Talking Europe

Our guest has an important role in promoting social policies in the European Union, at a time when much of the political oxygen is being sucked out by the competitiveness and simplification agenda, as well as by defence and security issues. Roxana Minzatu is Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and is in charge of social rights and skills, quality jobs and preparedness.

Minzatu is a Romanian social democrat, a former minister for European funds in the Romanian government and a former MEP. She recently presented an anti-poverty strategy aimed at dealing with the fact that one in five Europeans – or 93 million people – are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

"I want to send a signal of optimism with this strategy. I don't want to paint a bleak picture," Minzatu tells the programme. "But the reality is that the numbers (of people at risk of poverty) are dynamic. The cost of living is rising, the energy shocks crisis, the invasion of Ukraine, and now the Middle East crisis. There are a number of shocks that could modify these numbers. And then this strategy sets the path forward and sets out a kind of shield."

Read moreIran war squeezes Europe’s economy as growth slumps, prices surge

But isn't Minzatu limited by the fact that it's up to EU member states to decide on their own anti-poverty measures?

"I meet prime ministers and ministers of finance, not just ministers of labour and education," she responds. "They're not easy conversations. Of course, many times the temptation is to say, 'but, you know, we need to invest more in security. We need to invest more in technology.' But I always bring into the discussion the essential role of people, and the quality of their jobs."

Minzatu insists on the link between quality jobs and competitiveness, pointing to the proposed Quality Jobs Act that will focus on labour relations, high-risk or precarious sectors, and health and safety in the workplace. "Quality jobs are a key ingredient of being more competitive and stronger economically," she says. "Our proposal for a Quality Jobs Act is now in consultation, so both trade unions and employers are giving us their input. Trade unions want more legislation, more binding rules. Employers want more guidance."

The Quality Jobs Act would work hand in hand with the Union of Skills, and with the Skills Portability Initiative, "which will make use of everything we can: legislation, digital tools, AI tools to create much more equivalence and trust in qualifications, degrees and diplomas between member states, so that people can travel freely with their knowledge, with their education."

Minzatu admits that all this will be a challenge amid declining performance in maths and science among young Europeans. "Looking at the statistics, the pandemic was the turning point where numbers started to deteriorate a bit more," she notes. "That has to do with how education was offered; the online teaching. But then we see numerous other transformations, including the impact of artificial intelligence, of technology, of social networks."

We ask Minzatu about the collapse of the pro-EU government in her home country, Romania, following a no-confidence vote in the parliament.

"Romanians are highly pro-European, and the dream of many generations has been to be part of Europe. This dream does not disappear easily," she remarks. "But people will of course judge politicians from the perspective of their everyday lives. So we need to be able to address their concerns about their cost of living, their concerns about the taxes that they pay, and so on. The reactions (of Romanians) are very concretely anchored into that."

Programme prepared by Isabelle Romero, Perrine Desplats, Aline Bottin and Oihana Almandoz.

In this episode we explore how the EU deals with outbreaks of disease. The latest scare for Europeans has been the hantavirus, detected on cruise ship the MV Hondius, which subsequently docked in Spain. Experts have stressed that this virus is not like Covid-19 and is much less infectious. Nevertheless, the EU's civil protection mechanism was triggered, and several member states took part in evacuation flights from Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

We discuss the current virus threats, including Ebola, and ask what lessons the EU has learned from the Covid pandemic – and what it hasn't learned.  

Programme prepared by Isabelle Romero, Perrine Desplats and Aline Bottin 

Our guest this week is Darragh O'Brien, Ireland's Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment and Minister for Transport. In his position, O'Brien has been directly involved in dealing with the fallout of the Middle East crisis, especially rising energy costs.

O'Brien says Ireland, like most EU states, hasn't really had an issue with fossil fuel supply despite the weeks-long closure of the Strait of Hormuz, instead pointing to the rising cost of fossil fuels as the EU's main challenge. "In Ireland, our reserves are robust. We have no issue with supply at the moment, but I think for us in Ireland, like our EU colleagues, the issue is price." 

Faced with nationwide protests over surging fuel prices, the Irish government has tried to respond by implementing concrete measures, including direct subsidies for low-income families. But O'Brien warns this can only be a short-term fix. "The longer this crisis goes on, no government is going to be able to deal with every single price increase. That's why it's imperative that the current situation is resolved."

Watch moreEU unveils plan to tackle energy crisis

For him, the closure of Strait of Hormuz represents the EU's "second big wake-up call," after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, laying bare how vulnerable the bloc still is to foreign disruptions. According to the European Commission, the EU has spent an extra €24 billion on energy imports since the start of the Iran war. And data from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis shows the bloc's imports of Russian liquefied natural gas are up 16 percent in the first quarter of 2026, reaching a record high since the start of the war in Ukraine.

O'Brien admits increasing fossil fuel imports from Russia is "not the way forward" but believes the EU has learned its lesson when it comes to its dependency on imported fossil fuels. He points to efforts on renewables and electrification at the national and EU levels, but argues more needs to be done to accelerate the process. 

Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopened tomorrow, O'Brien believes the EU must prepare for when, not if, the next crisis happens. "We've had Brexit, we've had the pandemic, we've had the outbreak of war in Ukraine, we've had the tariff situation with the United States, and we now have the crisis in the Middle East and the cost-of-living crisis. So we have six in less than 10 years. We need to prepare better for that, and we need to respond better."

Programme prepared by Isabelle Romero, Perrine Desplats and Oihana Almandoz

The European Union is aiming to boost its defence capacities as part of a plan first called ReArmEU, when it was presented just over a year ago, and now known as Readiness 2030. This as European intelligence agencies warn that the bloc could face some form of major conflict by that date.

Various threats have shifted the EU mindset when it comes to security: the war in Ukraine, of course, but also US President Donald Trump's intimidation of fellow NATO members, plus the war in the Middle East.

But concrete action has been hampered by fragmented defence markets, industrial rivalries and different procurement systems. In this episode we look at what more the EU can do – and how it can inject more efficiency and common sense into what it is already doing.

Programme prepared by Perrine Desplats, Isabelle Romero and Oihana Almandoz

Over the past year, NATO has been dealing with an unprecedented split between the US and other members of the alliance. Our guest is Marcos Perestrello, the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, a body that brings together legislators from NATO member countries. Perestrello is a former secretary of state for national defence in the Portuguese government.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened the sovereignty of two founding members of NATO, Denmark and Canada, and he has lashed out at NATO countries for refusing his calls to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz during the US and Israeli strikes on Iran. In a fresh blow to the Atlantic alliance, Trump has announced the withdrawal of 5,000 American soldiers from Germany.

Read moreA look at the US military presence in Europe as Trump seeks to withdraw troops from Germany

While France is promoting the idea of a distinct European defence capability, the strongly Atlanticist NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte refers to the notion of a European defence pillar as "a bit of an empty word". What does Perestrello think?

"You need to build a European pillar inside NATO, capable of contributing decisively to the defence of the Euro-Atlantic region," he answers. "I think that's the point. It's not an empty pillar. It's a pillar built with European capabilities and European availability to assume responsibilities inside NATO. So I would say that you need to find the European pillar inside NATO, not outside. Because when the Secretary General says that we should not dream of being able to defend the European continent without the US, what he is saying is that if we go apart, we become weaker. If we work together, we become much stronger. Together, we were able to assure peace and safety in the Euro-Atlantic region for 80 years."

Perestrello recently visited lawmakers in the US, and he insists that, despite Trump's threats against NATO, he found "strong support for the strengthening of the transatlantic bond, and strong support for the transatlantic alliance, both in the House (of Representatives) and in the Senate of the US." But Perestrello says there is also a recognition that "European countries need to do a lot more on the development of our defence capabilities".

Referring to last year's NATO summit in The Hague, where members pledged to increase their defence spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035, Perestrello remarks: "The targets are established. Now we need to settle and evaluate how this defence spending is increasing. How it is being put into effect. And that is the major thing that needs to be discussed in Ankara (at the NATO summit in July). All the countries are assuming their responsibilities. Even Spain crossed the 2 percent (target) last year. And there's a role also for European leaders to call on the attention of the US administration that the commitments assumed are being accomplished. It's important that everybody knows that."

On NATO's support for Ukraine, Perestrello says: "Frankly, I think we are not doing enough. What we are doing allows Ukraine to resist, allows Ukraine to inflict some damage on Russia, but it's not enough to put pressure on Russia and force them to sit at the table and seriously negotiate a ceasefire and a peace process."

Programme prepared by Isabelle Romero, Oihana Almandoz and Perrine Desplats

Nine countries are currently in the process of acceding to the European Union: North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey. The European club seems to be growing ever more appealing, to the point where Iceland could also reintroduce a membership application. 

While the Union's renewed popularity delights its current members, they are nevertheless concerned about the possible consequences of an enlargement. 

Several voices are thus calling for countries ravaged by war, such as Ukraine, or others plagued by corruption, not to be granted access to an accelerated and incomplete procedure for geopolitical reasons. 

We discuss the issue of EU enlargement with our guests. 

You can read here the verbatim of the debate on EU Enlargement strategy that took place during the plenary session in the European Parliament on 10 March 2026.

Programme prepared by Oihana Almandoz, Isabelle Romero and Perrine Desplats

During her recent visit to France, we caught up with Sweden's minister for EU affairs, Jessica Rosencrantz. We discuss the energy crunch and what it means for Europe's competitiveness; Sweden's and the EU's relationship with Ukraine; and Sweden's dynamic tech and innovation scene.

We start with the energy crisis hitting Europe as a result of the war in the Middle East. The Swedish government has stated that fuel rationing might be an option at some point. Rosencrantz says that, in Sweden, "we are putting in place measures to dampen the effects of the spikes in prices by reducing the tax on electricity, for example."

She goes on: "It is really important to help consumers and businesses now. But that shouldn't take the focus away from what we need to do in the long run (at the EU level). We need to keep our eyes on the prize, and that is to boost competitiveness in general through simplification. Through fulfilling the single market. And of course, what's going on now really shows that being dependent on fossil fuels from the Middle East or from Russia; that's a bad strategy. It's bad for climate. It's bad for the economy. And it's bad for security."

Sweden is one of the EU's most committed providers of economic and military aid to Ukraine, and we discuss the new situation following the ouster of Viktor Orban in the Hungarian election. She notes that the unblocking of the EU's €90 billion loan to Ukraine "was, of course, an important step. So I'm very glad about the new position from Hungary on this. It's a crucial step, but it's not enough. Sweden has a two-point plan, which is quite simple: more support to Ukraine and more pressure on Russia."

On Ukraine's prospects for joining the EU, Rosencrantz says: "Ukraine belongs in the European family. But we say also from the Swedish point of view that it's a merit-based approach. Any candidate country has to do the reforms. But we from the EU, we shouldn't be the ones blocking. It should be about the reform pace in Ukraine. And they're doing a lot of reforms. We should be able to open up negotiations and start the process. And here I'm hoping, of course, that Hungary will follow this line as well."

We turn to the Swedish "tech boom", one of Rosencrantz's main areas of interest.

"I'm very proud of the Swedish tech scene," she says. "We are ranked number one in innovation in the EU. Number two in the world, actually. In Sweden, it's described as a hobby to invest in stocks and funds. I also think we from Sweden could export our model to the rest of Europe when it comes to capital markets. But of course we also need simplification, we need to reduce bureaucracy, which is something we're all talking about in Europe. But we need to go from just words to concrete action. We're doing it with all these different omnibus packages, but we need more of those. And the Swedish government has been quite active in, for example, the digital omnibus on artificial intelligence, which is important for creating really good conditions for entrepreneurs and tech companies to scale up, but also to stay in Europe."

Programme prepared by Agnès Le Cossec, Oihana Almandoz, Isabelle Romero, Perrine Desplats and Aline Bottin 

In this week's Talking Europe, we take a moment to check the pulse of the European Parliament following a spate of European elections, to see how they'll impact the EU – and whether the EU should weigh on European domestic politics at all.

The end of 16 years of power for Viktor Orban in Hungary may signal the end of an era of veto-wielding from Budapest, but how much of an ally will his successor be? Peter Magyar met with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this week, with the objective of laying out a framework of reforms that will ensure Hungary can receive billions of frozen EU funds – funds that were suspended over rule-of-law issues under the previous government.

Further to the east, Bulgarian voters went to the polls for the eighth time in five years and, perhaps fed up with the instability, voted massively in favour of the former president and former fighter pilot Rumen Radev. He's known for his Eurosceptic views and positions more closely aligned with Russia on topics such as Ukraine than may suit European institutions.

Those two results shake up the political kaleidoscope in Europe – and may shake up the plans of other populist politicians in the EU, such as Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico. Indeed, one conclusion from the EU's freezing of funds to Hungary could be that Brussels is able to leverage those funds to punish governments it considers aren't playing by its rules. We ask if that's really the EU's role.

To discuss these issues, we're joined by Katarina Roth Nevedalova, a non-attached MEP from Slovakia from the party of Prime Minister Robert Fico; by Kristian Vigenin, S&D MEP from Bulgaria and former Bulgarian foreign minister; and by Daniel Freund, a Green MEP from Germany, who co-chairs the Anti-Corruption Intergroup in the European Parliament.

Programme prepared by Oihana Almandoz, Isabelle Romero, Perrine Desplats and Aline Bottin 

Our guest in this show is known for crossing swords with the Trump administration on the regulation of big tech and, more recently, for actually coming under a US travel ban. Thierry Breton was the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market from 2019 to 2024, when he had a major role in driving forward the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. He and four other figures were hit with US travel bans at the end of last year, prompting Breton to denounce what he called "a wind of McCarthyism blowing again".

Breton is a former minister for the economy, finance and industry in France, and a prominent commentator on political and economic matters.

He says he "strongly believes" that an agreement will be found between the US and Iran, and that this will be in Europe's interest "especially because of what we see in terms of gasoline prices".

"I say that it is totally unfair that EU member states are making money on the increase in energy prices, as most of them have a value-added tax (VAT) on that," Breton says, pointing out that the increase in prices "is artificial".

He goes on: "They (member states) have to give back the additional money that they make, and especially for those who need the most support and help. We can think about farmers, we can think about truck drivers, we can think about anyone who is directly impacted."

Asked about Peter Magyar's stunning victory in the Hungarian election – and the ouster of Viktor Orban – Breton emphasises Magyar's commitment to restoring the rule of law in Hungary.

"The rule of law was a big, big, issue," Breton remarks. "The former administration under Viktor Orban did not respect the rule of law. So the good news is that Peter Magyar is willing to change this. For us, what is important is that all member states follow our rule of law, because this is what makes us stronger together, and it is definitely the core of our project."

On the travel ban issued against him by the US authorities, Breton says: "What I understand is that I have, unfortunately, been banned or designated as the mastermind behind the Digital Services Act. You know, I just did my job. What I did was not against anyone. It's not against China, it's not against Singapore, it's not against the US. This is the same for everyone. By the way, the digital act has been voted at 90 percent by our MEPs. It has been voted by 27 countries. This is not about Thierry Breton. This is about Europe. So I understand that behind my case it's Europe, of course, which is being targeted. And I really hope that we will come back to normality because there is a huge misunderstanding about what we have done together in our own European digital space."

This edition of Talking Europe also features a report from FRANCE 24's Clovis Casali on the aftermath of the momentous parliamentary election in Hungary.

Programme prepared by Oihana Almandoz, Aline Bottin, Isabelle Romero and Perrine Desplats

They are known as "forever chemicals": synthetic compounds that resist breakdown in the human body and the environment. Also known as PFAS, there are thousands of them, and you might not even realise that you are being exposed to them while doing simple everyday tasks like cooking. The EU does have a strict rulebook on chemicals, when compared to other parts of the world, but some say that industrial lobbying is holding back more stringent regulation. In this episode we look at how the EU is trying to tighten its rules on these pollutants.

Find out more on the procedure of the protection of groundwater against pollution and environmental quality standars in the field of water policy here.

 

 

Programme prepared by Isabelle Romero, Perrine Desplats and Oihana Almandoz