Don't Be Complacent

Tony Blair | Taking on nationalist populists and winning | Europe still lacks “sense of itself" | Andrew Stroehlein of Human Rights Watch | The far right and extreme right in the new European Parliament | Milkshaking MEPs

Tony Blair shares his two-pronged formula for taking on nationalist populists — and winning. He says Britain is making a "profound historical mistake” by capitulating to the Brexiteers. But he has a stern message for Europe too: do more to stand up for values, not just narrow national interests. The European Union still needs a “strong sense of itself,” Blair suggests. We begin the show with another warning against complacency. Andrew Stroehlein is European media director for Human Rights Watch, a group investigating and reporting abuses in all corners of the world. In May's elections to the European Parliament, some far-right and extremist parties failed to do as well as expected. But Stroehlein says Europeans must remain alert to the ways these parties are seeking to erode rights and freedoms across the bloc.

James Kanter is co-founder and editor EU Scream. For 12 years he was an EU Correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times based in Paris and Brussels.  

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