Latest news bulletin | July 25th – Morning
Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The EU's rule of law report singles out Hungary, Slovakia and Italy for their democratic backsliding.
00:11New UN report shows the world is falling significantly short of achieving zero hunger by 2030.
00:21Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the US Congress that America and
00:26Israel must stand together.
00:29Italy, Slovakia and Hungary have all been strongly criticised by the European Commission
00:36in its annual rule of law report, which raises concerns over media freedom, the independence
00:41of judiciaries and corruption.
00:43The Commission noted that Italy has made no progress on introducing safeguards over the
00:48use of defamation and on protecting journalists' anonymity in specific circumstances.
00:54Last year, journalist Robert Saviano was fined 1,000 euros after he insulted Prime Minister
00:59Giorgio Meloni's attitude towards migrants on TV.
01:05We express concerns related to the independence and funding of public service media and we
01:11ask authorities to address the situation.
01:14We have been expressing the need for safeguards for years now, but with new incidents reported
01:21by stakeholders and budget cuts, this is becoming very urgent.
01:26Hungary, the most prolific abuser of the EU's democratic values, was criticised for making
01:32no progress in improving the rule of law, whether by fighting high-level corruption
01:37or by ensuring the media is independent.
01:40The country is already under an Article 7 procedure from the Treaty of the European
01:44Union, which can lead to the suspension of its right to vote on EU decisions.
01:51We try to be fair in the way to analyse the situation, but I will say Hungary is a real
01:58systemic issue for the Commission about the rule of law.
02:02The report also raises concerns about Slovakia and Greece, where it warns that rulings by
02:07the European Court of Human Rights are increasingly not being implemented.
02:12The independence of the media is diminishing in many member states, and according to media
02:16NGOs, it's time for the EU Commission to act.
02:20We are in favour of infractions against countries that do not respect freedom of the press.
02:26It's time for Europe to punish those who defame freedom of the press, and so we hope that
02:31on the basis of the new European Regulation on the Freedom of the Media, which will be
02:36in force between November 2024 and August 2025, on the basis of this Regulation, it will be
02:41possible to initiate infractions against Italy, against Slovakia, against Greece,
02:48and we will be there to help the Commission to document these infractions.
02:56But the report is not all bad. It says that on the whole, member states are much better
03:00prepared to detect and prevent democratic backsliding. And for those that have slid
03:05backwards, it offers tailored recommendations on what to do to fix it.
03:11Ursula von der Leyen may find it more challenging to put together her team of commissioners
03:16the second time around. After the far-right and the right made big gains in the European
03:21elections, both Italy and the Czech Republic are now insisting that their commissioners
03:25are given big portfolios. Whilst each member state gets a commissioner, it's up to von
03:30der Leyen which portfolio they receive.
03:33The puzzle of putting her commission together will be a bit more complicated.
03:39It will be a difficult one this time because the commissioners that she will receive from
03:46member states will be much more diverse in political views than it has been in the past.
03:53More Eurosceptics being part of that portfolio.
03:59The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Maloney, wants an economic vice-presidency. And the
04:04Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, said he, quote, wants a strong portfolio, preferably
04:09the economic one. Hungary's far-right Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, hasn't announced
04:14whether he wants Olivia Farfei to continue as the Neighbourhood and Enlargement Commissioner
04:19or whether he wants to nominate someone else.
04:22However, pressure won't come from the far-right coalition in the Netherlands. It wants Commissioner
04:27for Climate Action, Vupka Hoekstra, who was the previous choice of the previous Liberal
04:32Prime Minister, to stay on.
04:34As in 2019, Ursula von der Leyen has asked all countries to request both male and female
04:39candidates to ensure there's a gender balance.
04:43But all candidates will have to go through hearings in the European Parliament to evaluate
04:48their skills. And this could be a challenge, says one analyst.
04:51So where the European Parliament invites all the commissioner candidates in the respective
04:56committees and asks them lots of questions to test whether they're fit for the job. And
05:00then in the very end, the whole of the college is again voted, there's again an approval
05:05vote by the European Parliament. And that takes time, because the parliament also, he
05:08is always flexing his muscles a little bit and turning down one or even several commissioners.
05:15Ten of the 27 member states have already put forward their candidates. Greece, meanwhile,
05:20is keen to be given the latest post to be created, a commissioner for the Mediterranean.
05:30Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is ready to press forward with
05:35Israel's war against Hamas until he achieves total victory.
05:40Addressing the U.S. Congress in Washington, Netanyahu called on America to stand together
05:46with Israel.
05:48For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must stand together.
05:57Because when we stand together, something very simple happens. We win, they lose.
06:06More than 50 democratic lawmakers boycotted Netanyahu's speech and thousands of protesters
06:13gathered near the capital to condemn Israel's war in Gaza and denounce the Israeli prime
06:18minister as a war criminal. Capital police deployed pepper spray on those attempting
06:24to cross the police line and arrests have been made. Police also clashed with demonstrators
06:30who were seeking to block the prime minister's route to Congress, with some being forcibly
06:35removed.
06:40With around four months to go before the U.S. elects a new president for four years, the
06:44German government has already been preparing for the prospect of a second Donald Trump
06:49government. But how could Trump's return to the White House affect Europe's biggest economy
06:53and the EU?
06:55Philipp Madonek from the German Council on Foreign Relations warns that security policy,
06:59economic policy and foreign policy are set to change.
07:19The U.S. will continue to influence China's policy. Trump has shown in the first term
07:27and now again that security policy is no longer as natural as it was for Europe, but also
07:33for Germany as a very close ally of the U.S.
07:39Regional Director of the German Marshall Fund, Sutta David-Wilp, says Germany and the EU
07:43are preparing for the scenario that the U.S. would decrease its presence in Europe and
07:47instead turn its attention to the Indo-Pacific.
07:51Most people in Berlin reckon that Ukraine is going to be the responsibility for Europe
07:57moving forward.
08:01Most people in Berlin reckon that Ukraine is going to be the responsibility for Europe
08:07moving forward when it comes to both defence and reconstruction. Obviously it's important
08:12that the United States still plays a role, but most Europeans are betting that either
08:17administration is going to expect Europe to take the lead on Ukraine.
08:26Whilst the German government has been preparing well behind the scene for a potential second
08:30Trump term, his unpredictability is still of concern. Trump is known for making quick,
08:36rash decisions and deals his way that could potentially change the course of history not
08:41just for Ukraine and China, but also the Middle East.
08:45Liv Stroud, in Berlin, for Euronews.
08:52Doctors in Portugal have gone on a two-day strike to demand for better pay and working
08:57conditions. The strike affects surgeries and consultations which were cancelled in
09:02various regions of the country, including the capital, Lisbon. Adherence has been locked
09:07at around 70% since it began on Tuesday.
09:18Among the demands made by the National Federation of Doctors are the reinstatement of the normal
09:24working week of 35 hours, the updating of the salary scale and the integration of internal
09:29doctors into the entry-level category of the medical career.
09:44Medical practitioners in Portugal are among the lowest paid in the European Union.
09:54The SNS needs doctors and doctors need better working conditions, namely salary increases
09:59that have to be discussed in their basic salary and not in these award models.
10:07Negotiations between the doctors' unions and the country's health ministry have so far
10:12yielded no real agreement.
10:16The world is falling significantly short of achieving zero hunger by 2030. According to
10:23a new report on food security published by the United Nations, around 733 million people
10:30faced hunger last year. The new report shows that the world has been set back 15 years
10:37with levels of undernourishment comparable to those between 2008 and 2009.
10:46The numbers have not changed from the previous years basically, which were already years
10:51where we have seen already the increase because of COVID-19. So what we are reporting this
10:56year is that we have between 713 million and 757 million people which are chronically undernourished,
11:02people facing hunger. This is one out of 11 people in the world are facing hunger.
11:07The regional trends vary significantly in the report. While hunger continues to rise
11:12in Africa, it remains stable in Asia.
11:15South America has very developed social protection programs that allow them to target interventions
11:21so they can effectively move out of hunger in a very fast way because it's efficient.
11:27In the case of Africa, we have not observed that. We have observed that they still don't
11:32have the institutionality to deliver a good targeted social protection program.
11:36Experts believe food insecurity and malnutrition are worsening due to persisting food price
11:43inflation, conflict and climate change.