The Debate

By FRANCE 24 English

The Debate episodes

October 05, 2021 Facebook down: Will whistleblower revelations lead to regulation?
What did the planet learn from six hours without Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram? The glitch triggered by an update on servers went on long enough to remind us how much we put our lives in the hands of a single social media behemoth. It was a chance to realise that we depend on Facebook for everything from private messages to real-time business communications and even payments. Livelihoods depend on it.
41 min
October 04, 2021 Eternal havens? Pandora Papers raise pressure to close tax loopholes
It's the biggest tax whistleblowing bombshell yet. Kings, presidents, prime ministers and former prime ministers are among those outed so far in the Pandora Papers. It's the same sophisticated shell game exposed by LuxLeaks, the Panama Papers and other data dumps that name and shame the high and mighty who stash their cash far from prying eyes. So what's new since last time? Will the Pandora Papers change the conversation?
38 min
September 30, 2021 Trying times for Sarkozy: Does the sentence fit the crime for French ex-president?
What can you get away with if you've been a French president? This Thursday saw the second conviction for former leader Nicolas Sarkozy, who's been found guilty of spending nearly twice the legal limit on his failed 2012 re-election bid. With two other cases pending, questions abound surrounding the one-term conservative president and the strength of France's justice system.
40 min
September 29, 2021 All about identity politics? Far right sets tone in French presidential campaign
After the Covid-19 pandemic turned the world on its head, France faces crucial choices over its future. With less than seven months to go before presidential elections, why do identity politics seem to rule the airwaves? For French politics junkies, it's an unsettling start to the campaign. We ask our panel about the government's latest announcements on visa restrictions for North Africans and the unfiltered anti-Islam speech of potential candidates vying for a slice of the far right's electorate.
39 min
September 28, 2021 Petrol shortage in the UK: Is Brexit or panic buying to blame?
The UK is facing fuel shortages and in spite of placatory words and excuses from the authorities, tensions are rising. Confrontations, sometimes violent, have taken place on the forecourts of petrol stations. BP (British Petroleum) says a third of its pumps have run dry of popular grades. The Transport Secretary Grant Shapps blames the shortage on HGV drivers: the fuel cannot be delivered to the pumps quickly enough. There is a shortage of some 100,000 drivers across the UK.
39 min
September 27, 2021 Who to govern Germany? Social Democrats promise change after Merkel era
Who will govern Germany? After a narrow but inconclusive win in Sunday's elections, can Olaf Scholz's centre-left SPD cobble together a three-way coalition? What next for the conservative CDU-CSU bloc after its worst ever election result? We chalk up the winners and losers in a special edition of the FRANCE 24 Debate from Berlin, in partnership with Deutsche Welle.
45 min
September 23, 2021 Who to fill her shoes? Germans vote to pick Merkel's successor
It's the homestretch of Germany's federal election campaign and Angela Merkel is exactly where she did not want to be: back on the campaign trail. The outgoing chancellor of 16 years, who was in her home constituency on the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, is stumping for her struggling would-be successor as head of the Christian Democrats, Armin Laschet. Other potential heirs have stumbled before him.
40 min
September 22, 2021 Cold War, hot planet: Could superpower rivalries derail climate change goals?
How serious are the superpowers in tackling the planet's climate emergency? In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Xi Jinping followed the lead of Japan and South Korea and pledged an end to China's financing of coal plants overseas. The United States put aside escalating tensions to hail the promise, but critics dismiss the announcement as low-hanging fruit coming from the nation that's home by far to the most domestic coal-fired power plants.
38 min
September 21, 2021 Biden's world: US president calls on allies and partners in Indo-Pacific
In his first speech as US president before the United Nations General Assembly, Joe Biden made no mention of scuttled submarine deals or French ambassadors recalled to Washington and Canberra. Instead, he talked up the ties that bind. So how artful a dodge was it? How high were the stakes in a speech where Biden also pledged he was not seeking a new Cold War? The US president called out many authoritarian regimes, but never mentioned China by name.
40 min
September 20, 2021 Torpedoed alliance? US downplays rift as France recalls ambassador
It's a little late for a phone call. And yet Joe Biden is offering to ring up Emmanuel Macron for the first time since the United States poached a multibillion-dollar submarine contract and sprang the surprise of an Australia-UK-US military alliance. Excluded are the French and their sizeable Indo-Pacific fleet. For all those stateside leaders who love Paris and refer to France as America's oldest ally, how much can the French trust Washington?
41 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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