Latest news bulletin | March 13th – Morning
Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
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Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/13/latest-news-bulletin-march-13th-morning
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:00Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk proposed that Turkey take an active role in initiating peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
00:11At a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Erdogan, Tusk said both Turkey and Poland have wanted peace since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
00:23In the case of Ukraine and Russia, Poland's position has been obvious and known since the first days of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
00:36Similarly to Turkey, Poland wants as soon as possible a break and peace.
00:43Erdogan emphasized that membership of the European Union is a strategic goal of Turkey,
00:49saying if the European Union wants to prevent and even reverse a loss of power and altitude, it can only do so with Turkey's full membership.
01:02Reserve peacekeeping soldiers arrived in Bosnia as NATO reaffirmed its commitment to preserving peace amid tensions created by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.
01:14Military personnel from Italy and the Czech Republic touched down at Sarajevo airport, where they were greeted by commanders from the European Union force in Bosnia, known as EUFOR.
01:28Over the coming days, they will be supplemented by troops from Romania, as well as helicopters and other military supplies.
01:37NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte pledged the military alliance's unwavering support for Bosnia's territorial integrity.
01:46His comments come after a series of Bosnian Serb separatist moves which raised tensions nearly 30 years after the end of a bloody civil war.
01:57Romania's Constitutional Court unanimously voted to uphold a decision rejecting ultra-nationalist Kalin Ceaușescu's candidacy in upcoming presidential elections, sparking a fresh round of protests by his supporters.
02:17This decision is final and cannot be overturned according to Romanian law, which left his political allies scrambling to find a suitable replacement in time, especially since raising the required number of signatures to register a new candidate might prove to be a challenge.
02:37Last weekend, Romania's Central Electoral Committee suspended Ceaușescu's application, stating his actions and statements contravened the values of the presidential office.
02:49Dubbed the TikTok Messiah, Ceaușescu came out on top in the first round of Romania's presidential elections last year.
02:57However, the country's Constitutional Court annulled the vote following the declassification of intelligence reports showing Russian involvement in influencing voters through social media to support the then relatively unknown candidate.
03:12Ceaușescu is also facing criminal proceedings including anti-constitutional acts and misreporting his campaign finances.
03:19The Kremlin said on Wednesday it was awaiting details from Washington about a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.
03:31Moscow has repeatedly rejected freezing hostilities along the current front line, believing it has the upper hand on the battlefield.
03:42I can't see them accepting anything that doesn't legitimize their land grab and ethnic cleansing in Ukraine. That's what they will set out to get from these negotiations.
03:52They've made it clear it's not, as they often say for external consumption, about NATO expansion. It's about destroying the Ukrainian people and destroying the Ukrainian state.
04:01That is still the objective. And the fear is that if you simply freeze this conflict, that you just freeze the injustice, you freeze the occupation, you freeze the displacement.
04:13Putin himself has repeatedly rejected the possibility of a temporary ceasefire, saying that he was focused on addressing what he calls the quote root causes of the conflict.
04:23One thing I think that's interesting and perhaps worth emphasizing is how shaky Putin's commitments are to some of his objectives.
04:30Look back to 2023 with the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin. Look how far they advanced in one day, 800 kilometers in one day and nobody came out to support Putin.
04:42There weren't all these banners saying we support Putin, stop this Yevgeny. People were looking for selfies with Yevgeny Prigozhin in Rostov-on-Don.
04:48So the regime in that respect is quite fragile. And this is the pity that Trump isn't applying pressure on Putin because he has so much potential to apply pressure.
05:00And power in Russia is much more important to Putin than victory in Ukraine.
05:06Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday Ukraine has shown it is willing to adopt a ceasefire. Now, he says, Russia needs to respond.
05:18This building in the heart of Brussels is at the center of intense political discussions within the European Union.
05:32Euroclear is believed to hold 258 billion euros in frozen Russian assets.
05:39The 27 are divided over whether this money should be confiscated to support Ukraine.
05:46This divide is reflected in the European Parliament which debated the issue on Wednesday.
05:54Some member countries, such as France and Belgium, believe that seizing these assets would be illegal and are urging caution.
06:03This is the reason why the different governments which are particularly involved together with the European Central Bank and other EU institutions are working to verify what are the legal and financial possibilities.
06:18It's clear that if there were no risk on the market and no risk from the legal certainty to confiscate the Russian funds, we would push to confiscate them immediately.
06:29For the time being, the EU has already seized the interest on these assets, valued at 3 billion euros per year.
06:38Others point out that confiscating Russian assets could also threaten the confidence of foreign investors in the single currency.
06:47The Baltic states, Poland and other countries close to the Russian border that wish the money to be seized reject this argument.
06:56Any decision needs to be anchored in international law. So as long as international law is abided in the confiscation, it is possible to do it.
07:06It's a separate thing. Euro stability and the Euro market is very reliable for anyone to invest into.
07:15The capitals that are defending prudence believe that these Russian funds could also enable the Union to invite itself to the table of any peace negotiations.
07:25What's more, these assets could be used as a bargaining chip.
07:34Prime Minister Luis Montenegro lost a confidence vote in the Parliament, resulting in the collapse of Portugal's government.
07:42Portuguese President Marcelo Ravello da Sousa can now either dissolve the Parliament and call for new elections, or appoint another Prime Minister and try a new government in the same parliamentary framework.
07:55One of them is to have a new government with the same or another Prime Minister appointed by the political party that has been the party of parliamentary support, or both parties.
08:05Or a government with more parliamentary support from another party. But it doesn't seem to be very possible. And the only solution is really to have anticipated legislative elections.
08:14After holding talks with the parties that make up the Parliament, the Portuguese President will formally disband the current legislative body and will announce new elections.
08:23Montenegro has denied any wrongdoing and said he will try to regain his post by running again in the upcoming snap elections.
08:31However, opposition parties are demanding a more detailed explanation from him about his actions.
08:37The Socialist Party is also calling for a parliamentary inquiry, which could lead to a prolonged investigation.
08:52It's been a week after week, from 30% to 44% or 43%. There's still a long way to go. And I think it's difficult to have time to change.
09:05Recent polls also don't point in that direction. The collapse of the government fell by about two percentage points in the vote intentions.
09:14But it's the Chega who has the biggest loss, going down from 17% to 13%. The PS stays in the house of 28%.
09:22Joana Marão Carvalho for Euronews in Lisbon.
09:53On the return hubs, we are creating the scope for member states in a way to explore new solutions for returning.
10:04Of course, only for people who have no right to stay in the European Union, we are creating the legal frame, we are not creating the content.
10:12In 2024, 20% of the persons who were ordered to leave the EU were sent back to their country of origin.
10:20This Austrian MEP welcomes a proposal that would speed up returns.
10:25Places outside the European Union, in third countries, which do respect, of course, human rights and all the, I would say, values of civilization Europe wants to see respected,
10:37can be good places and proper places for those who should return for a specific time, period of time, and this is what the Commission proposal addresses.
10:47NGOs are sounding the alarm. They denounce a punitive approach which opens the door to human rights violations and reinforces the link between immigration and crime.
11:02According to one Italian MEP, another point of contention is that people in an irregular situation could be deported to countries with which they have no connection.
11:11We are talking about countries that should respect human rights, but there is no specific requirement, so, for example, these countries are not required to be signatories, for example, of the Geneva Conventions.