The world this week | The Economist

This week’s covers

How we saw the world

WE HAD TWO covers this week. In most of the world we featured our interview with Emmanuel Macron, France’s president. In Asia we looked at the science behind the threat from disinformation.

Our interview with Mr Macron took place in the opulent salon doré, which looks out from the first floor onto the expansive gardens of the Elysée Palace. It was a beautiful spring day and I was joined by our Paris bureau chief, Sophie Pedder. Through a half-open French window onto the balcony, you could hear birdsong. The jollity made Mr Macron’s apocalyptic warning about Europe’s future all the more shocking.

His worry is not just for the European Union, or even the defence of European territory. It is about the durability of a set of rules and values, underpinned by economic wealth and physical security, which bind all Europeans. European civilisation, he told us, is in mortal danger.

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