Jack Power and Derek Scally join Hugh Linehan on The Irish Times Inside Politics podcast to discuss developments in European politics:
Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath was handed the EU Commission’s Justice portfolio when commission president Ursula von der Leyen assigned roles this week. How did Ireland end up with this particular job?
Dr Von der Leyen’s consolidation of power at the centre of the commission may be good for reaching consensus. But as Europe faces an uncertain future in a range of areas from the economy to technology and security, does the EU leadership have the dynamism required to meet challenges head on?
Another feature of the new commission is the presence of a far right politician for the first time, Italy’s Raffaele Fitto. Meanwhile in flood-hit Austria, an imminent general election looks likely to return a far right-led government. As Europe’s politics evolves, is the EU capable of evolving with it?
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Jack Power is Europe Correspondent. Derek Scally is an Irish Times journalist based in Berlin.
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