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00:00Former Dutch intelligence chief Dick Schoof has been sworn in as prime minister of the
00:05Netherlands.
00:12Roughly seven tons of waste was removed from Hungary's Lake Tisza.
00:21Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr
00:26Zelensky in Kiev.
00:31Poland's Prime Minister and Germany's Chancellor have held talks in Warsaw for the first time
00:36in six years.
00:45Europe's Balkan countries have been battered by heavy midweek rains, thunderstorms, falling
00:51temperatures and even hail.
00:54At least two people have died in Montenegro, while egg-sized hailstones damaged infrastructure
00:59in Slovenia.
01:00Officials say almost 300 firefighters removed fallen trees and repaired roofs in Croatia's
01:07east.
01:08The
01:37storm wrecked beaches, ripped out trees and inundated streets across the region.
01:43Experts warn human-induced climate change has caused the wild weather swings, with the
01:49worst yet to come.
01:56Former Dutch intelligence chief Dick Schoof has been sworn in as prime minister at the
02:02head of a right-wing coalition government promising to implement the Netherlands' strictest
02:07ever asylum and immigration policy.
02:10The independent candidate is succeeding departing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is set to become
02:16the next secretary-general of NATO after 14 years in office at The Hague.
02:27It comes more than seven months after the veteran anti-Islam populist leader hurt Wilders'
02:33electoral victory in November.
02:36But after a series of negotiations, he was forced to give up on his own ambitions to
02:41be prime minister to keep the coalition talks on track.
02:46Some partners considered his anti-Islam and Euro-sceptic statements too extreme to lead
02:51the nation.
02:54So instead of having their own leaders stand for prime minister, the four coalition partners
02:59The Freedom Party, the Farmers' Party, the Liberal-Conservative BVD and the new anti-corruption
03:06party NSC agreed to compromise on Schoof.
03:15More than seven tonnes of plastic waste has been collected from Hungary's Lake Tisza as
03:21part of a historic clean-up competition.
03:24The teams, called Pet Pirates, sailed on the artificial lake's high seas with kayaks and
03:29makeshift boats to gather the waste.
03:32The more plastic they accumulated, the closer they inched to winning the Pet Cup.
03:48While the collected waste is sorted by colour and material, volunteers are always amazed
03:54by the kind of trash they find.
04:09The Pet Cup started in 2013 with the aim of ridding Hungary's most magnificent natural
04:14wonders of garbage.
04:16Pet Pirates will captain clean-up operations at the polluted Bodrog floodplain in August.
04:25The United Kingdom is heading into its first general election since it formally exited
04:31the European Union.
04:32But the two main candidates Jocelyn for Power, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have chosen to
04:38swerve the issue of Brexit on the campaign trail.
04:43So both main parties have tried to discuss Brexit as little as possible.
04:47The reason on the Conservative side is that Boris Johnson was elected promising to get
04:52Brexit done, but since then voters have been quite disappointed with what has been delivered.
04:57So Rishi Sunak doesn't want to draw attention to that on the campaign trail.
05:01And for Labour, Keir Starmer, of course, is trying to win back seats in the Red Wall,
05:05which voted for leave in 2016.
05:07Labour leader Keir Starmer, on the cusp of power, has said he will reinvigorate the EU-UK
05:13ties that have been strained since Brexit, but he has kept details vague and has ruled
05:18out joining the EU's single market or customs union or reinstating free movement.
05:23Brussels is unlikely to let the UK cherry-pick its way to a better deal.
05:27It seems to me that Labour has kind of painted itself into a corner a bit by continually
05:31saying here are three things that we're not going to do.
05:37They have limited their room for manoeuvre and they've limited their ability to negotiate
05:42a better deal with the EU.
05:44With war raging on Europe's doorstep, analysts also say a likely Labour-led UK government
05:49could seek closer EU collaboration on security and defence.
05:54The UK is a key NATO ally and already aligned with the bloc on support for Ukraine, but
05:59a more pro-European Labour government could seek to work even closer with Brussels.
06:04A lot of the EU's recent initiatives and projects in this area have been focused on bolstering
06:10defence industrial production, but many of those initiatives and projects don't include
06:15third countries.
06:16They're deliberately focused on EU member state industries, so it's going to be a difficult
06:21issue or a difficult thing to negotiate whether the UK can be part of them or whether the
06:25UK wants to be part of them.
06:27There are many high-stakes elections happening across the world this year that could tip
06:31the geopolitical balance.
06:33Donald Trump's potential return to the White House could leave Europe more alone in defending
06:38itself and propping up Ukraine.
06:41But it looks like Brussels will be able to count on a more pro-EU government here in
06:46London and one that will potentially want to work closer on defence and security.
06:52Marit Gwin for Euronews in London.
06:58The far-right continues to expand its power in the EU, with a new government in the Netherlands
07:03taking office on Tuesday.
07:06Furthermore, the far-right National Rally won the first round of French legislative
07:10elections on Sunday.
07:21On the one hand, it could be of course a question of hollowing out European policies from within.
07:27On the other hand, well, those far-right leaders might start to understand that they also need
07:34the European Union to be able to deliver a number of the promises that they have done
07:39to their national electorate, especially in terms of security and immigration.
07:49Hungary is the only member state with a far-right party with a majority in power.
07:53The far-right has entered coalition governments in Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, Czech
07:58and Croatia.
07:59France might be next.
08:02If the second round on July 7 confirms the victory of National Rally, the centrist President
08:07Emmanuel Macron could be more isolated.
08:12He would lose control over many internal policies and influence in the European Council.
08:20What is of course very clear is that French President Emmanuel Macron is strongly weakened
08:27by the current election results and that will probably not really be changing next Sunday.
08:35And so indeed he will be a weakened president around the European table and that can also
08:42have an impact on the German-French axis, which of course historically and still today
08:48is one of the main driving forces of European politics.
08:57A political dossier cannot be approved if four member states representing 35% of the
09:02EU population abstain or vote.
09:05Some of the areas that could be most impacted are the implementation of the Migration Pact,
09:09the new phase of the Green Deal and support for candidate countries for EU membership.
09:15There is a physical contact with our parliamentarians.
09:22In Northern Ireland, the leader of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party is under pressure
09:27to retain his seat in the UK general election.
09:3018 Westminster seats are up for grabs.
09:33The pro-British DUP currently have 8 seats while the pro-Irish Unity Party Sinn Féin
09:39have 7.
09:40In Unionist East Belfast, the Alliance Party believe they can unseat the leader of the
09:44DUP, Gavin Robinson.
09:47It's very close to call, but the feedback from our canvassers who are out on the ground
09:51is that it's looking good.
09:53The response is good.
09:54Naomi is a once-in-a-generation politician in our view.
09:58She's highly capable.
09:59She's represented in Europe, in Westminster before and as Justice Minister and I think
10:04people know if they put their vote in her that she'll deliver for them.
10:08The DUP say that despite all the speculation, they are confident of returning 8 MPs to London
10:14as is currently the case, including their party leader.
10:17Gavin Robinson has a proven track record in East Belfast.
10:22He has returned really strong votes every time he's gone before the electorate and I
10:26believe that he will do so again, but we don't take anything for granted.
10:30With rival Unionist parties likely to steal votes from the DUP, the loss of just one Westminster
10:36seat for the main Unionist party will be hugely symbolic, as pro-Irish Unity Party
10:41Sinn Féin continues to expand its support due to growing numbers of Irish Nationalist
10:46Catholics in Northern Ireland.
10:49Symbolism is very important in Northern Irish politics, in all of Irish politics.
10:53Often it's more significant than the reality of what has actually happened and the very
10:57significant narrative that there has been over the last number of years has been that
11:01Sinn Féin are on the rise and the Unionist parties are in decline and so if that continues
11:07in this election, it will reinforce the sense that Irish unity is potentially getting closer.
11:13If the pro-British Democratic Unionist party lose just one seat in this general election,
11:18that means they will in all likelihood return to Westminster and London with the same number
11:23of seats as Sinn Féin.
11:25Sinn Féin don't actually take their seats but do engage with officials in London.
11:30However, the fact that Unionist dominance in the House of Commons will be over as far
11:34as Northern Ireland is concerned will be hugely significant and will likely see further calls
11:39for a referendum on a united Ireland.
11:42The results will be known in the coming days.
11:45This is Ken Murray for Euronews in Belfast.