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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

00:42:58

Out of the running? Marine Le Pen's conviction upends...

The Debate ·

2025/03/31

Can justice be truly blind? Truly impartial and impervious to biases, pressures and power plays? Can citizens in this day and age agree to accept it when a court bars a presidential frontrunner from contesting the next election? The party of the French far right's Marine Le Pen calls it "an execution of democracy," after a ruling found nine far-right lawmakers guilty of running a "system" that funnelled €2.9 million from the European Parliament to National Rally insiders. Injustice is in the eye of

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00:46:03

Europe in combat mode? Paris summit redraws Ukraine...

The Debate ·

2025/03/28

If Europeans didn't get the memo in Munich, when JD Vance preferred a meeting with the pro-Putin far-right leader Alice Weidel to one with Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz, then they're cordially invited to read what he says in private about an Old Continent populated by "freeloaders". If Signalgate's still not enough, then how about a sitting US vice president announcing an uninvited visit to Greenland? A "very aggressive" posture, says Denmark's prime minister. But what can Mette Frederiksen do

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00:44:42

Above the law? Trump pushes powers of US presidency

The Debate ·

2025/03/26

Are we witnessing what’s not the first nor the last testing of those rules? Or is Donald Trump taking the world’s most powerful nation into unchartered territory? What to make of the attack on judges and lawyers, the attempt to gut vast swathes of the government and shut down public broadcasting?Do Americans mind this new turn? After all, a majority voted for Trump despite the attempt to overturn by force his defeat four years ago... Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont and Ilayda

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00:42:54

Back to Khartoum: Turning point for Sudan's civil war?

The Debate ·

2025/03/25

Nearly two years on and it’s back to Khartoum for Sudan’s civil war. The forces of junta leader Abdelfattah al-Buhran ousting those of ally-turned-foe Mohammed Hamdam Daglo. For the leader of the RSF militia, it’s win some, lose some with gains instead in North Darfur province. We asked why the shifting alliances that are redrawing the frontline, whether it’s a turning point… and whether there’s any light at the end of the tunnel for the 12 million displaced by a fratricide conflict that follows

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00:44:35

Enough to rattle Erdogan? Jailing of popular...

The Debate ·

2025/03/24

Despite bans, beatings and even the use of facial recognition technology to pursue protesters, Turkey's opposition is out in the streets in its greatest numbers in more than a decade. This comes after the jailing of centre-left opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul who's been charged with corruption and abetting terrorism just as he's been plebiscited by the CHP to carry the party's colours in the 2028 presidential election. Will the protesters prevail? Turkey has seen many

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00:44:53

Europe's 'porcupine strategy': EU leaders welcome...

The Debate ·

2025/03/20

As US-led talks with Russia and Ukraine progress without the Europeans at the table, the 27-nation bloc is pressing ahead with what Ursula von der Leyen has branded a steel "porcupine strategy". In her words: "We need to make Ukraine strong enough to be indigestible for potential invaders". Her plan aims to build the Ukrainian armed forces and the country’s defence industry into a formidable opponent for Russia to give Ukraine a hope of self-defence in the future. But can Europe find the money to

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00:43:57

Israel-Hamas: Back to war? Over 400 Palestinians...

The Debate ·

2025/03/19

Israel is bringing the war back to the people of the Gaza Strip, notably launching a ground operation to take back control of the Netzarim Corridor. This follows the extensive bombardment of March 18, in which more than 400 Palestinians lost their lives. Among them, Israel says five senior Hamas leaders were killed. Where does this leave the quest for peace in the Middle East? In Jerusalem this Wednesday, demonstrations called for peace and the safe return of the remaining Israeli hostages held by

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00:41:32

Ukraine on the line: Trump-Putin talks over ceasefire

The Debate ·

2025/03/18

Much was riding on this Tuesday's phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Trump is wanting movement from Moscow on the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. This as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Putin of dragging his heels in responding to the US proposal. Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

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00:41:47

Free speech in Trump's America: Drawing up the...

The Debate ·

2025/03/17

US President Donald Trump likes to say he's the protector of free speech. Yet, his administration has already threatened Democratic Congress members with investigation for criticising conservatives while withdrawing federal grants that include language it opposes. This as it sanctioned law firms that represent Trump's political opponents and arrested the Palestinian organiser of student protests that Trump criticised as "anti-Semitic, anti-American". The US president is stripping back the

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00:42:24

How to stop the escalation? Trump hits back after EU...

The Debate ·

2025/03/13

Donald Trump has said it many times: "The most beautiful word in the dictionary to me is tariff." But the tariffs that Trump is imposing on businesses across the borders are having a less than beautiful effect. Trump came to power promising prosperity for the United States, a "new golden age", but now the country is teetering towards recession. Is this a lose-lose situation where Trump's tariffs provoke a similar response from the penalised countries? Caught in the middle are the consumers who

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00:43:54

All is forgiven? US resumes aid as Ukraine agrees to...

The Debate ·

2025/03/12

Talk about mood swings: is that epic White House bust-up that we are still processing already water under the bridge?Donald Trump’s envoys making that recent dumpster fire of a sitdown with Volodymyr Zelenskiy sound like a fading memory. The US now unpausing military assistance to Kyiv and talking up the imminence of a rare minerals deal, this in exchange for Ukraine agreeing to a 30-day truce with Russia. All is forgiven… up to a point. With the ball now in the Kremlin’s court, Ukraine is still

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00:45:40

The scramble for Greenland: Can Danish dependency...

The Debate ·

2025/03/11

It's got a population smaller than Paris’ Latin Quarter, but thanks to Donald Trump, the whole world’s watching Greenland. As citizens of the Arctic Danish dependency choose between six main parties, all pro-independence to varying degrees, we’ll ask how locals voting in parliamentary elections feel about the US president promising Congress to get the mineral-rich island “one way or another”. Even if it means taking on traditional allies. Denmark’s an EU and NATO member that equips its military with

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00:44:30

Can the new Syria keep it together? Massacres prompt...

The Debate ·

2025/03/10

Three months on, could Syria slide back into civil war? In the Alawite bastion of ousted president Bashar al-Assad, the bloodiest week in years with attacks and revenge killings of civilians that the new masters of Damascus are scrambling to contain. Why did the Mediterranean coast region erupt? What triggered it? And what’s the next move by new strongman Ahmed al-Sharaa? The jihadist militia leader who’s traded in his fatigues for a suit and promised the outside world justice and respect for

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00:43:20

Race to rearm: Can Europe deter Russia on its own?

The Debate ·

2025/03/06

Ukraine’s allies have plenty of troops and hardware. But how battle ready are they? And is it enough to deter Putin’s Russia? Brussels is hosting an emergency summit with Volodymyr Zelensky attending as the Trump administration halts support for Ukraine. The sense of urgency is also illustrated by Germany reaching a deal to revise its constitution so it can ensure its security without US protection. But how far can Europeans go, including the British, if their US-made equipment can’t operate without

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00:44:34

The end of shared values? Europeans grapple with...

The Debate ·

2025/03/05

Can Europeans and Americans still speak of shared values? The longest-ever speech by a US president to a joint session of Congress doubling down on an America First vision of foreign policy that's heavy on sticks, light on carrots. In the past critics of the U-S would dismiss talk of exporting democracy by pointing to Vietnam, Latin America and Iraq the velvet glove but the United States has also put its might behind international institutions for brokering peace and norms for doing business that

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00:41:43

Erdogan's gambit: Could Turkey's president make peace...

The Debate ·

2025/03/04

It’s a volatile world these days. While Europe wonders if it’s just lost its US security umbrella, while a Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread, while Syria figures out how to hold it together after the fall of Assad, major regional player Turkey looks to get its own house in order with the announced dissolution of a 40-year-old Kurdish insurgency. Why did Recep Tayyip Erdogan and imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan agree to open a path to peace? And why now? Will it work this time? The pair have

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00:45:29

Can Europe go it alone? Future of NATO in doubt as...

The Debate ·

2025/03/03

The image of King Charles III welcoming Volodymyr Zelensky to Sandringham evokes memories of his grandfather, George VI, standing firm as Britain held the line before the United States entered the war. Since then, Europe has relied on Washington's security umbrella. But that era may be coming to an end. Last Friday, Ukraine's president was caught off guard on live television, confronted with rhetoric strikingly similar to Kremlin talking points that shifted blame for the war onto Kyiv and NATO. What

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00:46:16

Starmer's turn: What can old allies do to convince...

The Debate ·

2025/02/27

Whispering in Donald Trump's ear is no easy task: just ask Emmanuel Macron. Despite Monday's "broshakes", flattery and mild reproaches, the US still sided with Russia and North Korea on Ukraine at the UN. Maybe one meeting wasn’t enough. Now it's Keir Starmer's turn, and his job might be even tougher. Trump prefers presidents and kings, and post-Brexit Britain is in a tighter financial bind than even deficit-happy France. In a sign of the times, the British prime minister is proposing to fund

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00:42:48

Syria's promise: Will new masters of Damascus deliver...

The Debate ·

2025/02/26

Can Syria keep its promises? After the fall of Bashar al-Assad last December, the new rulers of Damascus are convening a one-day national dialogue conference. On paper, the outcomes sound promising: transitional justice, inclusive democracy and the disarmament of the country’s numerous militias in favour of a unified national army. In practice, it’s far more complicated. The US-backed Syrian Kurds in the north feel excluded and have no intention of surrendering their weapons while they continue to

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00:44:14

Which direction for the Church? Pope's...

The Debate ·

2025/02/25

Amid armed conflicts, a climate emergency and the disruptions of the digital age, now comes another layer of uncertainty to worry about. Since Monday, nightly rosary prayers have been taking place in Saint Peter's Square as pilgrims pray for an 88-year old pope who's in hospital for the fourth time. We ask about Francis's health and what change at the top would mean inside the world's largest religious institution, one that doubles as a state recognised by 177 nations. The first Argentinian pope has

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