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PODCAST

The Debate

FRANCE 24 English

A live debate on the topic of the day, with four guests. From Monday to Thursday at 7:10pm Paris time.

news & politics

All Episodes

00:43:00

A mess of Macron's making? France in crisis as latest...

The Debate ·

2025/10/06

Emmanuel Macron has lost his third prime minister in the 16 months since he dissolved parliament and lost ensuing snap elections. Sébastien Lecornu has broken a Fifth Republic record by lasting just 27 days as head of government. We ask why Bruno Retailleau, the head of the Conservative Les Républicains party, first accepted to stay on as interior minister and then – faced with uproar in his own ranks – slammed the door 90 minutes later on Sunday night. As for the president, he's got three choices:

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00:44:02

Jail time for Sarkozy: Why the unprecedented sentence...

The Debate ·

2025/09/25

France's former leader Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in jail for his part in the illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by Muammar Gaddafi's Libya. He'll do prison time, even during his appeal. That's on top of his electronic bracelet he wore in a separate case of eavesdropping on magistrates. "I'm innocent," insists the former conservative leader. Sarkozy still casts a long shadow over French politics and regularly advises current president Emmanuel Macron despite

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00:44:39

About-face on Ukraine? Trump surprises allies as he...

The Debate ·

2025/09/25

Donald Trump has surprised Ukraine and NATO allies with an apparent about-face on Russia at the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. We ask why the US president suddenly thinks Kyiv can win militarily, the same Trump who up until now blamed both sides for the war and most recently assured that Russian drones fired into Poland might be a mistake. We also ask what concrete steps to expect for Ukraine, and also frontline NATO members like former Soviet state Estonia after

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00:46:50

No swaying Trump: What next for French-led...

The Debate ·

2025/09/24

A fleeting flicker of hope soon to be snuffed out, or are fault lines finally moving in the Middle East? Donald Trump is addressing the United Nations on the heels of the recognition of a Palestinian state by France, Britain and a host of others. The US president condemned the move and blamed everything on Hamas. Has he given up on his Gaza Riviera scheme? What's the alternative? Already on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron laid out steps for a two-state solution while Indonesian President

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00:44:50

Recognising Palestine: Will French-led diplomatic...

The Debate ·

2025/09/22

With Gaza under siege and the West Bank under threat, will the symbolic act of recognising a Palestinian state give its inhabitants reasons to hope or despair? Some 715 days since Hamas orchestrated the worst terror attack in Israel's history, what's clear is that Israel has since squandered sympathy with its incessant pummelling of Gaza and the unchecked land grabs by the state and Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Among the dozen nations recognising Palestine are former colonial powers Britain and

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00:44:40

The assassination of Charlie Kirk: What response to...

The Debate ·

2025/09/11

If Charlie Kirk wasn't previously a household name internationally, he is now. Across the United States, flags are at half mast on government buildings after an assassination that bears the markings of a professional hit job. It was US President Donald Trump himself who broke news of the death of the 31-year-old MAGA influencer, on Truth Social. We ask about the circumstances of the shooting at a university campus talk in Utah, measure the impact – Kirk's powerful messaging could made his

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00:44:53

Macron protégé Lecornu named to handle budget crisis...

The Debate ·

2025/09/10

First day on the job for a new French prime minister, and the long-announced date for a Yellow Vests-style day of protest against austerity. Sébastien Lecornu taking the handover from predecessor François Bayrou who also passed on the bigger political hot potato, that of a budget that still needs passing, Bayrou undone by an opposition-led parliament. 39-year old Sébastien Lecornu, unknown to many, yet he's been in every government since Emmanuel Macron’s second month in office back in

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00:44:52

Macron faces deepening French political impasse: But...

The Debate ·

2025/09/10

In 2017, he blew up the system. Now, can he keep it together? France's Emmanuel Macron had never run for public office before becoming president. And for a while, he seemed exempt from the crude reality of political horse-trading. Yet now, the same Macron who reigned supreme when he smashed the big tent centre-left and centre-right parties eight years ago is running out of road in his second term, with his baffling decision last year to dissolve parliament backfiring miserably and an even stronger

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00:54:18

French PM Bayrou loses confidence vote: What next?

The Debate ·

2025/09/08

French MPs voted to topple the government of Prime Minister François Bayrou on Monday after the PM surprised even his own allies by calling a confidence vote to resolve a months-long deadlock over his austerity budget. Bayrou will tender his resignation on Tuesday morning, plunging France into fresh political turmoil.

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00:44:02

Boots on the ground to stop Putin? 26 states commit...

The Debate ·

2025/09/04

Security guarantees for Ukraine have been agreed at the Paris meeting of the "coalition of the willing" to help Ukraine in its existential fight against Vladimir Putin's Russia. But how will Moscow respond? French President Emmanuel Macron said "we want fair, long-term peace" as he confirmed the announcement alongside Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. The latter, at war since Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, thanked the coalition partners for their backing and called

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00:39:55

"Unstoppable" China? Xi's show of strength alongside...

The Debate ·

2025/09/03

China has staged an impressive display of its military might to mark its Victory Day, a commemoration of the end of World War Two, which Beijing couches as its defeat of Japanese forces, and crucially fascism. Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, as head of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, spending on arms has more than doubled- some say quadrupled. And there was a clear message to the rest of the world in the display of weapons paraded through Tiananmen Square.

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00:42:09

French government again set to fall: Unpopular...

The Debate ·

2025/09/02

As Europe goes back to school, it already had plenty on its plate. Now – on top of inflation, extreme weather, the AI race, Russian threats and a no-longer-so-friendly United States, it's got a new worry: France. After last year's baffling dissolution that resulted in a hung parliament, the French prime minister's now got six days to convince the opposition parties that hold his fate in their hands that he was right to preempt a raucous showdown over his austerity budget and call a vote of

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00:43:43

Make Russia great again? Why Putin won't relent on...

The Debate ·

2025/09/01

"Yes, it was Russian troops that launched an unprovoked invasion – but it's the West that started the war in Ukraine." That's the long-repeated line spun again this Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in China. Repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it, goes the saying. But for Putin, this founding myth story is not a myth at all. Tried and true Kremlinologists insist that the ex-KGB agent genuinely feels grievance and genuinely believes in greater Russia's manifest

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00:46:05

Why the falling out? Trump-Modi relations strained as...

The Debate ·

2025/08/28

What's the US doubling of tariffs on India really all about? The Trump administration insists it just wants India to stop buying, then reselling, discounted Russian crude oil to bypass sanctions over Ukraine. New Delhi's imports of crude have indeed soared, but is that the only reason? Supporters of Kyiv say they wish Washington applied the same zeal to others like Turkey, not to mention the shadow fleets that ship Russian fossil fuels. We ask about New Delhi's muted reaction and why relations have

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00:40:15

White nationalist agenda? Minorities in front line of...

The Debate ·

2025/08/27

How's the United States' 249-year-old experiment in democracy going? On this show, we've discussed how the long-vaunted system of checks and balances is being tested by a president who's made a grab for more power than any US leader since the Second World War. Does that executive power extend to firing the first Black woman ever appointed to the US Federal Reserve's board of governors? Ostensibly it's because Donald Trump wants his way on a malleable central bank that would lower interest rates at

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00:45:27

Cruelty on demand? Outrage over livestreamed death of...

The Debate ·

2025/08/26

Humans enjoying the suffering of others is as old as the ancient Romans baying for blood when they would send in the lions at the Colosseum. Now though, the mob seems to have moved online. Just as Donald Trump threatens to slam nations that try to regulate the World Wide Web, France is coming to grips with last week's death of 46-year-old online personality Raphaël Graven, who went by the name of Jean Pormanove or JP. He died after 12 days of a marathon livestream where viewers were encouraged to

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00:46:03

As long as Trump's got his back? Netanyahu defies...

The Debate ·

2025/08/25

It will soon be two years since Israel endured its worst day of bloodshed and terror in its history. At the time here in France, home to Europe's largest Jewish community, a majority expected and even supported a forceful reaction. Nearly two years on, the sympathy has long waned: yes, Hamas still holds hostages but public opinion has long turned, long before a summer of daily images of desperate Gazans braving bullets to reach aid distribution points and the United Nations now formally labelling

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00:43:06

Inside India's ignored conflict: where is Manipur's...

The Debate ·

2025/07/16

Call it India’s ignored conflict: it’s been two years since violence in Manipur erupted, yet 60-thousand remain displaced by intercommunal tensions between the majority Meitei and the Kuki-Zo communities. We’ll ask why mediation efforts have stalled and what’s changed since the central government imposed President’s Rule from Delhi at the start of the year. We’ll ask why the prime minister’s remained mostly silent on Manipur, why foreign journalists have to apply for special accreditation which is

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00:41:59

Tariffs on political rivals: Can US impose its might?

The Debate ·

2025/07/15

Brazil has announced it's working on counter-measures should the Trump administration make good on its threat to punish the country and sanction its Supreme Court president over the coup attempt case against far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil is one of the nations threatened with secondary tariffs for buying Russian oil – but not Trump ally Turkey. The US is using its economic might to boost fellow travellers like Bolsonaro and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but also applying political

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00:45:29

Ukraine U-turn? Trump blasts Putin, approves...

The Debate ·

2025/07/14

The Nobel Peace Prize can wait. The same Donald Trump whose administration just weeks ago paused munitions and air defence supplies for Ukraine is now turning on Vladimir Putin with threats of asset seizures and ramped-up weapons sales for Kyiv. Why the about-face? How committed to Ukraine is Trump going forward? And how committed to NATO? Allies know that the days are numbered for the United States providing the bulk of Europe's defence umbrella. It's Bastille Day and on France's national holiday,

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210 results

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