Inside the European Parliament: Interviews with Belgian MEPs

You might be aware that the European Parliament is the sole directly elected institution within the EU and serves as a co‑legislator alongside the EU Council. Yet, what does a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) actually do? We sit down with three Belgian MEPs representing different political philosophies to uncover the work they do on the European stage.

Our first conversation is with Benoît Cassart, an MEP for the centrist Renew Europe bloc and a farmer by trade. He shares his pioneering ideas for cutting carbon emissions from livestock farming and discusses pressing challenges facing Belgian and European agriculture, including the implications of the Mercosur free‑trade agreement.

Next we speak to Assita Kanko, an MEP from the European Conservatives and Reformists. Her party holds a hard‑line stance on migration. We meet her at Brussels’ Migration Museum in the diverse Molenbeek neighbourhood, where the museum collaborates with local police forces to address migration concerns.

Finally, Estelle Ceulemans, an MEP with the Socialists and Democrats, explains her efforts to keep social issues front and centre in the EU Parliament, especially amid a growing perceived threat from right‑wing and far‑right forces.

The programme also tackles the rising challenge of fake news targeting the European Parliament. FRANCE 24’s Renaud Lefort examines fabricated footage of farmer protests with Grégoire Ryckmans, a fact‑checking specialist at Belgian broadcaster RTBF, and scrutinises a Russian destabilisation campaign that falsely claimed the EU had abandoned Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

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