Is the EU's single market failing? Faced with growing competition from China and the US, the bloc is falling behind. The union has been relying on the single market to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services and people for more than 30 years. But inertia is creeping in, and it’s time for a new single market, says our guest Enrico Letta, a former prime minister of Italy, president of the Jacques Delors institute and author of a high-level report on the single market's future....

Georgia has erupted in protest once again, as the ruling Georgian Dream party pursues a "foreign agents" bill in parliament – something that has left a question mark hanging over the country’s European ambitions. The EU granted the ex-Soviet nation candidate status to join the bloc last December. We speak to Georgia's President Salomé Zourabichvili, who plans to veto the final draft of the law, but admits that parliament can still override her veto. That makes the October 26 election even...

Talking Europe sits down with one of the European Parliament’s most prominent veterans, Co-chair of the Greens Philippe Lamberts. The Belgian MEP has served in three legislatures since 2009 and says he has seen a big difference in both awareness and action on environmental issues in that time. Lamberts, who is stepping down from the EU Parliament, is characteristically outspoken on the bloc's Green Deal, the farming issue, investment in the EU economy and the various scandals that have rocked...

As Spaniards get ready to elect 61 MEPs to the European Parliament in the June 9 elections, regional elections in Spain are sucking much of the political oxygen. The pro-independence EH Bildu coalition celebrated a historic result in the Basque vote on April 20. Many eyes are now turned to the Catalan regional election on May 12, while the Spanish government works on a controversial amnesty law for those involved in the failed 2017 secession attempt in Catalonia. We discuss how these issues...

For months, Europe has been rocked by protests as farmers decry high costs and low prices, in addition to what they call unfair competition from Ukraine, and the constraints of environmental regulations. EU elites are worried that the farmers' movement will boost anti-establishment parties in the European elections this June. The EU Commission has put forward proposals to ease the burden on farmers, but environmental groups say this is a short-term political tactic that undermines elements of...

Talking Europe hosts former Spanish foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya, who is now dean of one of the top international relations schools in the world – the Paris School of International Affairs. We delve into the EU election campaign, EU competitiveness, transatlantic relations and the fragile political situation in Spain amid rising tensions over the Catalan issue.

Talking Europe hosts the head of the largest political group in the European Parliament, the centre-right European People's Party. Manfred Weber, a prominent German CSU politician, is hoping that the June 9 EU elections will re-confirm the EPP's pre-eminent position, but he is cautious on the possibility of alliances with the hard-right ECR group. We also touch on the "Russiagate" and "Piepergate" controversies, the EPP's contentious plan to reform the EU's asylum system, as well as French...

The Nordic model encompasses a strong welfare state, protection of workers through collective bargaining, good pension schemes and low levels of poverty. This system has gone hand-in-hand with a progressive approach to issues like gender equality and maternity or paternity leave. But the social model has come under pressure from the trends affecting Europe as a whole, such as Covid debt, inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, the demands of the green transition and – some would say –...

Striking a balance between regulation and letting businesses grow is always a difficult thing for policymakers to do. But has the EU veered into over-regulation? Our guest argues that red tape in some areas is holding back EU-based companies, and is partly responsible for those firms losing ground to their competitors in other parts of the world. But he is adamant that finding a solution to this does not mean having to renege on the EU's key policy initiatives, such as the European Green...

We dive into the heated EU election campaign in Romania, where the centrist Renew Europe bloc finds itself squeezed by a joint list of the government’s grand coalition on the one hand, and a resurgent far right on the other hand. We also look at Romania’s efforts to become a core member of the European family – something that has not happened yet, as the country was only partially admitted to the border-free Schengen travel area at the end of March.

The EU’s proposed defence reforms are not going to make a difference to Ukraine in the short term, warns Camille Grand, NATO's former assistant secretary general for defence investment. Both the European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS) and the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP) "are going to be very useful in the longer term, provided that the money comes in 2028, which is more or less the cycle that the EU is announcing", Grand tells Talking Europe. He talks about Ukraine's...

The war in Ukraine is well into its third year, and Russia’s advances on the battlefield have caused jitters across the EU, particularly in the countries bordering Russia that used to be part of the Soviet bloc. Security-related themes – not just military questions, but energy security too – are high on the agenda in the EU election campaign in the Baltic states. We discuss what's at stake with three MEPs.

Estonia's prime minister insists there is a crisis in European defence that needs to be solved now. Kaja Kallas tells Talking Europe that private funding for the acquisition of lethal weapons is blocked, which means the "vibrant" tech sector cannot be engaged. She also urges EU members to consider jointly raising capital on the markets to help Ukraine, which she says will be cheaper than doing so individually. We also discuss Russia putting Kallas on a "wanted" list over the removal or...

Disinformation is a central concern for the EU, as it swings into full campaign mode for the European elections of June 6-9. There's no shortage of threats: from cyberattacks to fake news aimed at sowing confusion in the minds of EU citizens and voters. In this episode we look at the various disinformation techniques being used, as well as who the most vulnerable targets are, and what is being done to counter such attacks – not just by the European institutions, but also by non-governmental...

Talking Europe interviews the chair of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, David McAllister. He believes the European Union has been too cautious for too long, and has not proactively defined and defended its interests in the world. He argues that one way to achieve that is to move to a fully-fledged Defence Union over the coming years. McAllister is a German Christian Democrat and a staunch supporter of European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who is hoping to lead...

The Legal Affairs committee (JURI) of the European Parliament has just voted to sue the European Commission for unfreezing billions of euros in funding for Hungary late last year. They say it's high time to protect European taxpayers' money from misuse. Meanwhile, Warsaw and the European Commission have unveiled an action plan that involves legal reforms in Poland and ending the EU's infringement procedures against the country, which date back to the previous conservative government. We...

In the spotlight this week in our whistle-stop debate series featuring each of the EU’s 27 member states ahead of June’s European elections: Italy. Europe’s third-biggest economic power has seen a growing rivalry between the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and her even further right coalition partner, Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, who heads the far-right League party. When Meloni led a hard-right coalition to power in October 2022 – becoming Italy’s...

Just days after French President Emmanuel Macron provoked a backlash among allies by declaring he could not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine, a senior minister has doubled down on the message, saying Europe must thwart Vladimir Putin before he presses his military drive further into Europe. “Vladimir Putin will not stop in Ukraine, so this is the reason why we need to make him fail,” Jean-Noël Barrot, the newly appointed French Minister Delegate for Europe told FRANCE 24. 

Alarmed by a recent series of maritime emergencies involving migrants trying to reach European shores, Europe's top ethics watchdog is calling on the EU’s authorities to open a public investigation into thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean Sea. European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly demanded an independent commission of inquiry as part of a newly released report into the tragic capsizing and sinking of the Adriana migrant ship off the coast of Greece last June. She spoke to FRANCE 24's Douglas...

The spectre of a second Donald Trump presidency is stalking America. Depending on whom you believe, the world’s biggest superpower is either sleepwalking into dictatorship, or everyone just needs to chill out. Eight months before the US presidential election, there are many unknowns. But America is rife with dystopian warnings that Trump's return would spell the last rites of American democracy. Europeans, meanwhile, are bracing for the impact of a President Trump "2.0". Trump's hints that he...

The man who might be back in the White House next year, Donald Trump, has caused huge alarm in Europe by saying that he might let Russia "do whatever the hell they want" against NATO allies that do not contribute enough to collective defence. Our guest says that Trump’s comments should galvanise Europe into strategic autonomy and energy independence. Teresa Ribera is Spain's minister for ecological transition, and a former secretary of state for climate change. She is a confidant of Spain's...

With our eyes on this June's European elections, we hold the second debate in our series on countries or groups of EU countries. We look at three founding members of the European Economic Community in 1957, which became the European Union in 1993: Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, known as the Benelux states. They see themselves as frontrunners in European integration, having pioneered a customs union 80 years ago, which showed their neighbours the benefits of trading without tariffs....

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. Yet the EU has just agreed to cut the programme’s budget by €2.1 billion, as part of the re-negotiation of the EU’s long-term budget, and continuing aid to Ukraine. Paradoxically, the cut comes as the EU says it wants to boost its competitiveness in the world. “I cannot be happy about that,” Iliana Ivanova tells Talking Europe. The EU’s commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth, speaks to...

In the scope of our coverage of the European elections, we will broadcast a series of programs in which we will be taking a closer look at a specific country or group of member states to determine what issues voters care about. We start with the Eurozone's largest economy: Germany. With its strong industry, a population of 84 million and 96 seats at the European Parliament, the country is the leading political and economic force in the EU. But it is also facing a crisis: Germany is in...