The Debate

By FRANCE 24 English

The Debate episodes

June 22, 2021 Which way for Ethiopia? Elections expected to cement Abiy Ahmed's grip on power
Is it a major step on the road to democracy, or will Ethiopia's first general election under Abiy Ahmed be remembered as another marker of the tension that's barred nearly one in five citizens from casting a ballot? We ask why conflict has spiralled in the Tigray region under a leader rewarded just two years ago with a Nobel Peace Prize. We also ask about the PM's home region of Oromia, where calls for self-determination have fuelled another insurgency and ensuing crackdown.
41 min
June 17, 2021 The return of Laurent Gbagbo: Is Ivory Coast ready for reconciliation?
His supporters had been waiting ten years for this day. Laurent Gbagbo basked in a hero's welcome for his grand return to Abidjan. It took a brief rekindling of Ivory Coast's civil war to force out the former president when he refused to concede the 2010 election to current leader Alassane Ouattara. After the case against Gbagbo fell apart at the International Criminal Court, we ask about the terms and conditions of the return of a larger-than-life political figure.
42 min
June 15, 2021 Biden's charm offensive: US president rekindles EU-US relations
US President Joe Biden has been taking part in the first EU-US summit of his presidency. This high-level meeting comes after the NATO summit on Monday and the G7 summit at the weekend. Biden seems to be using his first trip abroad to mend bridges with traditional US allies, repeating his mantra: "America is back".
41 min
June 14, 2021 After Bibi: What next for Israel?
It feels like, in Israeli politics, it ain’t over, even when it is over. Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated his onetime chief of staff after Naftali Bennett ended Bibi's record-breaking 12 year stint as the country's longest serving prime minister. But if you listened to Netanyahu's speech just before, it wasn't quite as sporting. We'll hear how the Likud leader does not sound like a man preparing for a career change.
44 min
June 10, 2021 'America's back': Can post-Brexit Britain win over Joe Biden?
He has come to reaffirm ties with his closest allies. But will Joe Biden be drawn into a sausage war? The US president's first foreign tour begins with Britain, host of Friday's G7 summit and whose prime minister wrote a biography of that ultimate icon of the special relationship, Winston Churchill, but whose chummy relationship with Donald Trump drew a bit of scrutiny. Is it all ancient history now? Will Boris Johnson win over Biden?
45 min
June 09, 2021 Make 'em pay? G7 nations claim tax justice breakthrough
It has been billed as a turning point for the planet. Joe Biden is off to Cornwall for a G7 summit where the world's most industrialised nations for the first time will agree on a global corporate tax rate – quite a coup. Ever since the time of the Pharaohs, governments raising revenue has always exclusively been a matter of national sovereignty.
42 min
June 08, 2021 Which route to reform? Migration at core of Kamala Harris' Central America tour
First Guatemala, then Mexico. It's a tough maiden foreign assignment for the new US Vice President. Kamala Harris is on a mission to broach the root causes of why undocumented migrants risk it all to head north. How much pressure can Washington apply when her hosts squander or steal the aid that's meant to offer an alternative? It's not all about lofty development goals.
38 min
June 07, 2021 Peru's bitter divide: Which way in uncertain presidential run-off?
A nail biter is unfolding in a polarised Peru. The hard right's Keiko Fujimori, daughter of a jailed former president, is facing off against a populist political novice, the far left's Pedro Castillo. Which way for a nation beset by corruption and mismanagement, where Covid-19 has only accentuated the inequality gap? Will the result clear the air in a Peru that has been through five heads of state in five years?
40 min
June 03, 2021 Bye bye Bibi? Israel on edge as Netanyahu fights coalition deal
If it's all over for Bibi, then why is Israel still holding its breath? After an eleventh-hour deal on a coalition to bring the curtain down on the Netanyahu years, drama is now shifting to parliament where the speaker – a Likud loyalist – refuses to move up the date for a vote of confidence. We ask about the push to first remove Yariv Levin, then get the 61 votes needed to oust the country's longest-serving prime minister.
40 min
June 02, 2021 Down to the wire: Will anti-Netanyahu forces agree on Israel coalition?
Is it really "bye bye Bibi" this time? Israel's longest-serving prime minister has been written off more times than we can count. While it seemed that Benjamin Netanyahu's demise might be reversed during last month's fighting with Gaza, it's now deadline day for coalition building and the cards are out of his hands.
40 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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