​W​hy are European leaders staying silent after our summer of climate shock?

Lethal temperatures ​and wildfires have exposed a widening gulf between voters demanding ​action and politicians unwilling to confront the long-term choices global heating requires

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The climate crisis means “we’re going to have to change everything – the way we live, the way we produce, the way we trade,” France’s veteran radical-left firebrand, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, https://www.boursorama.com/actualite-economique/actualites/presidentielle-melenchon-colore-sa-rentree-en-vert-en-proposant-la-conscription-ecologique-6990bf5daa0a5200c3d3322c0ac0c857">told the summer congress of his France Insoumise party last weekend.

The term “climate change”, said Mélenchon – the most likely rival to Marine Le Pen in next year’s presidential run-off, https://www.reuters.com/world/french-far-left-leader-melenchon-seen-reaching-presidential-runoff-poll-shows-2026-08-24/">according to one poll this week – may sound “almost reassuring”, but its actual impact will feel like “landing on another planet whenever we leave home”.