Talking Europe hosts Pascal Lamy, co-ordinator of the Jacques Delors institutes, and a distinguished former head of the World Trade Organization and former EU Trade Commissioner. We discuss great power competition in today's world; the EU’s influence when it comes to global trade and regulation; the critical importance of Africa to Europe; and climate adaptation in the light of Lamy’s role as a member of the Climate Overshoot Commission.

Threats, tricks and promises — Russia's Defense Ministry has many carrots and sticks when it comes to getting Central Asian migrants to join the military. One of those ways is giving them a path to Russian citizenship.

The recent announcement of a US-backed rail and shipping project linking India with the Middle East and Europe is seen as a challenge to Beijing's "Belt and Road Initiative."

Beijing has called a European Commission probe into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies, a "naked protectionist act."

Enlargement of the European Union was one of the priorities outlined by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union speech on September 13th, and it is likely to become an ever more pressing issue over the next few years. After the speech, Talking Europe sat down with the EU Commissioner in charge of neighbourhood and enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi. He is a distinguished Hungarian diplomat and lawyer. He served as Hungary's ambassador to the EU, and has held prominent positions at the Hungarian ministry of justice and ministry of foreign affairs.

The Pope is heading to Marseille in southern France. He's expected to deliver harsh comments on the living conditions of migrants.

Around 10% of the victims of the recent devastating floods in Libya were from other countries. Some were working there, others likely trying to leave for Europe. But all will be very difficult for their families to find.

Pope Francis heads Friday (September 22) to Marseille for a two-day visit focused on the Mediterranean and migration, and bringing a message of tolerance amid bitter debate over how Europe manages asylum seekers.

European governments have a duty to rescue asylum seekers who cross the sea to escape conflict, Pope Francis said in Marseille. He called it "a duty of humanity" to save people in difficulty.

The UN chief has called it an epidemic of coups. In Africa, since 2020, military officers have seized power, or attempted to do so, in numerous sub-Saharan countries. Just in the last two and a half months, soldiers in Gabon announced a takeover of power, while in Niger, members of the presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum and announced that they were seizing power.

During a speech in France, the Catholic leader urged a humane pan-European response to migration. French President Emmanuel Macron attended the address as his government deliberates a harsher response to asylum-seekers.

Philippines and Chinese vessels face off in the South China Sea, marking the latest in a series of confrontations over competing territorial claims in the important maritime passageway.