Talking Europe

The countdown is on to what is perhaps Europe's most important election of this year. On February 23, Germans go to the polls in a parliamentary vote, following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition in November. The conservative CDU-CSU is the favourite, but no party looks likely to win a majority, and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling strongly. We sit down with an important player in the CSU: Manfred Weber, who is the president of the conservative European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament. We talk about the far right in Germany and Europe, Elon Musk’s support for the AfD, the EU’s relations with US President Donald Trump, and why the EPP is putting more focus on competitiveness and the European car industry.

We begin with the political situation in Germany. "The current government, the 'traffic light coalition', has failed," Weber asserts. "We are going to elections half a year before the regular date. That gives you a clear indication that [Chancellor] Olaf Scholz and the current government couldn’t make it any more. And now the centre-right CDU-CSU – the European People’s Party in Germany – has to show leadership. That’s up to [CDU] leader Friedrich Merz to show this. We are quite strong in the polls, and we try to convince people."

In response to accusations that Merz has broken the "cordon sanitaire" around the far right by tacitly aligning with the AfD in a parliamentary motion on tougher immigration rules, Weber insists that there will be no coalition between the conservatives and the AfD after the election. "This is unthinkable in Germany," he states. "The AfD says that Germany should leave the European Union, that it should leave NATO. This is really crazy, and not in Germany’s interest at all. So our firewall is clear. No cooperation with the AfD." Weber goes on: "Also at the European level we defend three principles (when discussing cooperation): being pro-Europe, pro-Ukraine and pro-rule of law. Everyone can be sure of that."

Asked whether close Trump ally Elon Musk's public support for the AfD constitutes election interference or is simply freedom of speech, Weber answers: "Even a tech billionaire can have strange political ideas. That's free speech. He can say whatever he wants to say. What is not acceptable is that he is using X as a platform to support the AfD. That is not allowed under our rules in Europe – the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. My message is clear: the rules for our European communication and digital world are not made in Musk’s headquarters, nor in the White House. They are made here, in the European Parliament."

Other parties have accused the EPP of backsliding on agreements to phase out the internal combustion engine by 2035. But Weber links this issue to the competitiveness of Europe’s cars. "We are losing thousands of jobs every day in Europe," he affirms. "The backbone of our European industry is at stake. We have to win back our strength in global competitiveness. This is the number one priority for the EPP."

Weber insists this does not mean undermining the EU’s climate objectives. "I want to be a proud European, I want us to achieve our climate goal: zero neutrality in 2050,” he says. "The majority (of cars) will be electric cars, don’t get me wrong," he adds. "But we should leave it to engineers, companies and consumers to decide on the technology that will lead us to these climate goals. And I see in my talks with Renew and the Socialists that there is a growing awareness about the need to look at our car industry."

The EPP is still being courted by the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), whose boss suggests the EPP should build "ad hoc, technical majorities" with forces to the right of the EPP in order to push back on, for instance, environment-related regulations. Is Weber open to that? "Some of the statements from the far right are simply crazy," he exclaims. "I read the letter from [Patriots for Europe head] Jordan Bardella, telling us that we should get rid of the whole Green Deal. I'm sorry, but this is bullshit!"

We then turn to US President Donald Trump and his threat of tariffs on European goods. Can the EU make a deal with self-professed dealmaker Trump? "We can buy products from America. There are options there," Weber responds. "But probably the most important offer we can make to Donald Trump is, 'please let’s join forces to have a common China policy'. I was in Washington in December and the number one issue there was how to answer China’s global ambitions. And on this, Europe and America have a common interest. Together we are around 50 percent of global GDP. We can still write and draft the global agenda of tomorrow."

Programme prepared by Perrine Desplats, Luke Brown and Isabelle Romero

It's not the first time that the UK and the EU have expressed their readiness for a "reset" in relations. But now, five years after Britain left the European Union, there appears to be more momentum for making a reset happen, particularly with US President Donald Trump's threat of trade tariffs hanging over the European continent, and the future of NATO and EU defence up in the air. Our panellists debate whether the UK really knows what it wants, and in what areas the two sides can realistically work more closely together.

Programme prepared by Perrine Desplats, Luke Brown and Isabelle Romero

Talking Europe hosts Georgia’s fifth president, who maintains that she is still the legitimate holder of that post, despite the swearing-in of a new president on December 29th. Salomé Zourabichvili explains why she believes that the inauguration of Mikheil Kavelashvili was illegitimate, and why Georgia is facing such a stark choice of either going back into the Kremlin’s orbit or pursuing its western path and accession process to join the European Union.

Insisting that Mr. Kavelashvili does not have a popular mandate, Zourabichvili states, “I was elected by the people, unlike this president. He was elected by a college that is composed by the parliament and by other institutions which are all controlled by (ruling party) Georgian Dream. So it’s basically a president elected by one party. And my mandate does not stop at a specific date. The constitution says my mandate continues until a new president is elected. That means a legitimate president. So I’m waiting. As soon as we have new elections and the new president is elected, I’m happy to defer.”

We discuss the protest movement that was sparked by parliamentary elections in October which most EU countries judged to be neither free nor fair – and by Georgian Dream’s decision to suspend the EU membership process. “The most important demand is the return to the European path,” Zourabichvili affirms. “That’s what people on the streets have been demanding every day for practically 60 days now. Because what started this massive protest was not just the stealing of the elections. It was also the fact that the prime minister and the parliament – without a mandate from the population – went against the will of the population and said that we will stop our path towards Europe.”

We turn to western sanctions on Georgian officials deemed responsible for the police crackdown on protesters. While the EU has taken some targeted measures, broader sanctions have been blocked by Hungary and Slovakia – whose leaders are aligned with Georgian Dream.

“There have been American sanctions on (influential oligarch) Bidzina Ivanishvili, and we can already feel the nervousness of that elite about those sanctions, because American sanctions are what really counts,” Zourabichvili says. “But there is a real problem for the European Union, which has the ambition to have a real foreign policy in that part of the world – in the Caucasus, where there is also Armenia waiting to turn towards Europe. If the EU doesn’t have instruments, or if its instruments are blocked by one veto, then it will not be able to become a real player.”

She continues by outlining the geopolitical interests that are at stake:

“We have huge infrastructure projects that are waiting on the Black Sea. If China comes into the Black Sea port of Anaklia, as the ruling party in Georgia wants – it’s negotiating behind closed doors with China, in fact – then it’s Europe’s foreign policy that is challenged. The same if the ruling party can give China the second airport in Tbilisi.”

Zourabichvili attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and talked to prominent Republicans there. She says that Trump likely will not be guided only by sympathy for populist leaders and governments around the world.

“I think Trump is also a realist,” she says. “The main message that I heard at his inauguration was that he’s talking about a strong America. Well, how is America strong if a small country of 3.7 million people can suddenly turn away from the West, abandon the strategic partnership with the United States, and turn to China and Russia? And what does strong America do if the Black Sea is closed to the American fleet? So there is a whole strategic, real world that Trump has to confront, beyond sympathies for some ideologies.”

Programme prepared by Oihana Almandoz, Perrine Desplats and Isabelle Romero

Mainstream EU leaders have breathed a sigh of relief. After a Hungarian presidency marked by what they saw as damaging freelance diplomacy, the torch has now passed to Poland, which holds the reins for six months at a particularly turbulent time. There are huge questions in the EU about how to handle Donald Trump, about western support for Ukraine, about international trade, Europe’s competitiveness, and much else besides.

The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, is a veteran of the European political stage, having himself been a president of the EU Council for several years. But can he unite the EU when the political fragmentation of the continent seems to be increasing?

Programme prepared by Isabelle Romero, Luke Brown and Perrine Desplats

For our first Talking Europe interview with the new crop of EU Commissioners, we host Hadja Lahbib, who is in charge of preparedness and crisis management, as well as equality. Lahbib, a former foreign minister of Belgium, talks about the challenges of her extremely broad portfolio, covering Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan. A common thread is the difficulties faced by women and girls in crisis situations around the world – something that links up with Lahbib's efforts to promote gender balance and women's rights in the EU itself.

Asked whether the EU is leading by example, when there is an obvious gender imbalance in the new European Commission, Lahbib replies:

"For sure not. But that's because of the reluctance of the member states. And it's also a reflection of what is at stake in our European Union. We are observing a backlash against gender balance everywhere – whether we're talking about the notion of consent in sexual relations, or about reproductive health and rights, or about abortion. We need to address these issues, because our values are at stake. We need to make sure that women and girls have the same perspectives for their future [as men and boys]. And when we talk about competitiveness, how can we be competitive when half of humanity is still suffering from the 'glass ceiling'?"

Lahbib shares her impressions of her trip to Ukraine, from where she had just returned when we recorded this interview.

"I have to say that I am back full of energy because Ukrainians are impressive in their resilience. They are completely future-oriented despite the difficult conditions, despite nearly three years of war. They are constantly adapting their tools, their equipment. We are going to learn a lot from them when it comes to a preparedness and crisis management And when it comes to equality – the second part of my portfolio – I mainly met women. Women are those who are left behind. The grandmothers, the women who are alone with children. We really need to support them. I went to Ukraine with an initial allocation of €148 million for humanitarian aid."

We then turn to the apparent political breakthrough between Israel and Hamas over Gaza, and discuss what that could mean for the EU's involvement. "Before talking about reconstruction, we need unhindered access for humanitarian aid," she says. "The majority of hospitals and public services are completely destroyed. Eighty percent of civilian infrastructure, of buildings, are destroyed. The majority of the wounded are women; girls and children. And the losses are tremendous – essentially women and children. So we need peace before talking about reconstruction."

Staying on the theme of humanitarian aid, we talk about the situation in Syria, and whether EU sanctions on certain sectors in the country should be temporarily lifted – as a group of EU member states has called for. Indeed, the US has already waived some sanctions to facilitate humanitarian supplies.

"What we don't want is an Assad 2.0 Syria," Lahbib says. "We want an inclusive Syria, capable of embracing all its population, in all its diversity. So we will judge the de facto authorities based on their actions and not on their words. We are waiting. There will be certainly be a discussion about the lifting of sanctions [at the foreign affairs council on January 27]. It will be an open discussion. But in the end we will need a consensus. We will need the agreement of all the [EU] member states."

She goes on to explain: "Humanitarian aid is not linked with those [political] principles. It's always unconditional. It's needs-based. My role is to assess the humanitarian conditions."

Programme prepared by Isabelle Romero, Luke Brown and Perrine Desplats

He has called the German chancellor an "incompetent idiot" and the country’s president an "anti-democratic tyrant". Perhaps such invective would not matter if Elon Musk did not have the influence that he does. But Europe is a key market for the tech billionaire, and it includes electric cars, space technologies and satellites – currently the topic of discussions between Musk's SpaceX and the Italian government – as well as social media platform X, where Musk has streamed a conversation with the leader of Germany's far-right AfD. That party is polling in second place ahead of crucial German parliamentary elections in late February. And of course, Musk has the ear of incoming US President Donald Trump.

So what influence could Musk have in a year of crucial elections, not just in Germany, but in other EU member states? And is he simply exercising freedom of speech, or interfering in the politics of European countries? We put the question to two MEPs.

Programme prepared by Isabelle Romero, Luke Brown and Perrine Desplats

Talking Europe sits down with France's top diplomat in Warsaw, just as Poland takes up the rotating presidency of the EU in turbulent geopolitical times. Étienne de Poncins was previously French ambassador to Ukraine and got out of Kyiv just in time when it was encircled by the Russian army in 2022. He wrote about that experience in his book "Au Cœur de la Guerre" – "At the Heart of the War". We talk about Poland’s position in the EU, and especially its defence commitments, as well as the EU’s approach to Ukraine and to the incoming US presidency of Donald Trump.

De Poncins says it is "good news for Europe" that Poland is taking over the rotating presidency of the EU, because it is going to be "a pro-European presidency, held by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. To be perfectly frank, we will not regret the Hungarian presidency of the EU, because Hungary was playing its own game and not a collective game, as in football. We expect Poland to aggregate all the European positions and to defend a united EU position. And the moment is also important because this is the real start of the new Commission of Mrs. von der Leyen, which will send its first strong messages on its programme. So this first semester of 2025 is clearly a key period."

As Europe braces for the unpredictability of a new Trump presidency in the US, de Poncins praises Poland's goal of spending 4.7 percent of GDP on its defence capabilities in 2025. "Poland is a benchmark for Europe. Their ambition is clear. They want to double their military forces. There are a lot of challenges, because when you buy a lot of military equipment, you then need to do the training, the maintenance and so on. But the road is clear and the objective is firm. And we are very impressed by the determination of the Polish government to rearm and to collectively reinforce the defence of Europe."

Asked whether the EU as a whole is being pro-active enough on the incoming Trump presidency, de Poncins says "there are different meetings about how to handle [US President-Elect Donald] Trump, and about how to discuss with him. There will be a visit to Washington of the French, German and Polish foreign ministers very soon, and we will continue to see a revival of this 'Weimar Triangle'. The important point, I think, is to be coordinated among us Europeans".

De Poncins pushes back on the idea that, by saying that Kyiv needs to hold "realistic" discussions on territorial issues, French President Emmanuel Macron is nudging Ukraine to make territorial concessions. "We have always said that it is for Ukrainians themselves to decide when and on what conditions they will enter into negotiations with Russia," de Poncins says. "Everything will be on the table at that point. So President Macron has not said anything very new from my perspective."

We also touch on hybrid information wars in Europe and de Poncins points out that he himself has been a target of disinformation. "When I was ambassador to Kyiv I suffered an attack on social networks. There was a fake story saying that I had fled my posting and abandoned my position, which was of course not true. This was done on purpose by some services, I would say." He goes on to affirm that, in a year of crucial elections across the EU, this issue "is clearly a concern for everyone now. For several years we have been facing a very difficult hybrid war in all aspects and all domains, including in the domain of information."

Programme prepared by Luke Brown, Isabelle Romero and Perrine Desplats

2025 looks like a year full of dangers for the European Union. Even before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to office, his unpredictability is on full display as he tells NATO ally Denmark that he needs Greenland for US national security purposes – prompting a strong rebuke from France, which says the EU will not tolerate threats to its borders. And this is before Trump even gets going on the well-known difficult issues such as trade tariffs, Ukraine and NATO.

Yet uncertainty also looms over the domestic politics of EU member states, with crucial elections this year in Germany, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and perhaps in France, too, if the political deadlock there continues.

So will this be a make-or-break year for Europe? We put the question to our guests.

Programme prepared by Luke Brown, Perrine Desplats and Agnès Le Cossec

Preparing to support Ukraine 'in all scenarios' – that’s how the head of the EU Council summarized the key takeaway from the final European summit of the year, ahead of Donald Trump’s potential return to the White House. We delve into the EU’s preparedness with Belgian Foreign Minister Bernard Quintin, who addresses the complex issue of possible European troop deployments in Ukraine, a topic discussed at the summit. Quintin also shares his hopes for a more democratic Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s ouster and outlines how the EU should support the country’s transition.

Quintin appears to downplay concerns that incoming US President Donald Trump might do a deal over the heads of Ukrainians and EU leaders.

"The place of Europe is very strong. We have been supporting Ukraine since day one, and we will continue to do so," Quintin says. "We have the experience of the first Trump administration. We will hear what the US president has to say. It's really important that we now work, with determination, on our open strategic autonomy."

Asked about the possibility of European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine – an issue that was raised at the December EU summit – Quintin says: "In order to send peacekeeping troops, you need peace. That's the first step that should be reached. It's important to have the idea on the table, but the first thing is to support Ukraine in its fight, to make sure that the day Ukraine enters negotiations – if it wants to do that – it is in a strong negotiating position."

Turning to Syria, we ask if the EU should impose actual pre-conditions on the new authorities in Damascus for full normalisation. "There is a new hope for the Syrian population and we have to support that," Quintin answers. He says he would not call the EU's demands – protection of human rights and minorities, for example – preconditions, but rather "the right framework for working with the new authorities, for working towards a peaceful solution and the reconstruction of Syria". Quintin continues: "What we hear from the new authorities is quite good, if I may say, but we have to see what they do. Words are important, but deeds are even more important."

Belgium has recently suspended the examination of new files made by Syrian asylum seekers, because "the situation on the ground has changed dramatically", Quintin asserts. But he assures Talking Europe that his country would only return Syrians to Syria in full compliance with international norms: "Returns have to be voluntary. They have to be safe. And they have to be done with dignity. We will see how the situation evolves. But Belgium is one of the biggest supporters of international humanitarian law and of all the Conventions. So we will definitely respect not only the spirit but also the letter of the treaties."

Asked about the devastating cyclone in the French overseas department of Mayotte, Quintin says: "We express our deep sympathies to the French people and the people who are suffering in Mayotte. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism (EUCPM) is an effective system and we, in Belgium, are totally ready to support France through the Mechanism. We have material that could be sent to Mayotte to help people there. So yes, European solidarity is working. It is not only a word. It is also deeds."

Programme prepared by Luke Brown, Agnès Le Cossec, Perrine Desplats and Oihana Almandoz

Things may look bleak for the European Union in the depths of winter, with challenges across the board: the threat of a trade war with the US, weakened political figures in Germany and France, European farmers menacing protests about the Mercosur deal, an uncertain outcome for the conflict in Ukraine, plus budgets being tightened for households and governments across the bloc. But despite or perhaps because of those threats, Europeans' sentiment is on the up: 51 percent of Europeans tend to trust the EU, the highest level since 2007; while 44 percent have a positive image of the bloc, a figure that's stayed more or less constant since 2010. Those figures are according to a recent Eurobarometer poll.

In this debate, we talk about what the European Union gets right, and how it impacts for the better the lives of its citizens. From studying abroad and broadening our horizons, to guaranteeing consumers are protected when it comes to things like travel and food, as well as ensuring EU citizens' data is protected on the World Wide Web, we discuss some of the bloc's successes. Can the EU capitalise on that success? What can it do better? We put those questions to our guests.

Programme prepared by Isabelle Romero, Luke Brown and Perrine Desplats