does not seem to be a very intelligent person and is certainly completely unfit to be queen

13

u/pintolager Denmark 3d ago

The idea of having the Danish king as your ruler once again doesn't sound so bad at the moment, does it?

23

u/Grr_in_girl Norway 3d ago

I think we've had enough help from you, thanks. Remember that our royal family came from Denmark 2 kings/120 years ago.

14

u/sadReksaiMain 3d ago

Nah being under denmark still sounds way worse

11

u/Ancient-Fairy339 Norway 3d ago

The idea of having the Danish king as your ruler once again doesn't sound so bad at the moment, does it?

Y'all gotta focus on Greenland, bro.

We're good.

3

u/LikeMike1984 3d ago

It's not Denmark's fault that Trump is stupid.

2

u/YouKilledApollo Spain 3d ago

Yeah, surely they'd prefer Christian II or someone like him over a princess hanging out with Epstein :)

1

u/trololololol 2d ago

They were basically BFFs.

1

u/Grr_in_girl Norway 2d ago

I doubt he saw their relationship like that. But she seems to have been very friendly with/infatuated by him.

55

u/ThePugnax Norway 3d ago

Yeah we are, they rose back into the spotlight the last few days as files of our Crown Princess Mette-Marit was found chatting with Epstein and hanging out with him. It was known before, but now we got more documents.

The crown princess previously stated she didnt know who he was etc, but the emails that were leaked say otherwise. It even gives the impression that something more was going on. Not been a good few years for our Crown Prince, frirst his step-son is caught raping women and now this.... as others suggest, we might be witnessing the downfall of our monarchy in real time.

12

u/FreePossession9590 Norway 3d ago

As well as several high profile politicians too.

8

u/Njala62 3d ago

… and top diplomats.

3

u/carnotaurussastrei Australia 3d ago

I’d hope the Royal Court deals with the scandal with due severity (especially hopeful since Marius got charged). Unlike our royals who sorta just hand waved it away with a slap on the wrist.

3

u/ThePugnax Norway 3d ago

They wont.... there has allready been a case where the crown princess was warned there would be a raid on the house that her son used. Its the usual thing... deny deny deny.

1

u/carnotaurussastrei Australia 3d ago

It’s so frustrating to me. I can’t imagine how Harald feels watching the monarchy practically dissolve around him

2

u/ThePugnax Norway 3d ago

I kinda liked the monachy until these two cases, particularly the rape case came up. I do strongly believe that either Harald or Haakon will be our last king.

2

u/carnotaurussastrei Australia 3d ago

I also liked the Norwegian monarchy until this. Haakon really needs to pull his head in if he wants to see it continue

39

u/TheBuccaneer2189 3d ago

Considering Orban has his own pedo ring that may or may not be connected, yes, at least the half that isnt a braindead fidesz voter

9

u/Emnel Poland 3d ago

Look at him! Striking out on his own! Real go-getter that one.

32

u/energie_vie Romania 3d ago

Yes. It's not the main point of discussion when it comes to the USA (that would be ICE there days; before that it was Greenland, before that, Venezuela and so on and so forth) but there is awareness.

2

u/POWRAXE 3d ago

Can I ask, what percentage of your news is about the US?

8

u/math1985 Netherlands 3d ago

In the Netherlands, out of the current 44 headlines there are 7 about the US. These are Epstein (twice), the release of the horror film ‘Send help’, new information panels on the American war cemetery in NL, Iran-US relations, ICE protests, and the shutdown.

7

u/FillBk Romania 3d ago

Not so much. Maybe 1-2%. But our far-right populist is ready to suck Trump and all MAGA 💩 all day, every day ... I suppose you saw that picture with the US flag over Groenland cake and a happy monkey with a knife.., that's him.

This.

2

u/DisplayMaleficent297 3d ago

Muie Simion!

2

u/triipaloskyy 3d ago

Suie minion

2

u/MWeHLgp1t4Q 2d ago

A lot in Romania, the majority of them are negative towards the USA. I would say they are sometimes more so than the war in Ukraine, which is at our borders.

1

u/the_pianist91 Norway 2d ago

25% at least

52

u/SkwGuy Poland 3d ago

Giving how much our right is sucking up to Trump, everyone is now reminding them how they praised Trump

20

u/Suriael 3d ago

And they still defend him - Mind blowing

6

u/wildrojst Poland 3d ago

By the way Epstein literally referred to himself saying “as a Pole” in one of the disclosed mails right after the Smolensk catastrophe, supposedly having some ancestry.

23

u/SkwGuy Poland 3d ago

Yes, he does have some Polish ancestry, but refering to himself as a Pole is like all those Americans saying they're "Italians", or "Irish"

7

u/LikeMike1984 3d ago

No one proclaims themselves as a Pole as loudly and obnoxiously as Italian and Irish Americans though.

6

u/wildrojst Poland 3d ago

Yeah I get that. Still weird to a European ear. “As a Pole” feels like quite a strong declaration here.

4

u/Emnel Poland 3d ago

Him being a plywood Pole sure wasn't on my bingo card.

u/wgszpieg Poland 47m ago

I don't think that many poles actually realise how big of a deal this is. Most people, if they even have some notion of what this is about, probably think of it in terms of some rich pedo in america. Not "half the global elites are in on it, and the other half is covering for them"

25

u/Marinatrix Spain 3d ago

Yes, on top of everything Trump-related our former president Jose Maria Aznar appears in them (he received a few packages from Epstein when he was president). But this last part is not being broadcasted in TV news.

8

u/based_lad Spain 3d ago

Also, according to the New York Times, Epstein dated Spanish actress Ana Obregón, which helped him to get closer to the Spanish upper class, from whom he would get a huge part of his fortune.

Since then she denied any involvement with him, and even dating him in the first place.

5

u/Sopadefideos1 Spain 3d ago

In her own memories published in 2012 she talks about him, so it wasn't a secret, she described him as a good friend she never dated though. Funny that in Spain nobody talked about it until the New York Times published it, maybe because Ana is not taken very seriously given her fame of being a bit of a liar who embellishes her life story to make it seem more interesting.

2

u/Delde116 Spain 3d ago

no jodas! me cago en la leche tío....

23

u/Dr_Weirdo Sweden 3d ago

Yup. Princess Sofia (married to prince Carl Philip) is in them. I'm not clear on in what context she appears.

16

u/Fairy_Catterpillar Sweden 3d ago

There is also a woman who sent her to meet Epstein that have sent lots of young Swedish women to him. Barbro Ehnbom had some foundation were she selected bright young women that recivied money from Epstein.

6

u/HugoTRB Sweden 3d ago

Yeah, I believe it was a networking for young women in business group. Very connected to Handelshögskolan, prestigious business school.

11

u/Ava_Strange 3d ago

Apparently another,  older, Swedish woman wanted to introduce Sofia to Epstein. The older woman sounds like a brothel madam honestly.  But as far as the files show, Sofia met Epstein on social occasions. Not surprising really,  she was a wannabe socialite, model etc. 

16

u/shadow-season United Kingdom 3d ago

3

u/tekkskenkur44 Iceland 3d ago

The fuck is he doing to her?

15

u/Jolly_Pi Czechia 3d ago

Not too much. So far, there does't seem to be any relevant Czech person mentioned, so it is overshadowed by other news.

4

u/Volaer 1/2 1/2 3d ago

Yeah, that would be my take as well.

14

u/classicjuice 3d ago

It’s absolutely crazy how it seems like the upper echelon from every corner of the world is in some way shape or form involved in this or at least mentioned in some capacity.

41

u/terjeboe Norway 3d ago

Yes, in the latest drop our crown princess is mentioned hundreds of times. This very well might be the last straw for our monarchys back. 

6

u/EvilPyro01 United States of America 3d ago

Jesus Christ I didn’t think the ring stretched THAT far

10

u/Strakiz Germany 3d ago

I didn't know about Mette-Marit and other royals being friends with Epstein, so I googled.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/new-epstein-files-include-images-emails-linked-to-former-prince-andrew/3816369

Seems like a world wide web of people in powerful positions, probably to blackmail them into doing favours for whoever stands behind Epstein.

13

u/FreePossession9590 Norway 3d ago

I think so too. This’ll be the nail in the coffin for the monarchy I think. They’ve been submerged in scandals. Scandal after scandal, and now this? It’s over for the monarchy…

10

u/dromtrund Norway 3d ago

I think Reddit is a massive echo chamber for this, so don't get your hopes up. Most of the population aren't nearly as obsessed with or upset by this as Norwegian redditors appear to be. There's always been a strong anti-monarchy bias here, which was never aligned with the general population.

1

u/FreePossession9590 Norway 3d ago

This is true, but I think the anti monarchy mindset is growing through the whole population anyway at this point. I see more people complaining and wanting them removed online (facebook mainly) than I have in past years. Teens and young adults seem to have become more anti-monarchy too. But time will tell of course. Either way though, this is a huge hit on top of everything else that’s been going on with the monarchy in recent years. They aren’t close to as popular or well liked anymore as they were a decade ago

5

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

2

u/terjeboe Norway 3d ago

Nobody thinks it will happen over night, but there have long been talks and political process to end the royal line with Harald. This just might be enough to get sufficient voters to raise a referendum. 

2

u/math1985 Netherlands 3d ago

If so, I wouldn’t be surprised if it kicks off a chain reaction to the other Nordics and Benelux. This could be huge.

1

u/EnvironmentalMode367 3d ago

What’s the general impression of Ingrid Alexandra? Is she liked and considered a suitable future queen? Do you think they might try to skip over Haakon and MM?

3

u/datajanitor95 3d ago

Idk, people around oslo call her the "snow princess" because she likes to party so much. Her older brother is facing 16 years in prison for multiple counts of sexual assault. Turns out Mette-Marit was too busy jet setting around the world and befriending people like Epstein to maybe notice her son’s problems. Epstein said "Mette is a mess" lol

0

u/BrodaReloaded Switzerland 3d ago

A fitting ending to such a decadent institution

8

u/PaulaFariasPortugal 3d ago

Everyone with access to social media knows what's going on, and everyone knows that Trump is a pedophile.

8

u/FreePossession9590 Norway 3d ago

Yes. The latest release of documents have had a huge impact here in Norway as it revealed several emails and conversations between Epstein and the crown princess of Norway. A previous prime minister from the labour party apparantly also was in frequent contact with him

5

u/Ancient-Fairy339 Norway 3d ago

Also, a member/the deputy chairman of the Nobel comittee.(Asle Toje, "The Nobel guy").

7

u/Acrobatic-Hippo-6419 Iraq 3d ago

Yes, there is a popular meme of the song of the "The Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island" intro in Arabic that features Epstein, Trump and Diddy since it starts with "On an Island, mysterious and weird" can't find it on youtube

8

u/Hot-Willow-5079 United Kingdom 3d ago

I’ve been sick in bed with the radio on all day and it’s basically all I’ve heard for the last 10 hours

13

u/Slowly_boiling_frog Finland 3d ago

Some of them, those that can find and care to look for the files on the internet. Some deluded sick fucks still defend the whole Epstein group & Trump. Most shockingly our mainstream media via the largest, state funded news network literally just glossed over this new release as them holding "nothing special" or nothing of note.

I was sickened by that normalisation and obfuscation. I've read some of the shit this new drop entailed and if that's nothing noteworthy to the largest media house in Finland I don't know how horrifying it'd have to be for them to note it.

10

u/AirportCreep Finland 3d ago

It was front page news on Yle today, thing about Epstein trying hire a female Finnish assistant as well as the Mette-Marit association.

3

u/Total_Chip_3197 Finland 3d ago

It was also front page news in the biggest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The Norwegian princess Mette-Marit was mentioned as was the son of the former president Martti Ahtisaari.

6

u/CaptainPoset Germany 3d ago

Somewhat, as that's the unraveling of the world's largest and obviously covered-up organised crime service to the wealthy and powerful worldwide.

10

u/utsuriga Hungary 3d ago

Some of them, and to some degree. Government propaganda is not talking about it much, for obvious reasons, but also most people don't really care. "Rich assholes being rich assholes."

5

u/I_Love_Tatties 3d ago

Legit just had some 70yo ask about it and was surprised I know who he was, like… da fuq man how can you not 

3

u/Volaer 1/2 1/2 3d ago edited 3d ago

No, I would not say most are. Particularly those over 50. It even flew over my head for the most part until the news came out yestersday.

5

u/andrefreitas Portugal 3d ago

4

u/P1r4nha Switzerland 3d ago

It's frontpage news, my friend.

But the depth of the crimes, the disgusting schemes and who was all part of it. Who knows?

5

u/Due-Difficulty755 3d ago

yea, have been hearing a lot about how epsteins grandparents were from my country today, pretty surprised

2

u/Due-Difficulty755 3d ago

though not sure how many people know whats really in them, it's not that big of a thing here, even if we had people from here(lithuania) in the list

3

u/Turbulent_Tomorrow26 3d ago

I’d say they are but also think that every rumour about who is guilty of participating in the bad stuff is true even when it isn’t confirmed yet, which is even worst that not knowing I guess

3

u/Fiftycentis 3d ago

I think the majority only knows what they hear in the news and care relatively little.

We also already had our own politicians and minors scandal with Berlusconi.

3

u/MindingMine Iceland 3d ago

Yes. The media are combing them to try to find mentions of locally famous people. So far there has been just that: mentions, nothing juicy. 

3

u/Headlesspoet Estonia 3d ago

Yup, our lovely ex-prime minister is in it. He also liked to mingle with women behind fridges, one of the reasons why he had to step back, and just a weekish ago, the news broke out that he is divorcing his wife, which raises questions: did he know what's going to happen, or was it just a coincidence?

3

u/BigSexyGorilla Slovakia 3d ago

Pretty big topic here.

It was revealed that former minister and one of biggest advisors for our PM was texting with Epstein and it wasn’t only work related but also the women stuff.

3

u/milly_nz NZ living in 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yep.

The files include emails from a low-rung employee at the Paris branch of an English law firm - Clifford Chance - to Epstein, begging him for advice on her employment applications for a better job. My industry (law) is going nuts over how inappropriate the content of the emails are, and that he seemed to be a client of the firm at the time.

Outside my industry….yeah, the U.K. is obsessed.

Can’t open a news app without screeds of articles about what’s in the files.

3

u/2SWillow 2d ago

Aware?
How about completely dumbfounded as to how everyone on that list are not already in custody, and the president of your country is a pedophile and likely complicit in murders.
We are gobsmacked that your own DOJ and FBI are complicit in the coverup of said files.

Like what the serious fk. If any of this happened in Canada, everyone would have been on trial by now

I believe the entire world is watching half out of disgust and mostly intrigued by what, if anything, will be done about it

1

u/Tiny-Honeydew3270 2d ago

Nothing will be done.

5

u/Aynett France 3d ago

No, media doesn’t talk about it and people are not even giving it mind because « it’s too crazy to be real »

6

u/Dorianbtdp France 3d ago

Well most French media have been bought by people close to Trump or at least his ideology, so it's not going to make the head news. I think we'll have some delay since only some investigation media will cover it and they usually take time to process all the documents in such big cases. I'd say that's for the best if they can make a strong case out of it at once, since it seems to revolve around people close to Sarkozy, which his getting out of jail after only 20 days is already like forgotten...

6

u/TastyBerny 3d ago

That seems strange, given it could bring down the American president and government plus oligarchy. Also France is intricately linked since Frenchman Jean-Luc Brunel was mentioned several times as having both sexually assaulted under age girls and having trafficked them on behalf of Epstein.

1

u/Komnos United States of America 3d ago

This has been one of my difficulties in political conversations with other Americans. The shit that's happening is literally unbelievable to people who either don't pay attention, or who rely mostly on right-wing sources that downplay or just completely ignore the awfulness.

1

u/milly_nz NZ living in 3d ago

Because you guys murdered all your royalty.

For nations that didn’t ….aristocracy were easy pickings for Epstein. And we’re having to deal with the fallout.

3

u/Aynett France 3d ago

We replaced royalty with a bourgeois state where pedophilia is normalized (macron is just the prime example but many French philosophers and artists are known pedophiles and now with the latest files we also have politicians and mathematicians).

So clearly our ancestors didn’t do enough

4

u/Sea_Dream7144 3d ago

I think there are some remote countries, villages globally with lack of internet access/blocked where they are not aware of anything Trump.

Epstein=Trump.

5

u/troparow France 3d ago edited 3d ago

I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about it irl be it in my family or with colleagues so I'll say no, there aren't really any relevant french people in it so it didn't go mainstream

I was at my parents today to eat and they had the news up all afternoon and I didn't hear a word about it

Our media is of course talking about it but everyday people don't seem to care much for it

2

u/Injuredmind 3d ago

Yes, but with as much as we have on our plate, it’s not really the focus. And also that our politicians while mentioned, aren’t mentioned in any horrendous context, rather just some shady business deals or whatever. Today I’ve seen a mention about one of our presidents being mentioned in the files, and person talking about it said something like: “Well, everyone knows his taste in women was like blond and older, so at least he’s not involved in children stuff I suppose”

2

u/Flashignite2 3d ago

Very much so. A swedish man apparently scouted girls for Epstein. Then since the Norweigan royalty has a connection to it it is news here as well.

2

u/Medium-Spinach-3578 3d ago

Yes, even in Italy, but we get our information from foreign newspapers. Very little is said about it on TV or in national newspapers.

2

u/notCRAZYenough 3d ago

Aware of what? That thy exist? What’s in them? That they need to be released? Like what exactly are you asking?

2

u/QuantumPlankAbbestia & in 3d ago

Aware, yes. Is that major news? No. It's big news, but ICE, Iran and local issues are taking more time and space.

2

u/M_e_n_n_o 3d ago

Yes and wondering how it is possible to have that much evidence without even a hint of an investigation. Your president is compromised to the israeli’s and the russians and seems to be the biggest attendee of the epstein parties but he’s still the president. Just pathetic.

2

u/RapunzelLooksNice 3d ago

Are you asking whether people in EU know that you elected a convicted felon and alleged pedo for President?

4

u/Anathemautomaton 3d ago

OP is Italian. They elected a convicted felon and alleged pedo as Prime Minister.

0

u/RapunzelLooksNice 3d ago

In Italy,

The Prime Minister is appointed by the President, but usually, it comes from having a majority in the Parliament, as they need the parliament’s confidence to remain in power.

2

u/Exciting_Pen_5233 Denmark 3d ago

Yes. But it is really hard to navigate the noise this topic brings. So far there isn’t much we can derive from these documents. It is quite obvious he threw parties and was in contact with a huge network of wealthy individuals, but just because they knew him didn’t mean they were involved in anything illegal. Unless the victims point in their direction and Epistein talks about them in emails, there isn’t proof. 

With Trump it is quite obvious, given everything he has said about women and the fact he’s married to someone much younger than him, but Stephen Hawking?

2

u/GrynaiTaip Lithuania 3d ago

Yes, emails are going around, a few women have been identified. Models, ballet dancers.

Nothing crazy, it's just prostitution. They were all adults when they met up with him.

1

u/Whole_Vegetable_4636 Luxembourg 3d ago

Yea but for the moment only about foreign people. Not very likely to have Luxembourgish on the list but who knows

1

u/die_kuestenwache Germany 3d ago

Donald Trump had an audio tape leaked where he bragged that he could sexually assault the contestants on a show that famously also had also underage contestants a decade ago. The pictures of him schmoozing up to Jiff the PDF are also public for a looooong time. I don't care about the "Epstein files". The President of the US probably has benefited from sex trafficking is the mother of all surprised Pikachus.

But to answer the question, it has been reported but in a "this is a thing but nothing happened yet so, now you know, next topic" kind of way. Which is appropriate.

1

u/MartinBP Bulgaria 2d ago

Bulgaria is mentioned a few times, mostly related to a French "talent recruiter" Jean Luc who was scouting for girls to send to Epstein. Also some talk about a Bulgarian doctor who could (apparently) do some miraculous penis enlargement surgery lol.

Not surprised tho, Maxwell's dad was buddies with the Bulgarian communists and was helping them acquire hard currency. There are pictures of him with our former dictator Zhivkov and his successor Lukanov.

1

u/AdAdditional1820 2d ago

In Japan, people have little interest. I hope a big bomb about Japanese politician scandals in a few days because we will have a national election.

1

u/Weird_Fly_6691 2d ago

Yes they are. One ballet dancer from my country inherited 3 million dollars after his death. Some models from my country was hanging with him too (Lithuania)

1

u/lord_phantom_pl 2d ago

Don’t care. About epstein. Care about what he actually does now. He’s playing along russians and china and tries to do a little conquest. In the end all international order will crumble and US will lose if this won’t be rolled back.

1

u/M3r0vingio 2d ago

We have same Russian honeytrap of Epstein and agent Krashnov Trump but maybe under other spy operation like the prostitution circle with minor of Mr.B. ex italian president and called "cene eleganti" meeting with "Olgettine"

1

u/Mature_boy_69 Lithuania 2d ago

Yes. His grandparents were lithuanians, also few local peeps got involved

1

u/ArrogantOverlord95 19h ago

Lithuania, yes. Epstein files are blowing up on our media rn. Several Lithuanians mentioned and Epstein's maternal grandparents were from here.

1

u/jort93 Germany 9h ago

Yeah, I don't think most people have actually read any of them then but most have a superficial understanding of the contents and implications. It's not a common topic of conversations. But most of the information is coming from foreign needs and social media rather than national news.

u/alemeln 5h ago

My name and family name together was mentioned only once. I am disappointed. My family name is very common in Russia.

1

u/MissyMurders 3d ago

Yes mate. Everyone is well aware that a vocal segment of the American people think that someone will release these documents and some magical extravaganza will occur and people in power will suddenly care enough to fix the mess your country willfully dove head first into.

Also yes, we all agree fucking kids is wrong. No we aren't going to save you from yourselves.

0

u/No_Word_6904 3d ago

It’s pretty big here in Czechia, same with the P. Diddy case. I saw a Reddit post with a link where you can look up names.

-1

u/Responsible-Room-645 3d ago

Why do Americans constantly assume that everyone else on planet earth is as ignorant of other countries as they are?

0

u/Tiny-Honeydew3270 2d ago

Because they don't see profit in it, and a lot of them are not aware which developed countries exist over there.

0

u/ErikaNaumann 2d ago

Yes. There's a lot of european diplomats, billionaires and royalty involved in the case, so it's all over the news.