EU Scream

For many people, Emmanuel Macron still represents the great hope for an open and liberal Europe. So what to make of the French president’s growing preoccupation with Islam, terror and security? Mehreen Khan of The Financial Times dissects Macron’s policies and his recent interview with The Economist. For more on Macron, we go to Majlinda Bregu, the Sarajevo-based secretary general of the Regional Cooperation Council...

Far-right trolls often target women and minorities and seek to subvert the work of politicians, journalists and activists. But technology platforms and their supporters tend to resist the kinds of legislation that could help tame the trolls. Effective rules still could be years away...

Ahdaf Soueif is a model of the politically engaged artist. She wrote the bestselling novel The Map of Love, she was a frequent commentator during the revolution in her native Egypt, and she is in the news again after resigning as a trustee of the British Museum over its reluctance to discuss issues like repatriation. Throughout her adult life, Soueif has moved between Britain and Egypt, and she grew up in a Cairo where Europeans and Arabs lived side-by-side...

André Wilkens is the director of the European Cultural Foundation, an organisation created after the Second World War to help heal the continent’s wounds. Under Wilkens the Foundation has stepped up grantmaking to arts and media aiming to strengthen democracy at another pivotal moment in Europe's history. Marta Keil is a serious figure in the Polish arts scene. She co-runs a performing arts institute, curates festivals, and written extensively on dance and choreography...

A conversation with Anthony L. Gardner, the former US ambassador to the EU under President Obama. Gardner is a former director on the National Security Council who has spent much of his career in Europe. He left his ambassadorial post in Brussels when Donald Trump entered the White House, and he was succeeded by Gordon Sondland, a hotel magnate with scant government experience...

Should lobbyists engage with far-right and extremist lawmakers? After the EU elections in May, about 20 percent of members of the European Parliament have far-right agendas. That's a big gain — up from 10-to-15 percent five years ago. That’s also around 150 far-right lawmakers companies can lobby for favourable votes and amendments. Many people are uncomfortable with that prospect...

Pastors and plutocrats are sponsoring an ultra-conservative agenda in Europe. Many of them have links to Donald Trump. It’s a world that's pretty opaque. But over the past year, investigative journalists have done painstaking work to pierce the veil. We talk to Blaž Zgaga, a multi-award winning investigative journalist from Slovenia. Zgaga writes for Croatia's Nacional and publications including EUobserver...

Women in Romania have had the legal right to an abortion since 1990. But many women seeking care find themselves in a Kafkaesque trap. Bianca, a young Romanian, ended up obtaining abortion pills without a prescription, and she took them without medical supervision. Work done by investigative reporter Lina Vdovîi in Bucharest illustrates how politicians and priests — and even doctors — seek to shut down a woman's right to choose...

Pressure on women to avoid terminating unwanted pregnancies has intensified in countries like Croatia, Poland and Romania. Michael Bird, an investigative journalist and writer in Bucharest, has been covering the situation for publications including EUobserver. He says constraints come from a variety of sources including churches, counsellors, public hospitals — even doctors...

Tony Blair shares his two-pronged formula for taking on nationalist populists — and winning. He says Britain is making a "profound historical mistake” by capitulating to the Brexiteers. But he has a stern message for Europe too: do more to stand up for values, not just narrow national interests. The European Union still needs a “strong sense of itself,” Blair suggests. We begin the show with another warning against complacency...