Latest news bulletin | July 26th – Morning
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00:00The European Parliament's oldest and youngest members tell us what matters to them and what
00:05they plan to fight for in the upcoming term.
00:11Thousands of people are facing water rationing in Romania.
00:23When it comes to the rule of law, Italy has made little progress and more needs to be
00:28done.
00:29The European Commission has expressed doubts on a number of issues, including the latest
00:39draft reform to introduce the direct election of the Prime Minister and whether it will
00:44indeed bring more political stability.
00:47There are also concerns about whether the role of the head of state could be weakened
00:51as a result of it.
00:52The European Commission's assessment also touches on the latest justice reform and whether
00:58the independence and the authority of judges could be affected as a result of this latest
01:04reform.
01:05Here is what a Brothers of Italy deputy, who's part of the ruling coalition, told us about
01:10the Commission's report.
01:42The annual rule of law report, which examines all member states, has highlighted ongoing
01:47problems with press freedom in Italy.
01:49The debate over political influence in the media sector has been growing.
01:53A few months ago, riot reporters went on strike to protest against the government's control
01:58over editorial content.
02:00The Secretary General of the Italian Journalist Union, FNSI, says it's sad to see that Italy
02:05has been put on the same level as countries that face even more serious issues.
02:35Italian opposition parties have blamed Maloney's government for Italy's decline in democratic
03:03standards, arguing that they have long disagreed with some of the reforms at the heart of the
03:08report.
03:14Fifty-three years and five months separate Leo Luca Orlando and Lene Schilling, the oldest
03:20and youngest members of the European Parliament.
03:23Both are part of the Greens' ALE group, where they arrive with very different political
03:28and personal trajectories.
03:31Orlando is 67 years old.
03:33He was the mayor of Palermo in southern Italy for 32 years, and was already an MEP from
03:382004 to 2009.
03:40Schilling is a 23-year-old climate activist who first entered politics after the Fridays
03:45for future demonstrations in her country, Austria.
03:50I stand here not just for myself or for the Green Party, I stand here for a whole generation
03:59that demonstrated and striked on the streets years ago and still is ongoing doing that.
04:29I want to protect the nature, I want to fight for climate justice, and I want to fight for
04:35the young people that wear on the streets all around the world.
04:39And then the second thing I want to say is like, now we have the rightest parliament
04:45ever, and I'm also fighting the far right.
05:07We need a strong commitment to force climate policies, to go on with these transformations
05:13in the industry, in the energy and also in the transportation, and all of this is needed.
05:43Lena Schilling will be part of the Parliament's Environmental Commission, while Leo Luca Orlando
05:55will be part of Foreign Affairs.
05:57Both are ready to fight for environmental sustainability and minority rights.
06:06In Portugal, young people up to 35 years old will be able to get a public guarantee to
06:12access 100% housing credit when buying their first home.
06:16This measure comes in addition to others designed by the government, such as the exemption of
06:21IMT and stamp duty.
06:23This guarantee can in fact help to solve some friction for some young people who are trying
06:29to access some houses up to €450,000, young people up to 35 years old, but it is not a
06:36measure that will solve by decree, it will not solve all the problems, not even the biggest
06:42problems that affect the younger generation to try to access housing.
06:50As the Governor of the Bank of Portugal warned, caution is needed in the implementation of
06:55these measures to avoid additional pressure on the market.
06:58From the end of 2022 to the beginning of 2023, we registered this increase in supply, which
07:04has been gradual, but is still far from reaching the levels of supply that we had in 2020 or
07:102021.
07:11So, this supply is increasing, but it is still insufficient to meet the demand that currently
07:18exists in the market.
07:20There are also measures on the supply side that could be considered.
07:24I would like to see more measures that can act on the supply side, namely measures that
07:28could facilitate, or make us understand what we can do to facilitate the licensee.
07:35We know very little about the waiting time that each person tries to have a licensee process
07:42, it takes time to get your license process to advance.
07:46We know very little about what are the reasons for these waiting lists to be very
07:53long, and everything that could be done to facilitate licensing, to facilitate the creation,
08:00the construction, could be very important.
08:03I would also like to see measures that, still in the scope of the supply, would help us
08:08to understand more about which houses are either private or, and especially from the State,
08:15which houses are available, or which housing is available, or which areas are available
08:20to be rehabilitated and transformed into housing, for example, for young university students.
08:27For now, the details of the regulation are unknown, but it must be published by September 11th.
08:37Russia's Kremlin has said it's open to negotiations with Ukraine to bring an end to its ongoing
08:43offensive, but says it needs clarification on Kiev's willingness to participate in talks.
08:50Russia is generally open to negotiations, but first we need to understand how ready
08:56Ukraine is, the Ukrainian side, and how much the Ukrainian side has permission to do so,
09:05from its curators.
09:07Because, as you can see, the statements are very different, and it's not quite clear yet.
09:15It comes as Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmitry Kaleba met with his Chinese counterpart for
09:21talks in Guangzhou this week, after which he said he was convinced that a just peace
09:26in Ukraine is in China's strategic interests.
09:29Kaleba also restated Ukraine's position that it is ready to engage with Russia, provided
09:35the Kremlin is willing to negotiate in good faith.
09:40Meanwhile, Russia's Ministry of Defence has released footage it says shows its artillery
09:45hitting Ukrainian army positions in the zone of so-called special military operation.
09:52It comes as Ukraine's air force claims it shot down 25 out of 38 Russian Shahed drones
09:59in one of the biggest overnight drone strikes launched by Russia.
10:10As you can see, we don't have water.
10:12It was promised to be given, with restrictions, between 6am and 9am.
10:20It didn't rain.
10:21How can it not rain now?
10:22A drop of water, look.
10:24The low levels of rainfall recorded in recent years amid a prolonged drought have led to
10:30water supply rationing.
10:32In Lassie County, for example, thousands of people receive water for only a few hours
10:37a day until the end of summer.
11:08Those who have wells can feel the water levels getting lower, making it difficult to draw
11:14even a bucket of clean water.
11:17Many people have turned to the local authorities who deliver water to them daily.
11:23With the cart, we work two hours, two and a half hours, until we fill it up.
11:31There is no water.
11:32We have no solution.
11:33We have absolutely nothing.
11:36Every drop counts due to the extremely high temperatures.