Europe Rendezvous

FRANCE 24 English
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We take you to the 27 EU member states for a series of exclusive reports and interviews with national and local players, including MEPs. Produced in partnership with the European Union. Saturday at 7:10pm and 7:40pm.

  1. 2025-12-26

    Denmark: An open economy, but a closed immigration system (part 2)

    FRANCE 24 heads north to the kingdom of Denmark. The Scandinavian country has been in the spotlight this year, holding the rotating presidency of the European Council from July to December and pushing forward its priorities such as migration and the energy transition – topics that we dive into in this show. In this second part of the programme, our focus is on Denmark's economy. Denmark used to be a Eurosceptic country, voting against the Maastricht Treaty and opting out of the single currency. Denmark was also traditionally thought of as a "frugal" member of the EU when it came to common expenditure. But all this has changed with the war in Ukraine and the long shadow that Russia casts over the Baltic and Nordic regions.  Denmark's stated priority for its presidency of the EU in 2025 is "A Competitive and Green Europe". Combining those two objectives has arguably become a strength for the kingdom, as it has long been a pioneer in green energy. Wind power, especially offshore, produces over 50 percent of the country's electricity needs. Danish Green MEP Rasmus Nordqvist joins us as we visit an iconic wind farm just off the coast of the capital Copenhagen. Despite its small size, Denmark is also a major player when it comes to agriculture – especially on intensive farming. Here again it's a pioneer, becoming the first country in the world to tax livestock methane emissions, also known as a flatulence tax. Our team visit a dairy farm in Jutland to see the impact there. Economically, Denmark has historically been export-oriented: its modest population and its maritime history mean it has long been outward facing when it comes to trade. Our team heads to the country's second-biggest container port at Fredericia, to discuss the effects of US President Donald Trump's and China's international tariffs. We meet MEP Niels Flemming Hansen, from the conservative European People's Party. Finally, we tackle another key issue: Greenland. It's an autonomous territory in Denmark with a significant independence movement, and its strategic location and its natural resources make it a tempting target for the US president. Greenland was thrust into the international spotlight earlier this year because of Trump's sudden interest in the territory. Our team interview Jens Heinrich, the head of Greenland's representation in Denmark. Read more'Greenland is not for sale': French foreign minister visits Arctic territory in show of solidarity From Danish design and from pharma to farmers, our reporter Luke Brown visits some of the most emblematic sectors of the Danish economy, to gauge the impact of the global economic headwinds. Show presented by Armen Georgian, produced by Charlotte Prudhomme, filmed on location by Charlotte Prudhomme and Stéphane Bodenne, with Luke Brown. Editor-in-chief: Caroline de Camaret.

    18 min

  2. 2025-12-26

    Denmark: An open economy, but a closed immigration system (part 1)

    FRANCE 24 heads north to the kingdom of Denmark. The Scandinavian country has been in the spotlight this year, holding the rotating presidency of the European Council from July to December and pushing forward its priorities such as migration and the energy transition – topics that we dive into in this show. In this first part of the programme, our focus is on defence and migration. Denmark used to be a Eurosceptic country, voting against the Maastricht Treaty and opting out of the single currency. Denmark was also traditionally thought of as a "frugal" member of the EU when it came to common expenditure. But all this has changed with the war in Ukraine and the long shadow that Russia casts over the Baltic and Nordic regions.  We take a closer look at one of the key priorities of Denmark's EU presidency: Europe's defence policy, in an era marked by the US retreat from Europe and Russia's increasingly aggressive posture. Indeed, Denmark has been dealing with a series of drone incursions over its territory. To discuss these issues, our team meets with one of the vice-presidents of the European Parliament, Danish MEP Christel Schaldemose from the Socialists and Democrats, as well as with the head of the Danish Defence Intelligence Service, Thomas Ahrenkiel. Read moreDenmark drone incursions: All signs point to Russia? We also illuminate a specifically Danish phenomenon: a left-leaning, Social Democratic-led government that pursues a very hard line on migration and asylum. It's a strategy that seems to be gaining ground in the EU. This December, EU member states gave the green light to tightening immigration policy, including the setting up of controversial "return hubs" outside the bloc. At home, Denmark's move to crack down on what the government calls "parallel societies" has faced accusations that it discriminates against people of migrant heritage. To discuss these questions, we meet with former Renew MEP Karen Melchior from the European think tank CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies), and we visit Nørrebro, a multicultural district of Copenhagen, where we watch local football team Nørrebro United. Our reporter Charlotte Prudhomme investigates the impact of fake news in Denmark, and the efforts being made to counter them. And our reporter Luke Brown meets the people most affected by Denmark’s hard line on immigration: two young women who fled Syria a decade ago. We discuss how they cope with the uncertainty of not knowing if they'll be able to stay in Denmark. Show presented by Armen Georgian, produced by Charlotte Prudhomme, filmed on location by Charlotte Prudhomme and Stéphane Bodenne, with Luke Brown. Editor-in-chief: Caroline de Camaret.

    18 min

  3. 2025-10-17

    EU solidarity in the Azores: Miracle or mirage? (part 1)

    Europe Rendezvous brings you a special programme from the Azores, a beautiful and remote archipelago in the Atlantic. The dramatic volcanic islands constitute an Autonomous Region of Portugal, and also an Outermost Region of the EU. That means their relatively small population of around 240,000 inhabitants receives outsized help from the EU – about €160 million in cohesion funds every year. Despite that investment, the Azores' GDP in 2023 was lower than it was in the 2000s. So how much have EU funds actually helped to level up this distant territory? Admittedly, tourism has boosted the local economy in the post-Covid period, and a major pull for tourists is Gorreana, the only functioning tea plantation in Europe. We meet the owners and speak to João Teixeira, an economist at the University of the Azores, about the role of tourism and EU funds on the islands. We also interview the president of the autonomous government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, who opposes the EU Commission's plans to centralise the management of cohesion funds. Our reporters Renaud Lefort and Charlotte Prudhomme take a look at the battle for the EU budget in Brussels and how that could impact Outermost Regions. And our chief reporter Luke Brown looks at something particularly important for life on an island over 1,400 kilometres from mainland Europe: just what to do with all the waste. He zooms in on the clean-up of the beaches where so much marine litter washes up, because of the Azores' position in the middle of so many Atlantic currents. Watch moreEU solidarity in the Azores: Miracle or mirage? (part 2) Show presented by Armen Georgian, produced by Renaud Lefort, filmed on location by Renaud Lefort and Stéphane Bodenne, with Luke Brown. Video editing: Aude Richelet, Joël Procope, Gilles Terrier, Aurélien Porcher, Lucille Latour. Editor-in-chief: Caroline de Camaret. Special thanks to Terra Azul, Anne-Marie Brossard, Visit Azores, Regional Secretariat for the Sea and Fisheries, Rui Martins,  The Ocean Azores Media House, Azores Regional Government, João Inocêncio Gomes Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the DG Regional and Urban Policy. Neither the European Union nor the DG Regional and Urban Policy can be held responsible for them.

    18 min

  4. 2025-10-17

    EU solidarity in the Azores: Miracle or mirage? (part 2)

    Europe Rendezvous brings you a special programme from the Azores, a beautiful and remote archipelago in the Atlantic. The dramatic volcanic islands constitute an Autonomous Region of Portugal, and also an Outermost Region of the EU. That means their relatively small population of around 240,000 inhabitants receives outsized help from the EU – about €160 million in cohesion funds every year. In this second part of the show, we focus on what is all around the Azores: the Atlantic Ocean. In 2024, the Azores implemented the Marine Protected Area, which protects almost 300,000 square kilometres, or 30 percent of the water that surrounds the islands. It means that fishing is banned in certain zones. We speak with MEP Paulo do Nascimento Cabral, one of the legislators for the European Ocean Pact. We are lucky enough to get a glimpse of an animal that is at the meeting point between sustainable tourism and the Blue Economy of the Azores – the local whales – as we join a tour company that has used EU funds to finance its new fleet of electric vessels, thus reducing the carbon footprint of whale-watching. Our senior reporter Luke Brown visits the most distant of the Azorean islands, Flores, where just this year, work began to repair the harbour destroyed by Hurricane Lorenzo in 2019. EU funds are set to finance 85 percent of the total rebuilding cost of €197 million. Luke Brown also investigates regional efforts to reduce brain drain and provide incentives for young people to stay on the islands. He visits the School of the Sea, which trains young Azoreans in all types of maritime careers, thanks to EU funds. We discuss brain drain and updating the "rent-seeking" economy of the past with MEP Ana Vasconcelos, at the emblematic Nonagon Science and Technology Park. Finally, the Azores have the perfect climate to raise dairy cows, and they account for over 35 percent of Portugal's entire dairy production. We meet with a local farmer, who shows us her "happy cows", which are free to roam outside every day of the year! Watch moreEU solidarity in the Azores: Miracle or mirage? (part 1) Show presented by Armen Georgian, produced by Renaud Lefort, filmed on location by Renaud Lefort and Stéphane Bodenne, with Luke Brown. Video editing: Aude Richelet, Joël Procope, Gilles Terrier, Aurélien Porcher, Lucille Latour. Editor-in-chief: Caroline de Camaret. Special thanks to Terra Azul, Anne-Marie Brossard, Visit Azores, Regional Secretariat for the Sea and Fisheries, Rui Martins, The Ocean Azores Media House, Azores Regional Government, João Inocêncio Gomes Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the DG Regional and Urban Policy. Neither the European Union nor the DG Regional and Urban Policy can be held responsible for them.

    17 min

  5. 2024-02-23

    Ukraine: A nation at war, yet firmly on the path to EU membership (part 1)

    Europe Now brings you a special programme from Kyiv to mark the second anniversary of full-scale war in Ukraine. The fighting has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people and left around a fifth of Ukrainian territory under Russian control, but this has not deterred Kyiv from seeking full membership of the European Union. In this first part of the show, we focus on Ukraine's reforms and its cultural heritage. In December, Ukraine received a crucial signal from the EU, when the 27 member states agreed to start accession talks with Kyiv. And in February, a compromise was reached with Hungary to unblock a €50 billion financial support package for Ukraine. Throughout the war, and even before, the EU has been a crucial partner, providing at least €85 billion in aid to Ukraine. In part one of this special programme, we visit Ukraine's premier innovation park, Unit City, where we meet Olha Stefanishyna, the country's deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration. She outlines the current state of play on Ukraine's EU reforms and tells us what she now expects from the European Commission in order to take things further. We also tour the war-damaged Khanenko museum in Kyiv and discuss the impact of the war on Ukrainian culture with the country's most celebrated novelist, Andrey Kurkov. He describes how, despite the destruction of cultural heritage and all the horrors associated with that, the international visibility of Ukraine's culture has grown significantly. In our motion design segment, Sophie Samaille recaps the various EU funding programmes that have been deployed in Ukraine. Our reporter Luke Brown looks at EU-funded projects for Ukraine: from long-standing efforts to help "level up" Ukraine with EU Cohesion funds, to the more recent – and all the more urgent – efforts to help Ukraine rebuild homes and schools damaged by the Russian invasion, even as the war rages on. Watch moreUkraine: A nation at war, yet firmly on the path to EU membership (part 2) Show presented by Armen Georgian, produced by Johan Bodin, filmed on location by Johan Bodin and Stéphane Bodenne, with Luke Brown. Video editing: Gilles Terrie, Joël Procope, Aude Richelet. Editor-in-chief: Caroline de Camaret. Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the DG Regional and Urban Policy. Neither the European Union nor the DG Regional and Urban Policy can be held responsible for them.

    18 min

  6. 2024-02-23

    Ukraine: A nation at war, yet firmly on the path to EU membership (part 2)

    Europe Now brings you a special programme from Kyiv to mark the second anniversary of full-scale war in Ukraine. The fighting has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people and left around a fifth of Ukrainian territory under Russian control, but this has not deterred Kyiv from seeking full membership of the European Union. In this second part of the show, we focus on the reconstruction of the country. In December, Ukraine received a crucial signal from the EU, when the 27 member states agreed to start accession talks with Kyiv. And in February, a compromise was reached with Hungary to unblock a €50 billion financial support package for Ukraine. Throughout the war, and even before, the EU has been a crucial partner, providing at least €85 billion in aid to Ukraine. In part two of this special programme, we travel to the northern suburbs of Kyiv that were hit especially hard in the first weeks of Russia's onslaught – Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin. We look at concrete examples of reconstruction and EU aid to small and medium-sized businesses, such as the Dim bakery in Bucha, which recently won a grant from the EU and is managed by refugees from eastern Ukraine. We discuss the importance of such projects with senior representatives from the EU delegation in Ukraine, Iryna Hubarets and Alberto Fernandez-Diez. We also visit the town of Borodyanka, which was devastated in February-March 2022, with around 1,500 buildings damaged. In the new administrative services centre, financed by the UN and the EU, we meet Liudmyla Buimister, an independent MP in the Ukrainian parliament. We discuss rebuilding plans, EU-aligned reforms of local government and her hopes for Ukraine's anti-corruption efforts. In our motion design segment, Sophie Samaille looks at the ripples of the Ukraine war in the EU, particularly the cost-of-living crisis, and how EU funds – including cohesion – are being used to counter inflation. Our reporter Luke Brown examines how EU cohesion funding is supporting Ukrainians in Poland, and takes a look at how fears of "social dumping" – or cheaper Ukrainian labour costs – are being felt in the vital road haulage sector; fears which led to a months-long blockade of the two countries' road border. Read moreUkraine: A nation at war, yet firmly on the path to EU membership (part 1) Show presented by Armen Georgian, produced by Johan Bodin, filmed on location by Johan Bodin and Stéphane Bodenne, with Luke Brown. Editor-in-chief: Caroline de Camaret.  Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the DG Regional and Urban Policy. Neither the European Union nor the DG Regional and Urban Policy can be held responsible for them.

    18 min

  7. 2023-11-10

    Spain's EU presidency overshadowed by political crisis (part 2)

    It's not often that an EU member state decides to hold a national election just as it takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union. But that's exactly what the Spanish government did on July 23, just three weeks after starting its six-month stint at the helm of the EU. In this second part of the show, we focus on Spain's scientific research and the importance of EU funds to the country.  We take you to Spain's national scientific research council, which is very much aligned with the EU's goals on cutting-edge research and strategic autonomy in key industries. We also take a closer look at EU cohesion funding and Next Generation EU funds (the post-Covid recovery plan) in Spain, with two of the country’s leading economists. In our motion design segment, Sophie Samaille reports on how cohesion funds help communities across EU borders. And FRANCE 24's Luke Brown reports on the Franco-Spanish Treaty of Barcelona and cross-border projects. Read moreWatch part one of the show Show presented by Armen Georgian, produced by Johan Bodin, filmed on location by Johan Bodin and Stéphane Bodenne, with Luke Brown. Editor-in-chief: Caroline de Camaret. Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the DG Regional and Urban Policy. Neither the European Union nor the DG Regional and Urban Policy can be held responsible for them.

    17 min

  8. 2023-11-10

    Spain's EU presidency overshadowed by political crisis (part 1)

    It's not often that an EU member state decides to hold a national election just as it takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union. But that's exactly what the Spanish government did on July 23, just three weeks after starting its six-month stint at the helm of the EU. In this first part of the programme, we meet movers and shakers in Madrid to take the political temperature following the inconclusive result of Spain's July 23 parliamentary vote. Acting Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, from the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE), insists that Spain's EU presidency is firmly on track and making important decisions, despite a few initial delays. We also speak to Antonio Lopez-Isturiz White, whose conservative Partido Popular (People's Party) won the election but did not succeed in building a governing coalition. The far right Vox party's Hermann Tertsch expresses his concerns about a possible government of "extremists and ex-terrorists" as he puts it, going forward. And Ernest Urtasun, representing the left-wing bloc Sumar, shares his optimism about four more years of progressive politics if a deal is found with the incumbent Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. In our motion design segment, Sophie Samaille reports on how Spain benefits from EU cohesion funding. Plus, we report on how Spain and the EU are trying to bridge the digital divide and improve connectivity for all. Read moreWatch part two of the show Show presented by Armen Georgian, produced by Johan Bodin, filmed on location by Johan Bodin and Stéphane Bodenne, with Luke Brown. Editor-in-chief: Caroline de Camaret. Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the DG Regional and Urban Policy. Neither the European Union nor the DG Regional and Urban Policy can be held responsible for them.

    18 min
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We take you to the 27 EU member states for a series of exclusive reports and interviews with national and local players, including MEPs. Produced in partnership with the European Union. Saturday at 7:10pm and 7:40pm.

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