For this episode of Budapest, I am joined by Sandro Gozi, Member of the European Parliament for Renew Europe, Secretary General of the European Democratic Party, and President of the Union of European Federalists — and one of the most convinced and articulate Europeanists I know.

We begin in Belgrade, where students have taken to the streets against Aleksandar Vučić's increasingly authoritarian rule. It shows how the line between liberal democracy and autocratic drift can be easily crossed when institutions are weakened and dissent is treated as a threat. And the reason why we cannot avert our gaze is that the European Union is not an exclusive club.

From Serbia, the conversation moves to France, where political fragmentation, rising extremism and institutional tensions are reshaping the country's future. But the challenge is not only internal. Russia's threat to European security is real. Donald Trump's return has exposed Europe's strategic vulnerabilities. And when democracies allow those who reject democratic rules to exploit democratic institutions, they risk nurturing their own enemies.

But democracy is not an eternal gift. It survives only if citizens are willing to defend it.

With reason, not rage.

In this episode:

• The Serbian student movement and the challenge to Vučić
• The Western Balkans, between European promises and autocratic drift
• Is Paris burning? Le Pen, Mélenchon and the fragmentation of the French Republic
• The boomerang effect: when democracy tolerates the intolerant
• Europe exposed: from Putin's threats to Trump's strategic blackmail
• Liaisons dangereuses: the unstable axis between Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni
• The rights connected to European citizenship
• The importance of digital sovereignty

Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

1:50 – Look at Belgrade

3:20 – Serbia and the Balkans can make the difference for the EU

6:00 – The right as a European citizen that you did not know you had

12:10 – The reasons behind the French instability

20:00 – We already know the outcome of the French elections

27:25 – The Russian threat to our security is a matter of fact

29:30 – The boomerang effect: tolerating the intolerant

36:30 – The EU Commission is not standing up to the Trump administration

40:00 – Money, sovereignty and the need for an EU digital strategy

42:45 – Emmanuel and Giorgia: les liaisons dangereuses

48:25 – Democracy is not an eternal gift

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua