Talking Europe

The foundations of the European Union were set in the aftermath of World War II. For many, this union of neighbouring nations is as much a peace project as anything else. However in 2021, military and defence concerns are back on European minds. EU nations were left scrambling to react to the American pullout from Afghanistan. There's also been anger in France and beyond at Australia scrapping a military submarine contract, while a new military pact between Paris and Athens has angered Turkey.

Spain's foreign minister has responded to comments by the exiled Catalan independence leader Carles Puigdemont that Madrid is "using judicial power to achieve political goals", saying "in Spain, no one is above the law". On October 5, an Italian court suspended Puigdemont's extradition proceedings pending a ruling by the European Court of Justice – proceedings that the Catalan leader says should be dropped by Spain.

"Nobody is safe until everybody is safe". This phrase has become something of a mantra in Europe, as member states work to get their citizens protected from Covid-19. But does "everybody" include just the people who live in the EU, or the rest of the world as well? To discuss the issue in more detail, we're joined by two MEPs.

There is "a real problem of trust" between Brussels and Westminster over how the British government is implementing Brexit: so says the EU’s Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders. This comes amid anger in France after the UK government this week gave out just a handful of post-Brexit fishing licences to French applicants. As France's seas minister accuses Westminster of going against its agreements with the EU, the Commissioner told FRANCE 24 the European Commission has had "many difficulties about the correct implementation of all the agreements: about fisheries, about Ireland" and is working with the French government to achieve "the correct implementation" of Brexit.

Many European eyes were fixed not on Brussels but on Berlin this week. Political horse-trading is well underway in the German capital after the September 26 elections. The results upset 16 years of dominance by Angela Merkel's centre-right CDU/CSU party alliance. This time, the centre-left Social Democrats took the biggest vote share. As things stand, they’re looking to the surging Greens and buoyant Liberals to form a coalition. As the European Union’s biggest and richest member state, what happens in Germany matters a great deal for the rest of the continent. We're joined by two MEPs to discuss where the results might lead Germany and the rest of Europe.

The submarine crisis has led to a fresh French push for European strategic autonomy. But France will need German backing, just as Chancellor Angela Merkel steps down after 16 years in office. How should France navigate the post-Merkel world, and can Paris persuade Berlin to go further when it comes to European defence? FRANCE 24's Armen Georgian puts those questions to Joachim Bitterlich, who was a key advisor to another long-serving German chancellor, Helmut Kohl, as well as being Germany's ambassador to NATO in the 1990s.

They go by various names – health pass, Green Pass, Coronapass – and are used by at least a dozen EU countries. Vaccine passports allow access to everyday activities such as dining, organised sports and public events, although the exact categories vary from country to country. Their use has triggered a fierce debate about civil liberties and even protests in some countries, such as Italy, which is now making the Green Pass compulsory in the workplace from mid-October. We discuss the merits of vaccine passports with two MEPs.

As France stands poised to take on the rotating presidency of the European Union, we speak to the Minister for European Affairs, Clément Beaune. In recent weeks, there have been heated words between Paris and London over several issues, including irregular migration across the English Channel.

It’s a big moment for Germany: Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to end her 16-year stint at the head of government of the EU's biggest economy. In this edition of Talking Europe, we speak to one of Angela Merkel's close CDU party allies, German MEP David McAllister.

As people around the world mark the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the European Union's ambassador to the United States expresses Europe's solidarity with the US. Stavros Lambrinidis tells FRANCE 24 that at the moment of the atrocities, "it became supremely clear that democracies and our values were being attacked, not just a particular tower in a particular country".