Elections in France and Greece have - to varying degrees - tested the European Union's masterplan to cut its way out of the continent's debt crisis. Socialist candidate François Hollande saw off Nicolas Sarkozy, while Athens has no government in place after a Greek election held amid anti-politics protests.
Voters who once supported governments as they racked up borrowing are now rejecting politicians who stress the need to cut back state spending to reduce debt.
So what happens next? To discuss this, we have in the studio Guardian columnists Martin Kettle and Aditya Chakrabortty and the New Statesman's Rafael Behr. On the line from Paris is our correspondent Angelique Chrisafis.
Back in Britain, David Cameron and Nick Clegg had some rebuilding to do after their parties took a mid-term drubbing at the local elections last week. They restated their commitment to the coalition at a tractor factory in Essex before the Queen's speech, which set out their programme of government.
With tensions becoming ever-more evident within the governing parties, critics are urging the prime minister to reshuffle his cabinet and find a sense of direction as well as bringing back economic prosperity.
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