Talking Europe

The war in Ukraine has forced a major rethink in European security, with both Sweden and Finland abandoning their long-standing policy of non-alignment and applying for NATO membership last year. But while Finland was admitted into NATO this April, delays have persisted on Sweden’s entry, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan linking a serious of unrelated issues to Ankara’s ratification of Sweden's accession – the latest of which is a potential sale of US F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. We discuss what Sweden’s entry to NATO would actually mean with Sweden's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Tobias Billström.

Talking Europe hosts Pascal Canfin, the chair of the environment committee at the European Parliament. He is a former French government minister and a former director of the French branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). We take a look at what is coming out of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, and at the state of the EU's green transition. Canfin maintains that 80 percent of the laws planned under the EU's Green Deal should be finished by the end of the current legislative term – something he calls "massive and unprecedented".

A controversial chemical will be allowed in the EU for another 10 years. After member states failed to reach an agreement amongst themselves, the European Commission decided that glyphosate, an agrichemical used in farming, will be re-authorised for a further decade. Glyphosate kills weeds and is the most widely used herbicide in the world. An agency of the World Health Organization has concluded that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans, but EU and US agencies have not established a link to cancer. There are also big environmental and wildlife dimensions to this debate, which continues in the member states and at the European Parliament. We delve into the issue with two MEPs.

Talking Europe hosts one of the EU Commission's vice-presidents, Margaritis Schinas, who is in charge of overseeing the promotion of the European Way of Life. That includes fighting anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination in various forms. Schinas also coordinates the Commission's work on the Migration and Asylum Pact, which is entering a critical period in negotiations between the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament. Schinas tells Armen Georgian he is optimistic that the Pact will be completed before the EU elections next June, and that this will be a key part of the legacy of Ursula von der Leyen's Commission.

The statistics are as damning as they are grim. In the EU, one in three women aged 15 or over has experienced physical or sexual violence – or both. More than half of all women in Europe have been sexually harassed. Only a fifth of women in the EU go to the police when an intimate partner assaults them. Meanwhile, EU member states have failed to agree on how to address the worst crimes against women. Several countries continue to resist calls by Brussels to define non-consensual sex as rape, punishable by a stiff jail sentence. Today, in 2023, there is no common set of rules in the EU to punish rape, to the growing dismay of many. As Europe marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25, we discuss the issue with two MEPs.

Europe’s recommendation to grant Georgia candidate status for EU membership is “a very major step” that is goading the country’s political leaders to coalesce around a “new consensus” in favour of a European future, Georgian President Salomé Zourabichvili told FRANCE 24.

Are EU leaders tired of Russia’s war in Ukraine and ready to seek a way out? That was the message from Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, during a phone call in September with Russian comedians posing as an African Union official. Although Meloni’s office later said it regretted the PM’s falling for the prank, the damage may already have been done. Meloni’s remarks seemed to confirm what some already suspected: that Europe’s pledge to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” in its war against Russia, is being tested by Kyiv’s plodding counteroffensive … and a horrific new war in the Middle East. The Gaza conflict has left Ukraine competing for money, military supplies – and attention – from the West, leading some to ask whether Ukraine is slipping down Europe’s priority list.

Talking Europe hosts Italian former prime minister Enrico Letta, who is now president of the Jacques Delors Institute. Letta has been tasked by the European institutions to produce a report on the future of the EU single market, which is due to be discussed by the bloc's leaders next spring. He argues that the single market is under pressure from inside and outside, and that common solutions need to be found. He also calls for a "tailor-made" Stability and Growth Pact to take account of nuances between EU member states, as well as the impact of the crises that the EU has faced in the last three years.

In this debate we focus on the recent election results in Poland and Slovakia, and discuss what they mean for Europe. Liberals across the continent are cheering after Polish opposition parties won enough seats to form a majority, potentially ending eight years of rule by the conservative Law and Justice party. Meanwhile nationalists in Europe have applauded the return to power of Robert Fico in Slovakia. The populist prime minister has struck an agreement with two other parties; a coalition that could set a different tone in relations with Brussels, as well as on key issues such as Ukraine and migration.

Talking Europe hosts Andrej Plenkovic, the prime minister of Croatia. We unpack the dense agenda of the October 26-27 EU Council and debrief the summit's conclusions on the Israel-Hamas war, particularly the call for "humanitarian corridors and pauses" to ensure aid to the Palestinians in Gaza. We also discuss developments in southeastern Europe, such as the recent re-introduction of border checks, and ask what those mean for Croatia and the other countries concerned.