The Debate

By FRANCE 24 English

The Debate episodes

October 21, 2021 Europe's values on the line? Poland in showdown over rule of law
European Union summits are renowned for the ingenious ways devised to blur the lines and horse trade on hot button issues. These compromises are what keep the 27 states at the bargaining table until next time. Either Poland stops defying the prerogatives of the European Court of Justice and respects protection of basic rights for all, or Brussels sits on nearly 24-billion euros of pandemic recovery funds that Warsaw was counting on.
43 min
October 20, 2021 Drone diplomacy? Turkey's growing presence in Africa
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is capping a three-nation tour of Africa with Nigeria, where the hard bargaining is about much more than commercial deals. After the success of Turkish-made drones in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, arms sales are certainly in the mix. We’ll also ask about drone diplomacy and Erdogan's bid to take custody of Nigerian schools and universities run by the rival Gulenist movement, accused of orchestrating the failed 2016 coup in Turkey.
41 min
October 19, 2021 How should we talk about Pink October and the fight against breast cancer?
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month: a chance to stack the odds in women's favour by encouraging testing and raising money for research. But it's about so much more than that.
44 min
October 18, 2021 Weaponising migrants? Belarus in border push against EU neighbour
At least seven migrants have died in the freezing no-man's land at Belarus's border with the European Union. Minsk has been subject to sanctions over last year's post-electoral crackdown ordered by strongman Alexander Lukashenko. His regime is accused of encouraging charter flights from Iraq and Turkey and then sending them towards the border, with neighbouring Lithuania wondering how thousands have come their way, compared with 80 migrants for all of 2020.
41 min
October 14, 2021 Duterte's shadow: Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa denounces impunity
The 2021 joint Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa is calling out the Duterte years in an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24. We hear from the Filipino journalist and co-founder of the news website Rappler on how social media – and in particular Facebook – have distorted democracy in her country these past six years.
39 min
October 13, 2021 Unsustainable recovery? Gas prices surge as global demand fuels energy crunch
A coronavirus shut down the world economy. Now, will an energy crunch stop the recovery in its tracks? Europeans who scoffed at Britain's post-Brexit shortage of fuel truckers are no longer laughing as they watch their natural gas bills go through the roof.
41 min
October 12, 2021 Talk with the Taliban? West meets with new Afghan rulers as food crisis looms
They took Kabul without a fight. Now comes the hard part. As Afghanistan stares at a cash crunch coupled with a food crisis, the UN warns that half the country's population is at risk. After empty promises by the Taliban to keep women in school and the workforce, no foreign power has so far recognised the country's new leadership.
41 min
October 11, 2021 Road to Polexit? Warsaw takes on EU, triggers showdown over rule of law
Poland's Constitutional Court, whose members are chosen by the Parliament's sitting majority, has sided with the government and challenged the principle that EU member states must defer to the European Court of Justice. Warsaw insists it is has no intention of leaving, but could the Poles break the EU apart?
41 min
October 07, 2021 Stolen revolution? Iraq vote follows crackdown on pro-reform movement
Remember Iraq's protest movement? Despite killings and intimidation and despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the brave young men and women who clamoured for wholesale reform during 2019 protests never went away. That year exposed the same sectarian trap that exists in Lebanon, where the constitution makes friends of bitter rivals who share a stake in preserving the current power-sharing system.
52 min
October 06, 2021 How far will it go? Mali summons French ambassador as row deepens
Bamako has summoned the former colonial power's ambassador after Emmanuel Macron again blasted the junta for deflecting from what he sees as its own lack of governance. From the second coup in one year to Paris's decision to draw down part of the 5,000 troops it has stationed in the fight against a jihadist insurgency, the escalating war of words went into overdrive two weeks ago when Mali's prime minister accused France of abandoning his country.
39 min

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A live debate on the topic of the day, with four guests. From Monday to Thursday at 7:10pm Paris time.

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