Political Turmoil in France and Germany
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2024
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
French prime minister Michel Barnier was forced to resign when his government collapsed in the wake of a no-confidence vote and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is heading for fresh elections in February. Amol and Nick are joined by Jose Manuel Barroso, former President of the European Commission, to look at what the crisis in those countries means for the EU as it faces economic decline, the rise of populist parties and a second Donald Trump presidency.
Plus, sports presenter Karthi Gnanasegaram pops in for Moment of the Week and to discuss her busy work schedule over Christmas.
To get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories and insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme make sure you hit subscribe on BBC Sounds. That way you’ll get an alert every time we release a new episode, and you won’t miss our extra bonus episodes either.
GET IN TOUCH: * Send us a message or a voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 * Email today@bbc.co.uk
The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson who are both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.
This episode was made by Lewis Vickers with Nadia Gyane and Grace Reeve. Additional digital production was by Joe Wilkinson. The technical producer was Ben Andrews. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We get it. |
| 0:02.5 | Life is busy. |
| 0:03.6 | You want to keep up with the news, but there's just too much going on. |
| 0:06.9 | Which is where Newscast comes in. |
| 0:09.0 | We do the work, and when you're ready to dig deeper into the day's news, you just pop us into your ears. |
| 0:14.8 | It does mean we have to put in the hard work, though. |
| 0:17.5 | Listen to Newscast every day on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:20.1 | So before we get started with this episode, |
| 0:22.1 | we thought it would be useful to explain how to subscribe to the Today podcast on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:27.6 | Yes, because as well as doing our regular weekly episode, where we take a step back and look |
| 0:32.1 | at a big story in depth, like the episode we did on Elon Musk's relationship with Donald Trump |
| 0:36.6 | or the reporting I did from Europe's front line against illegal migration. |
| 0:40.9 | We also do bonus Q&As where we take you behind the scenes of the Today program. |
| 0:46.5 | And sometimes we get together to record extra episodes to bring you fresh insights on breaking news stories that are hot at the time and that deserve a bit of today analysis. |
| 0:56.7 | So to make sure you get an alert every time we release a new episode, you need to search for the Today podcast on BBC Sounds, hit the subscribe button and make sure you've got push notifications turned on. |
| 1:08.7 | Now, let's get on with this week's episode. |
| 1:15.3 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 1:21.2 | Europe is in big trouble and the Franco-German engine at the heart of Europe is stalling. |
| 1:26.2 | In the space of a couple of weeks, both France and Germany have been thrown into serious political turmoil. |
| 1:30.8 | First, the French government, led by Prime Minister, or ex-Priam Minister now, Michelle Barnier, lost a confidence vote in Parliament. |
| 1:32.7 | And this week, the same has happened to the German Chancellor Olaf Schultz. |
| 1:36.6 | Two enormous, powerful economies, both stumbling at the same time. |
... |
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