Talking Europe

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 Herbert in Talking Europe.

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 might pull the US out of NATO – or encourage Russia to attack allies who don't pay their fair share to the alliance – have led some to ask "is Europe ready?" So is it? Can Europe "Trump-proof" itself? And does it need to? We delve into these questions with two MEPs.

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 socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez.

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. Benelux prime ministers hold yearly summits and there are numerous ministerial and parliamentary contacts. But while the three countries have given impetus to key EU issues, their record on tax and financial matters has been seen as mixed. We discuss this with three MEPs.

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 Armen Georgian about the future of Horizon, as well as about efforts to boost educational performance, and to fight disinformation in the education system across the EU. Ivanova is about to visit London and Edinburgh as the UK joins Horizon Europe under a new deal, which she calls “a win for both sides.”

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 recession as its GDP dropped 0.3 percent in 2023. In turn, fear has kicked in, with many voters blaming the EU for its regulations and the Afd far right party floating the idea of a “Dexit” and rising in the polls. Can the German economy recover? What impact does its shrinking economy have on the rest of the Union? And how does this situation affect votes?

After an extraordinary summit on Ukraine, the EU has voted unanimously for a €50 billion support package for Ukraine over the next four years. "It was a great result. If we look to the expectations, we were not even sure to reach [it] because of the possible veto from Hungary," the European Commissioner for Economy told FRANCE 24. Paolo Gentiloni added: "It is also a strong message for our partners in the US, because they are also discussing how to continue their support to Ukraine and the fact that the EU took this decision will help, I hope, all other partners to do their part of this international support." He concluded: "At the end of the day, the European Union is stronger than its own divisions."

Farmers have been blocking motorways and protesting across Europe – in France, Germany and Romania, and even in the European district of Brussels, where they have besieged institutions. Farmers say the EU is both imposing drastic environmental regulations and signing free trade deals with countries that do not abide by the same rules, which they see as unfair competition. Hard and far-right political forces in the EU seem to be capitalising on the discontent by calling for more protectionism and less norms. So what can the EU do for its farmers? We discuss the issue with two MEPs.

Call it the "crisis crisis". A record surge in the number and frequency of extreme climate events afflicting millions of human beings is stretching Europe's disaster response system to the limit, a top EU official has warned. Requests for emergency assistance from the European Union's humanitarian aid reserves have spiked some 400 percent in the past couple of years, amid a cascading succession of wildfires, floods and droughts that have ravaged large swathes of Europe, Jenaz Lenarčič, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, told FRANCE 24.

Migration, identity and borders are always big issues in European politics, but perhaps never more so than in European elections. A cornerstone of the current five-year political programme has been the EU's pact on asylum and migration. A political agreement on it was reached in December after three years of negotiations, but technical talks continue this year. Centrists and the centre left hope that the pact will dent right-wing and far-right forces in the June elections. But so far, opinion polls don't necessarily back that up. We discuss the stakes with two MEPs.