France has voted and the results are in — our POLITICO team in Paris discusses the surprising results of the final round of the parliamentary election in this special episode of EU Confidential.

Host Nicholas Vinocur is first joined by POLITICO's Victor Goury-Laffont to break down the results and explain how President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists and the left-wing alliance mobilized to stymie Marine Le Pen’s far right National Rally.

POLITICO's executive editor in France, Marion Solletty, joins the podcast to discuss where France goes from here.

We also hear from POLITICO's Giorgio Leali, calling in from the National Rally's election event, and Nicolas Camut, checking in from one of the left-wing alliance’s parties, France Unbowed.

We hope you enjoy this special episode of EU Confidential from Paris. We'll be back in your feeds on Friday, as usual.

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Just days before the final round of France's snap parliamentary elections, we discuss possible scenarios for what could emerge from the messy political situation in Paris: shiny new leaders, a shaky new government, rocky cohabitation — or even more chaos.

Host Sarah Wheaton talks to POLITICO's senior correspondent in Paris, Clea Caulcutt.

Later she's joined by former U.S. Ambassador to the EU Anthony Gardner and the director of the German Marshall Fund's Berlin office, Sudha David-Wilp. They break down the reactions of European leaders to President Joe Biden's poor performance in last week's debate with challenger Donald Trump, their doubts over Biden's prospects in November's election, and how Europe is approaching the possibility of Trump 2.0.

Finally, to mark the start of Hungary's presidency of the Council of the EU, we have a dispatch from POLITICO reporter Eddy Wax, who sailed down the Danube recently on a trip to Budapest.

If you're hungry for more election coverage, please tune in to POLITICO's Power Play, Westminster Insider and Politics at Jack and Sam's. This week they'll all be tackling the July 4 general election in the U.K.

Programming alert! A special episode with news and analysis on the results of the second round of the French elections will be delivered to your feed on Monday morning. Don't miss it!

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Straight from the European Council summit, we bring you the latest news and analysis on a range of tough issues on the leaders' agenda.

With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a special guest at the summit, EU leaders also talked about Ukraine — following the official opening of accession talks between Brussels and Kyiv earlier this week.

Finally, we speak to Clea Caulcutt, our senior correspondent in Paris. She unpacks the prospects of Sunday's first round of snap parliamentary elections.

Further reading:

EU leaders arrive to discuss top jobs at high-stakes meeting — live updates by POLITICO

Giorgia Meloni hits out at EU top jobs backroom deal by Barbara Moens, Hannah Roberts and Giorgio Leali

Far right seizes France’s conservative heartlands by Clea Caulcutt

French election: Your guide to a vote that is set to shake the EU and NATO by Clea Caulcutt

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Almost two weeks after the EU election, there is still a lot of political manoeuvring going on — both in Brussels and in national capitals.

First, POLITICO's chief EU correspondent, Barbara Moens, recaps of the race for the top jobs after European leaders failed to reach a deal at their informal dinner in Brussels earlier this week.

Then, we zoom in on the countries and leaders who until recently were calling the shots, but now seem weakened — and those who are trying to seize the new zeitgeist and claim more power than they've had in the past.

Host Sarah Wheaton and POLITICO's chief Europe correspondent in Berlin, Matthew Karnitschnig, discuss the precarious situation in which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the parties in his governing coalition find themselves as a result of the EU vote.

Later, we move to Poland and take a look at Donald Tusk and his increasingly dominant position among European leaders. Sarah is joined by Andrzej Bobiński, journalist and managing director of Polityka Insight in Warsaw, and Jan Cienski, POLITICO's senior political editor.

And finally, Hungary's newly-unveiled slogan for its upcoming presidency of the Council of the EU may be "Make Europe Great Again," but we here at EU Confidential are all about MAGA: Making Audio Great Again. So do keep sending your ideas and comments to podcast@politico.eu.

Further reading:

EU leaders fail to agree on von der Leyen’s second term , by Barbara Moens, Jacopo Barigazzi and Stuart Lau

Time runs out for Olaf Scholz, by Matthew Karnitschnig

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As the EU comes to terms with its new (sort of) political reality following last weekend's European Parliament election, France is already back in campaign mode — preparing for snap elections called unexpectedly by President Emmanuel Macron.

The French president dissolved the National Assembly in response to the massive success of the far-right National Rally in the European election (and the poor showing of his own Renaissance party).

Host Sarah Wheaton and her colleagues discuss Macron's shock decision and whether his gamble can pay off. She's joined by senior Paris correspondent Clea Caulcutt, politics reporter Victor Goury-Laffont, and POLITICO's editor-at-large Nick Vinocur. The team also looks at how the political earthquake in Paris is reverberating in Brussels and whether it will affect the ongoing race for the EU's top jobs.

Further readings:

Is Macron too toxic to win? by Clea Caulcutt, Victor Goury-Laffont, Sarah Paillou and Pauline de Saint Remy

3 ways Macron’s election punt could go wrong by Victor Goury-Laffont

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As election result projections were revealed on Sunday evening, our EU Confidential team recorded a live episode with first reactions and analysis from our POLITICO newsroom.

Host Sarah Wheaton and the team looked beyond the numbers and analyzed the direction the EU might take as a consequence of the vote. We also discussed French President Emmanuel Macron's shock decision to dissolve the parliament after the far-right National Rally won the popular vote.

Our guests were POLITICO editor-in-chief Jamil Anderlini, data reporter and election expert Hanne Cokelaere, cybersecurity editor Laurens Cerulus, senior EU correspondent Barbara Moens and politics reporter Eddy Wax.

You can also watch our Election Night Live event here.

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As voting gets underway throughout the EU, we check in on the polls and learn which stories are dominating the headlines in capitals around Europe.

Host Sarah Wheaton discusses the latest polling numbers with our data reporter Hanne Cokelaere. Be sure to check out POLITICO's Poll of Polls for the latest insights.

We also hear from colleagues around Europe who explain which stories are uppermost in voters' minds as they head to the ballot box.

Aitor Hernández-Morales gives us a snapshot from Spain, where the vote is seen as a referendum on the government, and where a surprise diplomatic spat between Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Argentina's President Javier Milei could sway some voters.

Charlie Duxbury in Sweden explains how a focus on migration is working for the far-right Sweden Democrats.

Clea Caulcutt in France says it's all about President Emmanuel Macron and far-right National Rally leader Jordan Bardella.

And Hans von der Burchard tells us how the war in Ukraine is polarizing Germany's governing coalition, and predicts how big a factor the recent killing of a German police officer could be for rival parties.

Further reading:

All politics is local: What the EU election is actually about in each country, by POLITICO

Putin’s a bigger deal than EU election in Europe’s frontline states, by Charlie Duxbury and Bartosz Brzeziński

Programming alert! We'll be doing a special video livestream taping of EU Confidential on Sunday from 8:30-9:15 p.m. Sign up to watch us on election night as the preliminary results are released, and then check your EU Confidential podcast feed on Monday morning for highlights of our election night analysis.

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With just a week to go until the European election and the campaign in full gear, we're focusing on how the vote will impact key EU policies such as health, energy, climate, technology and defense.

Will they be affected by the shake-up of the bloc's political landscape and the arrival of new MEPs and commissioners — or will continuity with the policy priorities of the last five years prevail? And what about the money to finance new and super costly defense ambitions and the green transition? Will the predicted surge of the far right affect these dynamics?

To answer these questions, we bring you a special episode. It's a conversation that took place recently at an exclusive, invitation-only POLITICO event organized for our Pro Connect subscribers — usually under Chatham House rules. It's moderated by POLITICO's policy editor Joanna Roberts, and her guests were: POLITICO's technology and competition editor Aoife White, energy and climate editor Cory Bennett, health editor Helen Collis and Jan Cienski, our senior policy editor and an expert on mobility and defense.

The event was part of our POLITICO Pro Connect "In Conversation with" series, which you can learn more about here.

Finally, we'll be recording a special livestream edition of EU Confidential on Sunday, June 9 starting at 8:30 p.m. as the EU election results roll in. Register here to watch live!

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