Is the EU's single market failing? Faced with growing competition from China and the US, the bloc is falling behind. The union has been relying on the single market to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services and people for more than 30 years. But inertia is creeping in, and it’s time for a new single market, says our guest Enrico Letta, a former prime minister of Italy, president of the Jacques Delors institute and author of a high-level report on the single market's future. He has just presented the report to EU leaders, after hundreds of meetings in dozens of European ci ..read more

Georgia has erupted in protest once again, as the ruling Georgian Dream party pursues a "foreign agents" bill in parliament – something that has left a question mark hanging over the country’s European ambitions. The EU granted the ex-Soviet nation candidate status to join the bloc last December. We speak to Georgia's President Salomé Zourabichvili, who plans to veto the final draft of the law, but admits that parliament can still override her veto. That makes the October 26 election even more crucial for re-asserting the country’s European path, she says ..read more

Talking Europe sits down with one of the European Parliament’s most prominent veterans, Co-chair of the Greens Philippe Lamberts. The Belgian MEP has served in three legislatures since 2009 and says he has seen a big difference in both awareness and action on environmental issues in that time. Lamberts, who is stepping down from the EU Parliament, is characteristically outspoken on the bloc's Green Deal, the farming issue, investment in the EU economy and the various scandals that have rocked the European Parliament, such as Qatargate ..read more

As Spaniards get ready to elect 61 MEPs to the European Parliament in the June 9 elections, regional elections in Spain are sucking much of the political oxygen. The pro-independence EH Bildu coalition celebrated a historic result in the Basque vote on April 20. Many eyes are now turned to the Catalan regional election on May 12, while the Spanish government works on a controversial amnesty law for those involved in the failed 2017 secession attempt in Catalonia. We discuss how these issues are impacting the national conversation, as well as touching on the EU campaign themes in Spain – includ ..read more

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 farm ..read more

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 ..read more

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 troo ..read more

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 re ..read more

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' associa ..read more

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 ..read more