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00:00Brussels has sent Budapest questions about whether a new visa scheme could welcome spies
00:07into the Schengen zone.
00:11Prime Minister Giorgio Maloney has described an EU infringement procedure against Italy
00:16as surreal.
00:21French authorities say street crime is down for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
00:31The European Commission is concerned Russian and Belarusian spies could infiltrate the
00:39Schengen zone through new visas handed out by Hungary.
00:43EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ilve Johansson wrote to Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor
00:49Pinter asking for clarification on how the new national card scheme will not be used
00:54to circumvent EU restrictions.
00:57According to the Hungarian government, the two-year visa can be given out to foreign
01:01workers, now including Belarusian and Russian nationals.
01:05An expert told Euronews 500 Russian intelligence agents have been expelled from the EU since
01:11the war in Ukraine began in 2022 and Russia could need to replace them.
01:27We need to leave it to other forms of surveillance.
01:31We need to do it in a different way.
01:34We need to do it in a different way.
01:37We need to do it in a different way.
01:40We need to do it in a different way.
01:43Johansson said she sent Budapest questions about the program and if she does not get
01:48answers by August 19, Brussels will respond with consequences.
01:58Italy's Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni has described the motivations behind the EU's
02:04infringement procedure against Italy as, quote, surreal.
02:08Last Thursday, the European Commission announced it is taking legal action against Italy, accusing
02:13the country of discriminating against EU migrants who are not eligible for family benefits.
02:18Under the law passed in 2022, workers who have not lived in Italy for at least two years
02:23or whose children did not reside in the country could not benefit from the measure.
02:28It goes beyond the EU's specific competences.
02:33Each country has to account for the resources available.
02:37We are among the first three most indebted countries, in the sense that the debt ratio
02:42is the worst in the EU, and we have to deal with that.
02:47We cannot compare France and Germany to other large founding countries that have
02:52the same debt and spending capacity as ours.
02:58The current government has increased resources by 3 billion euros to sustain the family benefit system.
03:06Prime Minister Meloni has said Italy could not afford to do any more.
03:13The measurement is at the heart of the government's efforts to boost Italy's falling birth rate.
03:19And the case has now been referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
03:28The Commission said that one of the fundamental principles of the EU is that people are treated
03:33equally without any distinction of nationality.
03:36The case could trigger a heated debate between Rome and the European Commission,
03:40shortly after Meloni's complaint about the rule of law report's remarks on media freedom in Italy.
03:47Giorgio Arlandi for Euronews in Rome.
03:53After a rough start, French authorities say crime rates and security threats have been slashed
03:59since the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris kicked off last week.
04:04The competition's early days were marred in chaos as the country's major high-speed railway network
04:10shut down and global online services crashed.
04:16We have 180 security guards.
04:18We have less than 24% of violent thefts in Paris and in the Petite Couronne, the Parisian suburbs.
04:24Less than 10% of vehicle thefts.
04:27And the total number of items of the crime has largely decreased
04:31probably due to the hyper-presence of the police and the police station on the public road.
04:37The Interior Minister said police are not aware of any French organised crime plots
04:43but had been pre-emptively apprehending individuals believed to be lone actors.
04:48The Olympics will end on August 11.