This week we are joined by Laura Shields, from Red Thread EU, Kait Bolongaro, from MLex Europe, and Andrea Renda, from CEPS, the Centre for European Policy Studies. The elections for the European Parliament – now fewer than 100 days away – were our main topic of discussion as campaigning started in earnest with both the Socialist and Democrats (S&D) and the European People’s Party (EPP) holding their congresses over the previous week. With the extremes expected to do well, our panel of experts debated whether the rise of far-right, illiberal voices threatens the principles and values on which …