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00:00Leaders of Austria's FBÃ and ÃVP met with President Alexander Van der Bellen after coalition
00:07talks seemed to stall.
00:11The European Union will respond to the 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium imposed
00:16by U.S. President Donald Trump.
00:19U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance warned against what he called excessive regulation of AI
00:26at the AI Action Summit in Paris.
00:35Leaders of Austria's far-right FBÃ and conservative ÃVP met with President Alexander Van der
00:40Bellen on Tuesday after coalition talks seemed to stall.
00:45Critical voices from the ÃVP raised increasing doubts throughout the day about a successful
00:49conclusion of the talks.
00:52FBÃ's Herbert Kickl and ÃVP's Christian Stocker met at separate times with the President
00:57at his office in Vienna's Hofburg.
01:00Ahead of Tuesday's talks, Kickl still seemed positive.
01:21Points of conflict include the suspension of the right of asylum demanded by the FBÃ
01:33as well as Kickl's critical stance towards the European Union.
01:37Earlier, other parties that gained seats in the parliamentary election told the ÃVP it
01:42should end coalition talks with the FBÃ.
01:50The European Union will respond to the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imposed by
01:55U.S. President Donald Trump.
01:59The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has assured in a statement
02:03that unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered and will be met with firm and
02:08proportionate countermeasures.
02:12According to von der Leyen, the EU will act to defend its economic interests and protect
02:16its workers and businesses.
02:20Von der Leyen has not yet specified how the EU will defend itself against U.S. tariffs.
02:25However, her message has received support from a large number of MEPs, but not the Patriots
02:31for Europe, who believe the Green Deal is partly to blame.
02:34I want to protect our oil producers, tomato producers, our fishing sector, the onion
02:42and steel, aluminum and cars.
02:45And what the von der Leyen Commission has done is to leave our people helpless.
02:49This is what we want.
02:50What is the best measure?
02:52Let those who govern take it.
02:53But in any case, let's not take measures that harm our people.
02:58In 2018, Brussels responded to Trump's tariffs with similar measures on U.S. steel and aluminium,
03:04something that could be done again.
03:12U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance warned against what he called excessive regulation of AI
03:18at the AI Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday.
03:22Vance's address challenged Europe's regulatory approach to artificial intelligence and its
03:26moderation of content on big tech platforms, saying it would cripple the fast-growing industry.
03:34We invite your countries to work with us and to follow that model if it makes sense for
03:38your nations.
03:40However, the Trump administration is troubled by reports that some foreign governments are
03:46considering tightening the screws on U.S. tech companies with international footprints.
03:51Now, America cannot and will not accept that, and we think it's a terrible mistake, not
03:57just for the United States of America, but for your own countries.
04:00European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that Europe will mobilize
04:05200 billion euros for investment in artificial intelligence.
04:09She stressed that AI is a force for good as long as its benefits are widespread and
04:14accessible to all.
04:16The summit underscores a three-way race for AI supremacy, Europe striving to regulate
04:21and invest, China expanding access through state-backed tech giants and the U.S. under
04:26Trump prioritizing a hands-off approach.
04:35During the weekend's cut from the Russian power grid, electricity prices in the Baltic
04:40region have started to rise rapidly.
04:43This is due to low wind, no sun and the increase in gas prices.
04:50Over the weekend, Estonia switched off from the Russian grid and hooked up to the European
04:55system.
04:56Since then, the price of electricity in Estonia has started to climb.
05:04Experts say the price hike is mainly due to less wind, higher electricity consumption
05:09due to colder weather and a slight increase in gas price.
05:13However, there are also fewer connections than usual in the Baltic region.
05:20An underwater cable between Lithuania and Sweden was damaged by an anchor and put out
05:25of service.
05:26If it were operational, prices would be significantly cheaper.
05:34Female genital mutilation is a reality in Europe.
05:46600,000 girls and women, mainly from Africa and Asia, have been subjected to it.
05:53Worldwide, the figure is around 230 million.
05:57FGM refers to the partial or total removal of female external genitals for non-medical
06:03reasons.
06:04Different ways of preventing this form of gender-based violence were explored at a conference
06:09held in the European Parliament.
06:10It would be wrong to say FGM is made in Europe.
06:13FGM can happen anywhere.
06:16People can have it done in their countries before they move over.
06:19People can be imported back to their countries to go and get cut.
06:23Some families are importing even the older cutters from their country to come and get
06:28cut in Europe.
06:29It can happen anywhere.
06:32That's the bottom line.
06:33It's a very harmful practice.
06:34It can happen anywhere.
06:35It needs to be eradicated.
06:39But despite progress being made in breaking the taboo, there is still a long way to go.
06:45Superstitions and social pressure remain deeply rooted in some societies, and families who
06:51oppose this practice risk ostracization.
06:54I do think that we are starting to really wake up and to know that that's something
07:02about it is wrong.
07:04Maybe not everyone, not every girl knows what specifically is wrong about it, but a lot
07:10of them, if not all of them, don't want this practice to be done to them.
07:14Given the scale of the issue, this Italian MEP calls for raising awareness on this subject
07:19in Europe, especially among education and health care workers.
07:23We absolutely need to train health care workers, because in the emergency room, in the hospitals,
07:31in the daily care by specialists, it is necessary to recognize the signs of violence, to report
07:40it and allow the woman not to be alone, and therefore to better face her health security,
07:45but also her safety, tranquility and psychological serenity.
07:49Last year, the EU adopted a directive that requires Member States to include FGM as a
07:55specific criminal offence in their penal codes.
08:02Hundreds of migrants were rescued off the coast of the Canary Islands.
08:07Most of the 389 migrants were men, but there were also 46 women and 5 minors on board,
08:14according to local authorities.
08:17Five of the rescued boats were heading to Lanzarote, while two were heading to the island
08:21of El Hierro.
08:23More than 43,000 migrants arrived to the Canary Islands in 2024, a record-breaking figure.
08:30Last year, European politics took a turn to the right, particularly after EU elections
08:35in June.
08:37As such, many EU Member States have started to update their migration policies, just as
08:42migration also comes to the top of the European Council's agenda.
08:47In a letter to EU Member States, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
08:51proposed speeding up the return of asylum seekers and opening detention centres in third
08:56countries.
09:01With the deportation debate fuelling polarisation in Germany ahead of the snuff election in
09:06less than two weeks, both established political and populist parties are promising quicker
09:12deportations and stricter migration controls.
09:16Christian Democratic Union interior politician Christoph de Vries says the current EU deportation
09:22model is dysfunctional and says change is urgently needed.
09:30The deportations are not working in any EU Member State that is truly satisfactory.
09:37And that leads us in the CDU to the realization that we have to stop the illegal immigration
09:43to Germany, but above all to Europe as a whole.
09:46Because we see how difficult the deportations are.
09:50And once people have arrived, the legal and actual hurdles for deportation are so great
09:56that we will never be able to do it as satisfactorily as it would be necessary and desirable.
10:03According to figures from the German Interior Ministry, 60% of deportations fail in Germany
10:09every year.
10:10The German Police Union say there aren't enough detention spaces to carry out deportations
10:15properly.
10:16We have to work in a European way.
10:18That means we have to get all countries in the European Union on the same page so that
10:23we ultimately have the same procedure, the same conditions for all people who apply for
10:29asylum and ultimately protection.
10:31We need a clear distribution key for everyone and we have to protect our European external
10:36borders much better.
10:37Here we need front-ex, which have to be heavily stocked, which protect the European external
10:42borders with the respective countries in order to ultimately not endanger the freedom of
10:47travel within Europe.
10:48Legal expert Daniel Theim says the system doesn't work because of poor inter-agency
10:53cooperation and high levels of cases.
11:18Live Stroud, in Berlin, for Euronews.