Today in the EU EURACTIV

The current EU Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Luxembourg's Nicolas Schmit, is touring EU member states to rally support for socialist parties and strengthen his party's standing ahead of June's EU elections.
Our politics reporter Max Griera, who followed Schmit on the campaign trail, joined us to explain what happened during the tour and what main positions the Socialists’ lead candidate wanted to communicate.

In the face of a deeply divided left, the French National Rally's grab for power is easier than many might expect. How is the party reshaping the influence of the far-right at the European level?
We sat down with Paris correspondent Theo Bourgery-Gonse to put French dynamics into the European context.  

As the European Parliament elections approach, the Greens are broadening their focus beyond environmental policies to address issues that resonate more with the general electorate, like security, defence, and housing.
They are also positioning themselves as the sole alternative to the far-right, which has heavily politicised climate change in a bid to gather more support and secure additional seats in Parliament. But how can the Greens distinguish themselves from the other parties that focus on the same policies and are also battling with the far-right surge? 
To break down this topic, we spoke with Donagh Cagney, Euractiv’s energy and environment editor.

Around the globe, the number of citizens who show unwavering support for democracy is on the rise but there are also more and more of those voting for leaders who may undermine democracy.
 Today, for the first time ever, more than half of the global population supports such leaders. We spoke to United Nations Development Programme's Pedro Conceiçao and Euractiv's politics hub editor Aurelie Pugnet to zoom in on the implications for the upcoming European Union elections.   

Four Dutch parties, including Geert Wilders’ far-right Party for Freedom, have agreed on a government programme emphasising nationalism and a tougher stance on Europe. 
They plan to seek opt-outs from some European policies, particularly migration, despite knowing these efforts will likely fail. Does this mean they’re going for a strategy of confrontation with Europe or one of cooperation? And will their Eurosceptical approach damage the country’s credibility in the EU? 
To understand better the essence of Dutch politics, I’m joined by a special guest who knows the ins and outs of this topic, Euractiv's publisher René Moerland. 

Candidates across the political spectrum are meeting twice this week to confront their adversaries and share on a public stage,their vision for Europe.
So, what did they have to say about the state of the EU economy, and what are their priorities for the next mandate?
In the latest episode of Today in the EU, we sat down with Euractiv’s Economy Reporter, Thomas Moller Nielsen, who attended the debate.