The election in September of the far-right Giorgia Meloni as Italian premier has sent shockwaves around Europe, not least in Brussels. Meloni has raised fears that she'll roll back reforms put in place by her predecessor, encourage a harsher climate when it comes to dealing with asylum seekers and even renegotiate the conditions of the EU's post-Covid Recovery Plan.

Is there trouble in store between Rome and Brussels?

It went down to the wire, but Budapest and Brussels struck a deal in December that paves the way for the EU to greenlight billions of euros in funding. In return, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's government agreed to more sustained efforts and reforms to fight corruption, as well as giving up its threat to veto a European aid package to Ukraine. This came after months of disagreements over a host of issues – migrants, the rights of minorities, media freedoms, the justice system and most recently, over Russia and Ukraine.

Showdown between Brussels and Budapest: The battle over Hungary's EU funds

FRANCE 24's Europe team brings you a new series of Europe Now programmes, focusing on "levelling up" – efforts aimed at making life more equal across Europe's many and diverse regions. We examine both national efforts to level up, and the role that EU funding plays in those attempts. EU structural and cohesion funds have become even more important in the light of the war in Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis, which threatens to increase unequal living standards around Europe.

Greece: Emerging from the legacy of the debt crisis (part 1)

Greece: Emerging from the legacy of the debt crisis (part 2)

Summer is here in France — an opportune moment for us to look back on this last parliamentary season in Europe, which got underway in September 2021.

For FRANCE 24's Europe team, our job involves travelling around the continent to hear from locals and decision-makers in EU member states. Here are a few moments that stood out for us in our last few programmes.

Europe Now: A summer look back on reporting from around the continent in 2021-22

For the latest edition of Europe Now, we head to Poland and Hungary. These two EU members both border Ukraine and have both taken in large numbers of Ukrainian refugees. But on more political issues, their governments' responses to the war have been drastically different. Our team meets lawmakers from across the political spectrum of both countries to discover why the Polish and Hungarian governments have taken such different stances. We also explore other key issues, such as the ever-expanding EU files on degradations of rule of law.

Poland and Hungary: In the shadow of the war in Ukraine

Independent since 1964, Malta has been a member of the European Union since 2004. FRANCE 24's Europe team takes us to the smallest EU member state by both size and population, where our team looks into several areas in which these islands hold an important place in European affairs.

Malta: Small islands, big issues for Europe (Part 1)

Malta: Small islands, big issues for Europe (Part 2)

Our Europe Editor Catherine Nicholson and her team take you to Germany as they visit the region in the west of the country which flooded in July 2021. They explore the new government's climate policy, flood and Covid-19 recovery, foreign policy and more.

Post-Merkel Germany confronts climate challenges (part 1)

Post-Merkel Germany confronts climate challenges (part 2)

In this edition of Europe Now we take you to Slovenia, a country that has been at the crossroads of European empires and power struggles for centuries.

This small, mountainous and heavily-forested country is almost completely landlocked. Today, it’s home to just over two million people, many of which love nature and have a soft spot for their country’s prized honey bees.  

Exploring Slovenia, 30 years after independence (Part 1)

In this edition of Europe Now, we take you to Slovenia, a country that’s been at the crossroads of European empires and power struggles for centuries.

This small, mountainous and heavily-forested country is almost completely landlocked. Today, it’s home to just over two million people, many of which love nature and have a soft spot for their country’s prized honey bees.

Exploring Slovenia, 30 years after independence (Part 2)

Summer has begun in Europe: restrictions on travel are ending, beaches and bars are beckoning, and Greece is particularly keen to fill them all with holidaymakers. Greece is the European country that relies the most heavily on tourists for its national wealth. In non-Covid times, the sector generates a fifth of Greek GDP and employs one in six workers. But the sector has been rocked by the pandemic, this after a decade of austerity and financial crisis from which businesses and banks have still not entirely recovered.

Summer 2021: Greece's Covid-19 odyssey (part 2)

Summer 2021: Greece's Covid-19 odyssey (part 1)

It's spring 2021 and to date France has recorded the most cases of Covid-19 in all of Europe – including non-EU countries – and the third-highest death toll after Italy and the UK. It's now more than one year since President Emmanuel Macron first told French people to stay home and that he would do "whatever it takes" to keep people's businesses and livelihoods going.

France, Europe and the pandemic: One year of Covid-19 (part 2)

France, Europe and the pandemic: One year of Covid-19 (part 1)

Sun, sea and sand – but no holidaymakers to enjoy them. In our latest edition of Europe Now, Catherine Nicholson travels to what's normally a holiday hotspot – Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands – to find out how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted daily life, the tourism industry and the wider economy.

Europe now

Europe now

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