In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti talks about the European debt crisis and shares his views on the Tobin Tax, a controversial financial transaction tax.
Will the Polish EU presidency revive the Eastern Partnership with Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus? Promoting democratic values to secure its borders as well as economic cooperation with Eastern neighbours are among the top priorities of the Polish government.
Christophe Robeet meets Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Polish Minister for European Affairs. They discuss the Greek crisis and its impact on the eurozone, a week or so before Poland takes over the rotating presidency of the EU on July 1st.
The European Commission published a report on Tuesday which gave a less than encouraging picture of Turkey’s progress towards EU membership. In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave France 24’s Christophe Robeet his point of view.
We interviewed Jean-Claude Juncker right after a key EU summit that focused on tightening the Economic Governance of Europe. The President of the Eurogroup told us that the agreed economic sanctions on member states running up large budget deficits are not ambitious enough. He also warns it is too early to declare that the Euro crisis is over.
For a country with a reputation as one of the most tolerant in Europe, immigration has become the hot topic which could play an important role in the general election taking place this Wednesday. Right wing politician Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party have made huge gains in popularity and for a while it looks like this would be his first chance at making it as the countrys new Prime Minister. But as the economic crisis deepened, passion for his controversial views has waned.
In two months’ time, Belgium will take over the presidency of the European Union. But since April 26th, the country has had no government. At the heart of the problem lies the bilingual district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. France 24's reporters travelled to Belgium to find out more about the tensions there between French and Flemish-speaking communities.
