Latest news bulletin | June 5th – Morning
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00:00In Lithuania, the Green Party is launching a list of women only, hoping to bring more
00:07equality to Brussels.
00:12Thousands of homeless EU citizens unable to vote because they don't have an official administrative
00:17address.
00:20The Portuguese government announced a new plan to toughen immigration rules.
00:26They put an end to the regime that allowed foreigners to enter the country and only then
00:31apply for a residence permit.
00:34From now on, it will no longer be possible for a foreigner with a tourist visa to apply
00:39for legalization in Portugal.
00:56The announcement comes days before millions of Europeans head to the polls to vote for
01:08their representatives in the European Parliament, in an election widely anticipated to tilt
01:14the bloc's politics to the right.
01:22Lithuania is the only country in Europe to have a female-only list of candidates for
01:27the European Parliament.
01:29Launched by the Green Party, it aims to draw attention to women's representation in politics
01:34as well as to tackle other gender issues such as the pay gap.
01:39Positive discrimination, if it's possible to say so, is needed because here in Lithuania
01:46we have other candidates' lists where male dominate and in very first places in the list
01:55also men are written.
01:59The list also includes a candidate from the Roma community.
02:03She's hoping to become an MEP to fight for the rights of young Roma girls who are forced
02:08into marriage.
02:09I want to help young girls so that they don't get married when they are very young.
02:17They can't go to a lawyer and say, I don't want to get married.
02:22I want to go to school, to education.
02:25They can't say that.
02:27And I think that Europe has to help us and that's why I'm here.
02:35There's also a lawyer that's been helping migrants at the border with Belarus for years
02:41and wants to change the new migration pact.
02:44There are a lot of risks in these documents that might enable torture and violence on
02:52the border, detention of children, women and basically just denial of asylum.
02:58So I believe that we need people in the European Parliament that would protect everyone's
03:03rights, including people on the move.
03:07Experts seem to appreciate the charisma of the women in the region.
03:29Today, around 40% of the European Parliament members are women.
03:34And even though women now hold high positions in Brussels, all problems related to inequality
03:40still remain relevant and unsolved in many countries.
03:43Magdalena Chodovny for Euronews from Vilnius.
03:51While European institutions are urging people to go out and vote, for many living on the
03:56street, this is not possible.
03:58A European group of organisations working with the homeless fiancé says some 900,000
04:04people are living rough or in temporary accommodation.
04:07Most of them are EU citizens, many of whom are barred from voting for administrative reasons.
04:13You need to have a permanent address where you are registered so that you can vote.
04:20So if homeless people live in temporary accommodation or they live in shelters or in the street,
04:28it is difficult for them to register in a permanent address.
04:31And it's not only people living on the streets, but also those in complicated housing situations,
04:37people without their own homes.
04:39In Brussels, they gather at the citizens' lobby, the Sandika Desimance, to offer one
04:44another help.
04:46One of them says she'd like to vote in the European elections, but can't.
04:50I don't have an address because I lost my home and I don't even have an identity card
04:57because my papers were stolen.
05:00I don't exist as a citizen of my own country because I'm Belgian.
05:05So if you don't exist from an administrative point of view, you can't vote.
05:10In theory, they could get a reference address at a foster home, but the process is often
05:15long and complicated, as another person explains.
05:45In addition, for people who are facing hardship, voting is often low on the list of priorities
05:50in comparison to more urgent needs.
05:53The result of the elections, the impact of the result of my vote on my situation,
05:59it's infinitely far away.
06:02And when you're in an emergency, in survival, it's not at all in your priorities.
06:09It's my intuition.
06:11The European Parliament has been asked to revise the need for a proof of address as
06:15a condition in order to vote.
06:17But for these elections, it's too late.
06:24Political campaigns for the upcoming European elections are entering closing stages in Bulgaria.
06:31June 7 marks the end of the campaign period for Bulgaria ahead of the June 9 elections
06:37for representatives at the European Parliament.
06:40Leading European figures like Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have lent their support
06:45to former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov.
06:48His conservative party GERB is leading in the polls.
06:53That's why I think that with our vote we will make sure that the European Union is managed
07:00well in the coming years.
07:03The country will elect 17 MEPs, voting simultaneously for their own snap election for the National
07:09Assembly, which will elect 240 members of Parliament.
07:13The national snap election comes at a time of corruption scandals and Russian propaganda
07:18flooding the country.
07:20A pro-Russian far-right party revival could reach up to 15 or 16% of the votes according
07:26to polls.
07:51According to the polls, liberal pro-minority party the Movement for Rights and Freedoms
07:57could gain 13.5%.
07:59Closely followed by the anti-corruption reformist force We Continue to Change Democratic Bulgaria
08:06with nearly 13%.
08:11Organisers had expected it to be a big protest ahead of the European elections, despite the
08:18fact that Brussels recently eased environmental demands in its Common Agricultural Policy
08:24or CAP.
08:37But despite ongoing anger, this latest protest looks more like a summer festival than a demonstration.
08:47We have spoken to the organisers who have told us that they expected between 15,000
08:54and 20,000 people.
08:56Finally, it has been much less.
08:59We have not seen the images of violence of the previous occasions.
09:05Avoiding violence was one of the key demands made by organisers who have been accused of
09:10links with far-right organisations.
09:13That's a lie that we have heard now over and over again.
09:16We, Farmers Defence Force, an interest organisation that has only members as farmers, has organised
09:24this protest.
09:25So everything you see here, the whole financial business has been organised by us and the
09:30seven other organisations.
09:31There is no politics in this protest and there is nothing extreme but the people who lie.
09:38But the list of speakers shows a different picture.
09:41The speeches from politicians from far-right parties, including the Flemish Flams Belang
09:47and the Polish PIS.
09:49The main farmers' organisation in the EU, Copacoczeka, did not take part in the demonstration
09:55and chose not to comment because of the controversy.
09:58The Green European Party says these organisations are capitalising on issues raised by farmers.
10:04Its leading candidate, Bas Aykut, is quoted as saying that the far-right has been feeding
10:08farmers with the lie that Europe and the Green Deal are to blame for their hardship,
10:12adding that a small number of farmers have adopted these lies and are siding with them.
10:17He said the Greens were willing to work with farmers who operate within the framework of
10:21democracy.
10:22The protests, which began during the winter, have pressurised the European Commission into
10:27changing the cap and dropping legislation over pesticide use.
10:39Hello, my name is André and I am the co-founder of ATIVIT, a Portuguese youth association
10:44that strives to pave the way for a more inclusive and democratic society.
10:47Our main focus is political literacy, especially with European elections, to have citizens
10:52more engaged and informed.
10:54And if I were a member of the European Parliament, I would strive to make every voice heard,
10:59especially from the youth, and I would advocate for policies that promoted civic education
11:04and participation, and opportunities for the youth in decision-making processes, because
11:09together we can help build a better future for the European Union.
11:21I am Lina Jonsson, I am 26 years old, and my proposal for the future is pretty simple,
11:26more democracy.
11:28It is not enough to make a cross every four years.
11:31We should come together in social councils and have confidence that proposals will be
11:36implemented, that we have the right to vote, and that the interests of many people are
11:41far less important than the interests of a few.