The Debate

Two weeks after the far right's George Simion garnered a whopping 41 percent in the first round of presidential elections, a surge in voter turnout instead propelled the pro-EU mayor of Bucharest Nicosur Dan onto a rocky road to victory.

Dan wasn’t even a candidate when the constitutional council annulled last November's first round of voting and barred pro-Russian TikTok star Calin Georgescu over foreign meddling and campaign financing records that claimed zero spending whatsoever. The call to do over the election drew criticism from the likes of JD Vance and Elon Musk in the US but also from some European liberals who felt the issue should have been sorted at the ballot box. We’ll ask how this result’s going down and more broadly about a onetime Soviet bloc dictatorship often dogged by corruption and that’s felt the growing pains of EU membership. What next for a frontline state to the war in Ukraine and how does the rest of Europe address the grievances of citizens in a fast-changing world?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Jimena Morales-Velasco.

In the end, Vladimir Putin did not go to Istanbul for the one-on-one on offer. Instead, in what critics call a worse snub than an empty chair, the Russian president dispatched his former culture minister, a "greater Russia" ideologue, for the first face-to-face meeting with Ukraine since 2022. What's the Trump administration's next move after pushing so hard for talks?

We know Zelensky's next move: travelling to Ankara instead of Istanbul, where the Ukrainian president met his Turkish counterpart. Turkey's star power is on the rise, with its influence unseating that of Moscow in neighbouring Syria and Trump heaping praise on a fellow NATO ally whose role as Black Sea arbiter and arms exporter could prove crucial.

Then there's Ukraine's European allies, who are talking tougher on sanctions and nuclear deterrence. Part of that is about Putin; part of it about Trump. French President Emmanuel Macron also this week spoke of territorial concessions. The idea is that the time for talks is indeed approaching. If so, do Paris, London, Berlin, Warsaw and friends have a plan?

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Annarosa Zampaglione, Alessandro Xenos.

Once a year, movie fans from near and far flock to the French Riviera resort of Cannes to catch a glimpse of their favourite celluloid stars: real stars, in the flesh. They've always seemed larger than life – particularly on a big screen –but now, in the age of virtual reality, what exactly is real? These days, what still resonates as authentic in the make-believe world of cinema?

The Hollywood actors and screenwriters' strike of 2023 was in large part about technology encroaching on artistic creation: stealing the hard work of some, pushing others out of a job. So, is artificial intelligence good or bad for movies and movie making?

And what about the spectator? What kind of demand exists in the digital age? And with so much of the planet spending hours a day already on screens, how is that changing not just film but humanity as a whole?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Annarosa Zampaglione.

He’s back in the Gulf to do deals. But a familiar ally seems cut out of all the dealmaking. Donald Trump is on familiar ground in Saudi Arabia, where he made his first trip as president back in 2017. The US president may have said no to ceremonial Arabic coffee, but he seems ready to approve a landmark civilian nuclear agreement – one that no longer seems linked to Riyadh normalising ties with Israel.

Israel was left out of Monday's release by Hamas of what's thought to be the last US citizen held by the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip; a goodwill gesture before Trump travels on to Qatar. Has Washington grown tired of Benjamin Netanyahu's forever war?

Last month at the White House, the Israeli prime minister seemed caught off guard when Trump in his presence announced negotiations with Iran. Under Trump I, the Saudis would have also pushed back hard. But Riyadh's relations with Tehran have since thawed.

And if it's all about the money – after all, the president of the United States says he's not a man to turn down a free plane like the one the Qataris are offering to replace Air Force One – then who's the highest bidder in this new chapter of transactional diplomacy?

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Jimena Morales-Velasco, Alessandro Xenos. 

What started it? Who ended it? After the worst week of fighting between India and Pakistan in a quarter century, the whole world is breathing a sigh of relief that it didn’t escalate further between nuclear-armed neighbours .... and wondering how much superpower showdowns weigh on the dynamic in the decades-old rivalry over Kashmir.

What started with a terror attack spilled over from the disputed territory, with Chinese-made military hardware displayed in battle for the first time, disputes over the reported downing of French fighter jets and the US claiming a starring role in mediating a ceasefire.

We also ask whether India's Hindu nationalist prime minister and Pakistan's religiously devout army chief of staff emerge strengthened or weakened? How to get beyond a zero-sum game between Narendra Modi and Asim Munir and avoid a repeat of what has just been endured on both sides of the line of control?

Produced by François Picard, Théophile Vareille, Juliette Laffont, Jimena Morales-Velasco.

Live reactions from Rome and from our guests as Cardinal Robert Prevost is elected the first American pope. 

Is this the right moment to roll out the red carpet for Syria’s new leader? France is the first Western country to welcome Ahmed al-Sharaa, who, with the toppling of Bashar al-Assad last December, shed his fatigues and his Islamist militia leader name Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. 

The right moment? Yes, if it is time to fully scrap sanctions and help Syria’s economy recover from more than a decade of civil war. The new masters of Damascus say they need money and time to make good on their pledge of an inclusive country that protects its myriad of minorities.

Already, there have been missteps and bloodbaths, the most recent involving sectarian killings between Sunni militiamen and the Druze community – a community present across the borders of Lebanon and Israel. Israel also carried out strikes on Syria in the name of protecting the Druze. On that score, what message does Emmanuel Macron send to the Israelis when he welcomes al-Sharaa?

Syria was a protectorate of France until its independence in 1946, and in the not-so distant past: Bashar al-Assad was invited to Paris as a guest of honour on Bastille Day in 2008. With hindsight, not a good look despite Assad’s popularity with French conservative and far-right MPs. What’s the right approach this time?

He had the votes, he had a new coalition sealed in writing and ratified by party members, so it seemed like a formality. But Friedrich Merz's lifelong dream of finally becoming German chancellor had to be deferred by a few hours, with the 69-year-old Conservative falling at the first hurdle as backbenchers sent a signal.

A hastily organised second round cancelled out what history may decide to be just a blip. But still, why did Merz fall six seats short in the first secret ballot? Who rebelled inside what now seems like a fragile coalition between Conservatives and Social Democrats?

Germany's Trump and Putin-backed far-right co-leader was quick to call for snap elections. Alice Weidel was savouring her revenge after German domestic intelligence last week qualified her Nazi-rooted party as an extremist group, a status that could in theory lead to a ban for an AfD that polled second on 20 percent in February's elections. 

The moment of wavering in Berlin is also rattling the script in Brussels and Paris, both of which bank on the return of Germany as a strong and steady driver of reform; a nation that just scrapped its fiscal purity rules to level up after decades of chronic underfunding of infrastructure and defence.

Now, with the new coalition in Berlin looking over its shoulder, with far-right challenges in upcoming Romanian and Polish elections, all of Europe is asking: will the centre hold?

Despite an annulled election and a different candidate, the re-run of the first round of Romania's presidential election has produced the same outcome. The pro-Trump, Eurosceptic candidate George Simion took 40 percent of the vote ahead of the May 18 run-off.

Simion – whose party sits in the same voting bloc as Giorgia Meloni's in the European Parliament – skipped the usual victory speech at campaign headquarters to instead air a pre-recorded message where he pledged allegiance to banned pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu. Back in November, the latter went from unknown to favourite, thanks to a foreign-backed TikTok campaign. Simion even cast his vote alongside Georgescu.

He will now face reformist pro-EU Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan, whose views are diametrically opposed on Europe, Ukraine and NATO, which is due to boost its presence in Romania to 10,000 troops. What has changed in the EU's newest member? Romania boasts steady growth, but also huge governance and corruption issues.

More broadly, how do former Warsaw Pact nations view the closening ties between the Trump administration and the Kremlin? Romania's run-off will be held on the same day as Poland's own presidential election. Where do loyalties and interests lie in today's fast-changing world?

It's a 48-year-old argument that's once again got nuclear-armed neighbours in a showdown and locals on both sides of the border fearing the worst. India blames Pakistan for Kashmir's worst terror attack in years: the killing of 26 tourists, with non-Muslims singled out and murdered in front of loved ones. Islamabad denies involvement. It blames New Delhi for the March terror attack on a train in Baluchistan. There, too, 26 people were killed, with the matching tolls fuelling speculation and conspiracy theories. So what did happen?

Why now? And how to break the cycle of repeated tensions over Kashmir, a region carved up at independence from Britain in 1947 and whose borders remain disputed to this day?

How far could it go this time? India has suspended a vital 1960 treaty that manages water use between the two neighbours, a treaty that had held through three subsequent wars. Why is this time different?

Then there's Kashmir itself, which on the Indian side lost its partial autonomy back in 2019. What's changed inside the Muslim-majority region since? And what's changed on the Pakistani side after what had been a period of relative détente? Is this really a fight orchestrated by respective capitals?

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip.