The Debate

First came the exit polls. Then, less than an hour later: a second shock. On the heels of the French far right’s record score in European elections, President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament and called surprise snap elections.

Since losing his outright majority in parliament after his re-election as president in 2022, Macron had muddled through with a mixture of compromises and executive decrees. Now, suddenly, comes a lightning-fast three-week campaign before a June 30 first round of voting. Just how risky a gamble is this?

Can Marine Le Pen's party ride the wave and win an outright majority? It's a tall order in a country where a two-round voting system safeguards against the extremes, but then again, who thought her National Rally party could win 89 seats the last time?

We ask why a growing number of women and young people turned to the far right and how much France's return to the polls will resonate beyond its borders. What will the impact be on Europe and beyond? Which way will the pendulum swing?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

D-Day is being commemorated, as this June 6 marks the 80th anniversary of what became known as The Longest Day.
For the soldiers and for French civilians killed as part of the collateral damage of the liberation of their country, there's a complex legacy to one of the most compelling stories in military history.
 

In this Debate we salute those who suffered, who made the ultimate sacrifice, who were tragic victims of the decisions taken in times of war. We also examine why we are where we are right now: in a world still gripped by conflict. Some even say we're on the brink of World War Three. 

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

 

Read more‘History comes alive’ as last veterans mark 80 years since D-Day

Fake news, bogus websites, deepfake interviews augmented by AI: we have all, often without our knowledge, fallen foul of this kind of manipulation. And most of it is coming from Russia. With our panel, we explore the how and why behind this. We also aim to provide you with some ways to be more aware of what you are exposed to online.

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

After India's marathon election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is claiming victory with a historic third successive term. Modi has been criticised throughout the election campaign for abusing state press and broadcast media. There was also the case of the jailed opposition figures and the alleged suppression of the Muslim vote.

When he was first elected in 2014, Modi's central mantra was "identity is nationality, not religion". Modi enters a third term with his BJP party firmly tethered to a political course called Hindu nationalism. Minorities – Muslims, Christians and Sikh separatists – all have reasons not to be optimistic about what's to come with Modi's third term. 

Our panel assess the election and look ahead to where Modi could take India next. On foreign policy issues - Pakistan, Kashmir, China, Russia and Ukraine - where will New Delhi stand? 

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

What if the far right gets its act together? Europeans are picking a parliament this week, the first since the EU's significance went to the next level with Covid, the war in Ukraine as well as showdowns over Chinese dumping and US tech. Europe matters more than before, yet for the first time in a quarter-century, the status quo is at risk. Why?

One woman is at the heart of it all: Giorgia Meloni. Italy's prime minister has proven to be a team player to mainstream partners at the EU level, while harking back to her far-right roots on the current campaign trail. Could she tack centre right as she claims to be, or strike a deal with the likes of Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally could smash its record high here in France?

Even if nationalist and far-right voting blocs remain splintered in the next parliament, what impact on policy if the centre left fades? Will nascent efforts for a common European defence die a quick death? Will the EU's Green Deal and the move away from fossil fuels run out of gas? What about migration policy? More broadly, as another election campaign unfolds in the US, how strong is nativist sentiment here in Europe?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Can Israel ignore the pressure? Young people outraged by the graphic images of the Rafah tent fire that killed dozens of civilians are out in the streets of Paris and Marseille, this as Ireland, Norway and Spain recognise a Palestinian state and international courts mount cases over the war in Gaza. 

That war could last another seven months, says a top official in Binyamin Netanyahu's government. Israeli citizens are also traumatised by October 7 and its aftermath, but are not seeing the same images as the rest of the world on their social media feeds. 

Then there's Israel’s biggest backer, with a Biden administration that so far refuses to say that Israel’s operation in Rafah crosses its red lines and a Republican opposition that is 100 percent behind Netanyahu. 

In past Middle East wars, the US has often been the one to call time. Why, after nearly eight months, is this time different?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

What is Europe's next move, what with Ukraine's Kharkiv subjected to a daily pounding from the other side of a Russian border that's just 20 kilometres away?

It's in the name of Kharkiv that French President Emmanuel Macron, on a state visit to Germany – with Chancellor Olaf Scholz nodding in agreement – said he would allow French missiles supplied to Ukraine to, as he put it, "neutralise" military targets on Russian soil. That comes on top of talk of French military advisers being sent to the front line. 

Vladimir Putin was quick to react on Tuesday, with threats against the West as a whole and what sounds like the Baltic states in particular. With Russian troops now on the offensive and Ukraine desperately waiting for supplies of not just missiles but also ammunition and eventually fighter jets, how close is the day when NATO and Russian troops square off on the battlefield? Eleven days out from European elections, how does public opinion feel about it?

And what of NATO's biggest member? The United States for now refuses to allow its weaponry to strike inside Russian territory. Can the Alliance speak with one voice at this crucial juncture?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

What if, this time, the ANC does not win? Since 1994, South Africa has known plenty of ups and downs. But no matter the criticism or defections, the party of Nelson Mandela could always bank, come election time, on a winning machine that has always secured an outright majority. What if it's not the case in Wednesday's vote? And why would that be?

We ask about a sluggish economy, huge inequality, corruption and whether this time incumbent fatigue will finally catch up with the African National Congress. How will those born after the fall of apartheid vote? How do they see a country long touted as the Rainbow nation?

Would a weakened ANC signal a new narrative for what remains a regional and continental powerhouse? The opposition includes those who tout Black nationalism instead of diversity. In a nation that’s still got a vibrant press and an independent judiciary, will the election outcome strengthen or weaken institutions?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

How to stop the slide in the Americas' poorest nation? The last time this show put the spotlight on Haiti was nearly three months ago. The capital had been overrun by gangs who had banded together against then Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who had just secured a deal to deploy a Kenyan-led international police force.µ

The unelected Henry has since handed power over to a collegial Transitional National Council, but the gangs have extended their chokehold on Haiti and the deployment of law enforcement remains on hold.

We bring you an exclusive report on how the Caribbean state is coping. We also discuss how to bring law and order back to Port-au-Prince, which is estimated to be 80 percent controlled by armed groups, and avoid the failures of past international missions there.

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

He has literally gone halfway around the world. Now what can President Emmanuel Macron do with his surprise visit to New Caledonia? Critics see deadly riots in the French Pacific island as a crisis of his government's own making, with an electoral reform that indigenous Kanaks say dilutes their voice in upcoming provincial elections. Sovereignists loyal to Paris point to longstanding residents who do not have the right to vote.

The last time New Caledonia witnessed this kind of eruption was the 1980s. Then, too, it was electoral reform that lit the spark. It ended with a carefully-worded deal that granted a special status to an overseas collectivity which the United Nations still lists to this day as an occupied colony.

We ask what it means in the 21st century to fly a French flag in a land that’s more than 17,000 kilometres from Paris. Remember: the majority like it that way. And how strategic is a South Pacific island that's in Australia's backyard, in waters patrolled by the United States and coveted by China?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.