The economic impact of war and new sources of investment for defence were at the heart of the EU summit this week in Brussels.
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00:00 Welcome to the State of the Union from Brussels.
00:09 The costs of war, a war economy, the economic impact of war.
00:15 In addition to the impact of human suffering, which can never be counted, war is in fact
00:20 also a question of financial capacity.
00:23 Since the Russian invasion two years ago, the EU and its member states have supported
00:28 Ukraine with almost 88 billion euros, according to figures from last January.
00:34 But the European Union has also decided to invest more in its own defence capacity.
00:40 Some propose issuing common debt, others advocate using windfall profits from immobilised Russian
00:47 assets.
00:48 The Leaders' Summit in Brussels this week revolved a lot about how to get the necessary
00:54 resources.
00:55 "There's a strong support to use at the moment being the windfall profits or proceeds of
01:03 the immobilised assets for military purposes for Ukraine.
01:08 And I told the leaders that if we are swift now in concluding the proposal, we could disperse
01:17 the first billion on the 1st of July already."
01:21 Support for the far right is likely to rise in the next European Parliament, but pro-European
01:26 parties will still hold 63% of the seats, according to a poll carried out by Ipsos for
01:33 Euronews.
01:34 The exclusive survey was revealed this week during Euronews On Air special live event
01:41 that launched the channel's in-depth coverage of the campaign for the European elections.
01:46 Nearly 26,000 people in countries representing 96% of the EU population shared their intentions
01:54 for the vote that will elect 720 representatives for the European Parliament in June.
02:01 The ability to form coalitions to pass more controversial legislation could be the biggest
02:07 test for the centre's traditional forces.
02:10 "We tried to see what would happen if the EPP, the EU group and the ECR group tried
02:20 to form a coalition and actually they don't have a coalition.
02:24 It only makes for 46% of the MEPs, so it would be not enough to have a strong and stable
02:32 coalition and it's exactly the same if we try to have a right-wing coalition formed
02:38 by the EPP, the ECR and the ID group, they would have just 45% of the MEPs."
02:45 For the third year, the European Humanitarian Forum took place in Brussels with the goal
02:50 of getting more funding for global needs that reached unprecedented levels.
02:56 The European Union member states, together with the European Commission, announced pledges
03:01 over 7 billion euros.
03:04 Projections indicate that nearly 300 million people around the world need humanitarian
03:10 assistance.
03:11 Several United Nations agencies sent their representatives and I spoke with Natalia Kanem,
03:18 Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund.
03:22 Dr. Natalia Kanem, thank you very much for your presence in our programme.
03:28 One of the themes of the European Humanitarian Forum is funding gap and prioritisation.
03:34 Which areas this gap is widening and what can be done in order to have more resources?
03:41 The issue is women and children are always the ones who bear the worst of any crisis,
03:49 humanitarian conflict and climate disaster being the most common reasons.
03:55 When you're looking for the 46 billion dollars just in this one year that's needed, we see
04:02 that typically humanitarian appeals go underfunded and the private sector very often can contribute
04:09 medicines, they can contribute materials.
04:13 There is a general consensus that women and children are particularly vulnerable in humanitarian
04:19 crisis.
04:20 We are seeing that very clearly in the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
04:25 What could be done to protect them?
04:28 You can imagine having delivered under the stress of the circumstances of a woman who
04:33 is in that part of Gaza right now, how are you going to breastfeed if you don't have
04:38 the adequate supplies to be able to feed yourself and the water and everything else that it
04:44 takes to make the newborn survival from breast milk possible.
04:51 So UNFPA and the entire UN system has joined in the call for a humanitarian ceasefire so
04:58 that we can attend to people who are at their last stretch.
05:04 Using sexual violence as a war weapon is unfortunately still very common but also maybe sometimes
05:14 undervalued.
05:16 So what does the agency do in that term?
05:20 Crimes against someone's body are some of the worst things that can happen to a woman
05:26 or a girl.
05:27 This is going to haunt them for the rest of their lives.
05:31 So UNFPA is on the scene with the responsibility first and foremost to prevent, to help women
05:38 for example with lighting if they have to go to the latrine at night in a camp for example.
05:45 Sadly, unfortunately, we're seeing increasing incidents and more viciousness of these types
05:51 of sexual assaults during conflict.
05:55 And in that instance UNFPA is there to provide the counseling, to provide the medical care
06:03 that may be required.
06:04 Dr. Natalik, thank you very much for your contribution to the program.
06:09 Thank you very much.
06:11 War, humanitarian crisis, divisive politics.
06:15 For many in Europe and around the world the present day and prospects for the future are
06:20 bleak if not dark.
06:22 But it is necessary to cultivate the light of hope and appreciate whenever possible the
06:28 beauty of colors.
06:29 It is the case in Zagreb, capital of Croatia, that displays its most visually striking festival
06:36 of the year until Sunday.
06:39 With 29 installations and projections throughout the city it might be daunting to try and find
06:45 the time to catch them all.
06:47 And beware that they will be shut off for 15 minutes at 8.30pm on March 23 to mark Earth
06:54 Hour.
06:55 With this we close our edition.
06:57 Thank you for watching.
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