Latest news bulletin | June 4th – Morning
Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The moderate conservative EPP are set to win the EU elections, while the far-right and
00:07ultra-conservatives are set to see a dramatic increase in their numbers. However, according
00:12to the latest Euronews Superpol, in Germany, the moderate Christian Democrats will prevail
00:17over strong far-right party the AfD. For the EU's far-right parties, votes for the AfD
00:24could stall their efforts to join forces. Recent scandals have been damaging for the
00:28AfD's reputation inside and outside of Germany. Spying scandals and recent sympathetic comments
00:34made about the SS by AfD European candidate Maximilian Krah has affected the party's growth.
00:41The Social Democrats' SPD could seize second place, while the centrist CDU-CSU are maintaining
00:47a stable first place.
00:49We might see a greater impact when people go to vote in about a week or so in Germany
00:55that the SS scandal might actually have a greater impact because of the fact that it's
01:00going to keep them out of the identity democracy group in European Parliament. So just the
01:04reverberations of that scandal is going to have a greater effect on just how everything
01:09is going to play out in the long term.
01:12In France, where a landslide victory for Jordan Bardella from Marine Le Pen's national rally
01:17is almost a foregone conclusion, the fight for second place is between two staunchly
01:21pro-EU candidates, Renault's Valérie Heyer and Socialist Party's Raphael Glucksmann.
01:27If Heyer loses to Glucksmann's revitalised Socialist Party, it could be the sign of clear
01:32defeat for President Macron. Neither Renault nor the Socialists can catch up with the national
01:38rally. Our Euronews polls suggest they may even struggle to keep second place.
01:44Italy is also an important piece of the puzzle for the EU's far-right camp. Post-fascist
01:49Prime Minister Giorgia Maloney's steadily occupies first place. The Social Democrats
01:53of the Partito Democratico have outpaced Matteo Salvini's Lega, allies of Maloney.
02:04In Italy, like in France, Elie Schlein's Partito Democratico has unexpectedly built up a strong
02:10electoral campaign by gathering undecided votes. The Spanish Socialists are among the
02:15few centre-left EU forces that are resisting pressure from the Conservatives.
02:23The PSOE comes in second, but the gap between them and the moderate Conservatives of the
02:28Partito Popular is shrinking. Ultranationalists' vox have slightly slowed in their progress.
02:35Whatever the new parliament may look like, rifts in the far-right wing may make it difficult
02:48to unanimously approve a new EU Commission President with a clear majority.
03:06The rising cost of living is going to be one of the big issues people care about when they
03:15go to the ballot in June. We did a poll of people across Europe and two-thirds of them
03:20said that tackling rising prices needs to be a priority for the EU. You've got energy
03:25prices rising by 40 per cent. One in three Europeans have said they wouldn't be able
03:31to pay for an unexpected bill. They're really feeling the pinch. So when the EU thinks about
03:35its energy policy, its climate change policy, they're really going to have to think about
03:39how that's going to impact on people's pockets.
03:48Migration has been a massive topic for the past decade, ever since the Lampedusa tragedy
03:52of 2013. Now we finally do have a migration pact. It took years to get to this starting
03:59point. It's perfectly imperfect. Nobody likes it. For the left, it's too right. For the
04:04right, it's too left. But it's a starting point. And of course, the next mandate will
04:09be very much occupied by looking into how Member States transpose that into law and
04:13how it works then on the ground. We need migration. We need managed migration. Europe is getting
04:19very old, very fast. And many would point out to the Ukrainian case that we can very
04:25much manage asylum seekers, those who are in need of protection.
04:32Well, defence will be certainly one of those issues that will be front and centre of the
04:36mandate of the next Commission and the next European Parliament, not least because of
04:40the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. There's a realisation this war will continue
04:45for the foreseeable future, because for the last few months, Ukraine has been on the back
04:48foot militarily. And of course, for the first time in many years, there is a war on the
04:53European continent. But there's also an acknowledgement that Ukraine may not be the only conflict
04:58the world will be facing in the coming years. And the EU and Europe feel that it needs to
05:02stand on its own two feet when it comes to its defence and security and not always rely
05:07on the United States.
05:12They've set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent by the end of
05:17this decade, which basically means it's got to be done during the mandate of the incoming
05:20Commission and Parliament. It's an enormous task, and it's going to be made even bigger
05:24when they adopt a new climate target. Going into the election, we have right-wing parties
05:29who are basically going on a platform of supporting the farmers, putting a halt to all this Green
05:33Deal. So, yes, the momentum is definitely there. Whether it continues after the election
05:39is another question.
05:47Just a few days before the European election, farmer protests caused yet again traffic chaos
05:56in the continent. In a coordinated effort, around 100 tractors have been blocking the
06:02border between Spain and France. They obstructed seven main crossing points stretching from
06:10the Basque region to Catalonia. Authorities have announced major disruptions and encouraged
06:18drivers to postpone their trip or to use another mean of transport. Protests have been rocking
06:25Europe for months. Farmers are rallying against the rising cost of energy as well as calling
06:33for greater food safety for products entering Europe. They also asked EU lawmakers to implement
06:42a European law favouring local products.
06:51Police in Dublin cleared tents from the city centre last month. Asylum seekers with nowhere
06:56else to go had pitched up outside the International Protection Office. Similar scenes have played
07:02out around Dublin's Grand Canal. Ireland has also been plagued for years with housing
07:07shortages and an understaffed healthcare system.
07:15Ireland is lacking up to 256,000 homes. According to the most recent figures from the Central
07:33Statistics Office, nearly 14,000 adults and children were in homeless accommodation in
07:38Ireland this March. That's a yearly jump of 16%. In this climate, some question whether
07:44the country is well-placed to welcome migrants.
08:09Unlike France's Le Pen or Italy's Maloney, Ireland has yet to see the rise of an influential
08:16anti-immigrant politician. The upcoming EU and local elections will test public sentiment.
08:46The death of a police officer at the hand of a migrant is creating political tensions
08:51in Germany, just ahead of a crucial European election. Tharide activists from the AFD youth
08:58movement took to the streets in Mannheim, where the attack occurred, demanding strict
09:04asylum and migration policies.
09:16The rally was classified as extremist by the local authorities. From the other side
09:27of the political spectrum, left-wing activists held a vigil against hate and violence, denouncing
09:34the far-right narrative.
09:41Left-wing and right-wing activists later came into contact and had to be separated
09:49by the police.
09:59Claudia Sheinbaum will make history by becoming the first-ever female president in Mexico's
10:05200-year history. She won a landslide victory in Sunday's election, securing more than 59
10:11per cent of the vote. The 61-year-old Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist was the favoured
10:18successor of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
10:36Sheinbaum's Morena party was also projected to hold its majorities in both chambers of
10:52Congress. Her victory comes after an historic election day that saw significant numbers
10:59turn out to vote both in Mexico and abroad. More than 180,000 Mexicans voted at consulates
11:07and embassies around the world, including 60,000 who live in Madrid, where they queued
11:11for up to nine hours to cast their vote. Sheinbaum has vowed to continue the policies of her
11:18predecessor.
11:29In Mexico, Roberto Macedonio, Euronews.