France’s governance is at stake as it holds snap elections for its National Assembly, with the far-right National Rally looking to build on its success in the European Parliament elections; the United Kingdom (UK) has its own snap general elections with Keir Starmer and his Labour Party looking to end the fourteen-year rule of the Conservatives; Iran’s snap presidential elections could signal unity of regime hard-liners or glimmers of change; the European Union (EU) plans to impose provisional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles; and Ukraine strikes more than thirty Russian oil refineries.  

Mentioned on the Podcast

Amanda Chu, Kenza Bryan, and Lukanyo Mnyanda, “Global Glut Turns Solar Panels into Garden Fencing Option,” Financial Times

Ian Johnston, “French Voters Juggle Democratic Duty and Summer Getaways,” Financial Times

David Lammy, “The Case for Progressive Realism,” Foreign Affairs

Matthias Matthijs, “Pivotal Elections for France—and Europe,” CFR.org

Ray Takeyh, “Does Iran’s Presidential Election Matter?,” CFR.org

Sergey Vakulenko; Michael Liebreich, Lauri Myllyvirta, and Sam Winter-Levy, “Should Ukraine Keep Attacking Russian Oil Refineries?,” Foreign Affairs

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/france-iran-and-uk-hold-snap-elections-eu-pushback-chinese-evs-and-more