Talking tough or tough talks

Politically, it was a brutal end to this year's summer vacation, the G7 summit in Biarritz. Meanwhile, Belgium remains without a government. A private company launched a sort of a giant blind date to discuss the political divides. All this and more in State of the Union.

This week we look at how the new Commission President hopes to get gender balance among the nominees for her Commissioners. And we look at how people remembered Boris Johnson's time as a correspondent in the Belgian capital.

Making Her-story - the election of Ursula von der Leyen marks history with the first female head of the European Commission

Von der Leyen finished her meetings with political groups in Brussels, but it's unclear if she will win the absolute majority of votes in Strasbourg. In other news, Angela Merkel decided to change protocol to prevent her from shaking. All this and more in the State of the Union.

The week was marked by controversies of behind-closed door deals and democratic deficits as EU leaders chose the next nominees to lead the continent into the next five years. It was also the first week new MEPs took up their seats and a fair few rhetorical fireworks ensued.

This week in State of the Union: another NGO boat in a Mediterranean standoff with Italy saw the EU Commission calling for migrants to be disembarked. A corruption report saw Hungary in the spotlight for refusing its publication, and we looked at how Brexit is affecting expats in Brussels.

This week we take a look at where Europe stands on climate and migration. After the EU elections returned a big result for anti-migrant parties, we see how far the EU has come on managing migration. The Greens also won big, but we are yet to see the impact on policy at this week's summit.

Before the European elections there was a lot of talk about a nationalist wave – well, that didn't quite materialize, but the far-right parties see themselves as a force to be reckoned with. This week they gave birth to a new parliamentary group.

This week the left-wing had a good week as the Social Democats swept the polls in Denmark, new MEPs continue to arrive in Brussels, we me a doctor who treated migrants arriving in Lampedusa and we also look ahead to next week.

Europe has spoken and the centre is shrinking, while far-right, liberals and Greens have gained. We look at what's next for the EU.

The elections are upon us - and the motto of the Parliament's campaign is 'this time I'm voting' - they have the support of celebrities to get the vote out, but we look at voter turnout on a downward spiral and how Brexit will affect the new hemicycle.

In this edition we speak to the European Left's co-candidate for the EU top job Violeta Tomic on what she wants to see happen in Europe, the week also saw major trade union demos and allegations of the misuse of EU funds in Hungary.

In this edition of State of the Union we look at how the week was dominated by climate controversies, travelled to a German town where an AfD politician is campaigning to save diesel and spoke to former EU Council president advisor Luuk Van Midelaar about the future of Europe.

In this edition we see how Europe was united in emotion over Notre Dame and in love as we meet EU couples in Verona.

Two major news stories in Brussels this week, not related, but it might seem like Brexit is becoming an inescapable political void, and many want it to disappear over the event horizon. Instead the special EU summit moved the leave date to October 31st.

From the far-right to the center - politicians are setting out their grand plans and grand rhetoric for the European Union ahead of May's elections. This week we spoke to Marine Le Pen who said to save Europe we must destroy it, while centre-right German MEP Manfred Weber has other ideas.

In the member states, polls suggest that many more people consider the vote important than did five years ago.And people care about the issues. What are the issues? Well, that depends on the country.