It's a patchwork country at the heart of the patchwork continent that is Europe: a country of 11 million people, with three official languages, and the de facto capital of the EU. In this edition of Europe Now, we head to Belgium.

It's a patchwork country at the heart of the patchwork continent that is Europe: a country of 11 million people, with three official languages, and the de facto capital of the EU. In this edition of Europe Now, we head to Belgium.

As new political winds blow in Italy, FRANCE 24’s Europe team looks beyond the stereotypes in the country of "la dolce vita". It's been almost a year since Italy's populist Five-Star Movement and far-right Lega (League) party joined forces to form a new government, ousting the centre-left Democrats.

As new political winds blow in Italy, FRANCE 24’s Europe team looks beyond the stereotypes in the country of "la dolce vita". It's been almost a year since Italy's populist Five-Star Movement and far-right Lega (League) party joined forces to form a new government, ousting the centre-left Democrats.

Europe Now travels to Estonia this month, 27 years since the country emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Our European Affairs Editor, Catherine Nicholson meets former foreign minister-turned MEP Urmas Paet, plus filmmaker Ilmar Raag, to find out how Estonia has evolved in the past quarter century.

It’s been 100 years since the Baltic states declared their independence – and 27 since they emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union. In Europe Now, FRANCE 24’s European Affairs Editor Catherine Nicholson takes us to the smallest of them. In Estonia, she meets President Kersti Kaljulaid who gives us her view on security threats from Russia, and tells us why she still has confidence in NATO, despite criticism and threats to the body from US President Donald Trump.

In 2018, Hungary and Slovakia have both been under scrutiny over their behaviour as European member states. Both countries are facing European sanctions for refusing to participate in an EU quota system for re-distributing asylum seekers around the bloc. Slovakia has gone from a forgotten EU member state to front-page news after the murder of an investigative journalist, Jan Kuciak, who had been investigating links between the Italian mafia and individuals close to the former prime minister.

The River Danube isn’t the only thing that links Hungary and Slovakia. Both countries share a common history – as part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, as members of the Cold-War era Eastern bloc, and since 2004, as members of the European Union. In 2018, Hungary and Slovakia have both been under scrutiny over their behaviour as European member states. Hungary has come under fire for what Brussels sees as pressure on democratic institutions, the judiciary, the independent press, and more.

The River Danube isn’t the only thing that links Hungary and Slovakia. Both countries share a common history – as part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, as members of the Cold-War era Eastern bloc, and since 2004, as members of the European Union. In 2018, Hungary and Slovakia have both been under scrutiny over their behaviour as European member states. Hungary has come under fire for what Brussels sees as pressure on democratic institutions, the judiciary, the independent press, and more. In part one of our programme, we're in Budapest to explore some of the biggest recent issues in Hungary: asking government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs whether his country might change its stance on migrants in the face of a threatened loss of EU voting rights; we also meet Greens group MEP Benedek Javor, who tells us his predictions for the next four years under Viktor Orban; our reporters investigate claims of corruption and misuse of public funds; and we visit the offices of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations to hear why the NGO is shutting its doors in Hungary – the first time it’s closed down operations in an EU member state.

Click here to watch part two of the programme, on Slovakia.

In 2018, Hungary and Slovakia have both been under scrutiny over their behaviour as European member states. Both countries are facing European sanctions for refusing to participate in an EU quota system for re-distributing asylum seekers around the bloc. Slovakia has gone from a forgotten EU member state to front-page news after the murder of an investigative journalist, Jan Kuciak, who had been investigating links between the Italian mafia and individuals close to the former prime minister. In part two of our programme, we're in Bratislava to explore some of the biggest recent issues in Slovakia. We meet 19-year-old protest organiser Karolina Farska, who’s helped galvanise the biggest public demonstrations Slovakia has seen since the fall of Communism in 1989, this after the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova. We ask European Parliament members Ivan Stefanec, Jozsef Nagy and Branislav Skripek what they as public officials plan to do to respond to the public outcry. Our reporters also speak to colleagues of Jan Kuciak to hear why they fear for media freedom in Slovakia; and we investigate a feared brain-drain of young Slovaks as this young country seeks its place in the EU of 2018.

Click here to watch part one of the programme, on Hungary.