A would-be assassin’s bullet didn’t have to kill Donald Trump to fundamentally change the course of the 2024 presidential election in the United States. The incident itself is just the most recent and highest profile example of an apparent increased willingness to resort to political violence. The European Union already felt that in the weeks before its parliamentary elections, as several candidates were the victims of verbal or physical assault. Let’s not forget Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, who survived five bullets earlier this year.

So there is talk all around about “lowering the temperature.” Surely that is on the mind of the European Commission, as it looks for ways to sideline the Viktor Orbán show as Hungary presides over the EU Council. Of course, the Commission’s leader, Ursula von der Leyen, has to survive a parliamentary vote first. She’ll probably get the votes, but how many and from whom is the big question.

To try to answer that and other dicey dilemmas, Euroscopic brings on EUO managing editor Elena Sanchez as well as European insider and fellow substacker, Augustin Bourleaud.

Listen in and stay tuned as we further develop this venture with our partner, EUobserver. We welcome your feedback, so be in touch! You can subscribe hereand get us where your ears go for podcasts:

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Among other things, Martin Gak writes Inconclusive Thoughts; and William Glucroft writes The ‘Schland. We’d love to see you over there, too!

As a tiny operation, we do our best to spellcheck, factcheck, and contextualize all the information presented in the podcast. But pobody’s nerfect. If you hear something that doesn’t sound right — write! We welcome your feedback.