Talking Europe FRANCE 24 English

For months, Europe has been rocked by protests as farmers decry high costs and low prices, in addition to what they call unfair competition from Ukraine, and the constraints of environmental regulations. EU elites are worried that the farmers' movement will boost anti-establishment parties in the European elections this June. The EU Commission has put forward proposals to ease the burden on farmers, but environmental groups say this is a short-term political tactic that undermines elements of the EU's own Green Deal – and will ultimately lead to more climate chaos for everybody, including farmers. We unpick this with the EU's Agriculture Commissioner, Janusz Wojciechowski.

Talking Europe hosts former Spanish foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya, who is now dean of one of the top international relations schools in the world – the Paris School of International Affairs. We delve into the EU election campaign, EU competitiveness, transatlantic relations and the fragile political situation in Spain amid rising tensions over the Catalan issue.

Talking Europe hosts the head of the largest political group in the European Parliament, the centre-right European People's Party. Manfred Weber, a prominent German CSU politician, is hoping that the June 9 EU elections will re-confirm the EPP's pre-eminent position, but he is cautious on the possibility of alliances with the hard-right ECR group. We also touch on the "Russiagate" and "Piepergate" controversies, the EPP's contentious plan to reform the EU's asylum system, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron's "unwise" – according to Weber – remarks about potentially sending French troops to Ukraine.

The Nordic model encompasses a strong welfare state, protection of workers through collective bargaining, good pension schemes and low levels of poverty. This system has gone hand-in-hand with a progressive approach to issues like gender equality and maternity or paternity leave. But the social model has come under pressure from the trends affecting Europe as a whole, such as Covid debt, inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, the demands of the green transition and – some would say – pressure from migration. We focus on the Nordic model as part of our series on groups of countries or regions within the EU.

Striking a balance between regulation and letting businesses grow is always a difficult thing for policymakers to do. But has the EU veered into over-regulation? Our guest argues that red tape in some areas is holding back EU-based companies, and is partly responsible for those firms losing ground to their competitors in other parts of the world. But he is adamant that finding a solution to this does not mean having to renege on the EU's key policy initiatives, such as the European Green Deal. Markus Beyrer is the director general of BusinessEurope, which represents national employers' associations and companies.

We dive into the heated EU election campaign in Romania, where the centrist Renew Europe bloc finds itself squeezed by a joint list of the government’s grand coalition on the one hand, and a resurgent far right on the other hand. We also look at Romania’s efforts to become a core member of the European family – something that has not happened yet, as the country was only partially admitted to the border-free Schengen travel area at the end of March.