Latest news bulletin | June 29th – Morning
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00:00The latest polls suggest the far-right has around 36% as France prepares for the parliamentary
00:08elections, the first round of which is on Sunday. If National Rally do win the second
00:13round on the following Sunday, it will be the first far-right government in France since
00:17it was occupied by the Nazis. But President Macron says he won't step down before his
00:22term ends in 2027. An Ilfop-Pédoucille poll suggests that National Rally will get about
00:2936% of the vote. The Popular Front, a coalition of centrists, leftists and greens, about 28%
00:36and President Macron's centre-right party, about 20%. The winning number of seats is
00:42289 out of the 577 seats in the parliament and National Rally are expected to get somewhere
00:49between 260 and 295 seats. It means the National Rally's Jordan Bardella could be the next
00:56prime minister.
01:04The far-right's growing popularity appears to stem from people's feelings of insecurity.
01:09And because France's politics are now deeply polarised, it will be hard for a coalition
01:14to form in parliament if no party wins outright.
01:28Turnout is expected to be higher this time around. Voters know this could be an historic
01:33election with many determined to get the far-right into power and many others desperate to keep
01:38them out.
01:53President Macron will most likely be forced into appointing a prime minister from a rival
01:57winning party. Such a situation is called cohabitation and last occurred 22 years ago.
02:08They have been chosen to lead the European Union. A socialist man from the south, Antonia
02:14Costa, a centre-right woman from the west, Ursula von der Leyen, and a liberal from the
02:19east, Kaya Callas. They have support from European leaders. But von der Leyen, the incumbent
02:26presidential nominee of the executive body, needs to be confirmed by a European Parliament
02:32vote. She recognises that she cannot rely solely on the moderate three-party platform
02:38to secure the win.
02:41I will be reaching out, for example, also to MEPs from other groups than the platform.
02:47And for me it is a matter of convincing a, if possible, broad majority for a strong Europe.
02:57So this is what I'm going to be working for the next, what is it, three weeks intensively
03:01and then we'll see.
03:04Estonian Prime Minister Kaya Callas was appointed to be High Representative for External Policy
03:10and Security. She is well known for her hard stance against Russia and will also need European
03:16parliamentary support.
03:18This is enormous responsibility in this time of geopolitical tensions. There's war in Europe,
03:27there's also growing instability globally that also are the main challenges for the
03:34European foreign policy.
03:37Former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa will assume the mandate of President
03:42of the European Council on December 1st. He promised to promote unity among the 27 member
03:49states and to implement the strategic agenda.
03:55U.S. President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump face off in the first 10th
04:04election debate of the season in Atlanta. Attempting to convince voters ahead of the
04:10November election, the two candidates laid out their dramatically different views.
04:16Every time that Zelensky comes to this country, he walks away with $60 billion. He's the greatest
04:21salesman ever. It should have never happened.
04:24After the Israel-Hamas war, Biden promoted a ceasefire, whereas Trump said that Israel
04:30should finish the job and accused Biden of acting like a Palestinian. Both candidates
04:36got personal.
04:37The crimes that you are still charged with, and think of all the civil penalties you have.
04:41How many billions of dollars do you owe in civil penalties for molesting a woman in public?
04:46You have the morals of an alley cat.
04:48Ukraine was one of the many topics on the table, a debate where Biden was considered
04:53weak, even by the Democrats.