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00:00Russia's defense ministry said on Tuesday that it has regained control of a village
00:06in its Kursk region.
00:14Trust and participation in elections all over the world is declining for eight years in
00:18a row.
00:21Something that is also happening in Europe, as the Global State of Democracy report states.
00:26For Europe, polarization in politics is one of the issues, says Sam van der Staak, the
00:31director of International Ideas Europe program.
00:36It's countries that have been in the news, but also a lot of countries that as an outsider
00:40you wouldn't suspect.
00:42Countries like Greece and Bulgaria and Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands and outside
00:48the EU, the United Kingdom, they're still very healthy functioning democracies, but
00:53you see that in parts of the system things are cracking, and that's often because of
00:58the politics is really putting a lot of pressure on how democracy functions.
01:03There's more polarization, there's more pressure from political parties to say things need
01:10to change, and of course there's a lot of citizens that are dissatisfied by the way
01:13that democracy is delivering on their everyday concerns.
01:17But not everything is bad news in Europe.
01:19For van der Staak, the improvement in Central and Eastern European countries is closing
01:23the divide between old, established democracies and newer ones, helping Europe come together.
01:29The State of Democracy report identifies, however, two main causes to explain why politics
01:33loses credibility.
01:34We've seen it in countries like France, Spain, the Netherlands, Bulgaria.
01:41All across Europe there's been votes for the extremes that after the election stay out
01:47of power and people then wonder why go and vote at all.
01:50There's also the pressure from outside.
01:52So we see that there's forces such as Russia, but also other authoritarian powers that try
01:59to abuse this weakness that we're seeing to stir even more dissatisfaction.
02:06So there's a pressure from outside, through disinformation, through cyber attacks on the
02:11elections, through foreign funding.
02:14For van der Staak, elections worldwide are a source of concern, with 10% lower participation
02:20than 15 years ago, and with 20% of recent years' elections where the losing candidate
02:26does not accept the outcome.
02:34In some years, the sight of people smoking on bar terraces might be a thing of the past.
02:39This Tuesday, the European Commission presented a recommendation to extend smoking-free areas
02:44to playgrounds, swimming pools, bus stops, stations or outdoor areas from schools and
02:50hospitals.
02:51And for the first time, Brussels asks it to be applied to vapors and electronic cigarettes.
02:59I think it's a good idea because it's not nice for non-smokers, I can see that, but
03:06I'm a smoker myself.
03:07I don't think I will quit smoking when they ban it on terraces because that's not my
03:14motivation to quit.
03:16It doesn't really bother me, to be honest, because vapes, they don't really have that
03:20strong of a smell, and I think bars should be the place, well, it's not the place where
03:24you would bring kids or something.
03:27The text is non-binding, which means that countries won't be forced to apply it.
03:33But still, for organizations against tobacco, it's good news.
03:39It expands the scope of the original recommendation from 2009 to include outdoor spaces like parks,
03:47for example, and playgrounds, but also it includes new products, which are extremely
03:54consumed among the youth, among teenagers, so we believe that this proposal has the power
04:00to reduce smoking prevalence, especially of new products with the youth.
04:05With the recommendation, the European Commission is trying to work towards its goal to achieve
04:10a smoke-free generation by 2040, with less than 5% of the population smoking.
04:16Today, it is at 24%.
04:21Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says more than a billion euros of funding will be needed
04:27for relief efforts following widespread flooding in Poland.
04:32Tusk's call for European aid follows days of heavy rainfall across swathes of Central
04:38Europe, which has caused severe flooding in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania
04:44and Austria.
05:02At least 18 people have been killed in the floods so far, and evacuations have taken
05:09place in Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria.
05:16An emergency shelter has been set up in the Tillen Exhibition Hall in Austria, while more
05:22than 5,000 troops have been deployed to southern Poland to help fortify sandbanks along the
05:27Nysa-Klodzka River.
05:32Flood alert levels remain high in the Czech Republic, although meteorologists expect water
05:37levels in southern Bohemian rivers to reduce throughout the day.
05:42Slovakia's Interior Minister says the flood situation there is improving, but attention
05:47must now be turned to aftermath relief efforts.
05:52Meanwhile, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has called for the solidarity
05:58of all of Europe to provide as much support as possible to the countries affected by flooding.
06:09After weeks of consultations behind closed doors, the Commission's president announced
06:13on Tuesday the policy portfolios of her 26-strong team of commissioners.
06:22There will be six executive vice presidents who will deal with big umbrella portfolios.
06:27In picking these specific ones, Ursula von der Leyen ensured that her new team will have
06:32geographical as well as political representation.
06:34Two from socialists, Spain and Romania, one from EPP, Finland, one from ECR, Italy, and
06:41two from liberals, France and Estonia.
06:45Six executive vice presidents, four women, two men.
06:49If you look at the geographical balance, three are from member states that joined before
06:56the fall of the Iron Curtain, three are from member states that joined after Europe was
07:03reunited, from the Baltics, the Nordics, and Eastern Europe.
07:09We have ministers and prime ministers, very different backgrounds, with one common goal
07:17and that is to make Europe stronger.
07:20One of the names that are more controversial is Rafael Lefito from Meloni's hard right
07:24party who has been nominated to be executive vice president for cohesion and reforms.
07:31The 22 commissioners from the other member states complete the team.
07:35There are some new portfolios such as energy and housing, Mediterranean and defense.
07:42Last time the topic of global warming was absolutely top and this was the reason why
07:50I started the European Green Deal.
07:53The dominance of this topic is still there but this time for example the topic of security
08:00triggered by the Russian war in Ukraine but also the topic of competitiveness has a much
08:06broader, much more impact on the composition and the design of the political guidelines
08:13and then of course the organization of the college.
08:17It was also a surprise that the hardliner Austrian commissioner Magnus Brunner will
08:21be the commissioner for internal affairs and migration.
08:25The Hungarian commissioner Oliver Varhely got the weak portfolio for health and animal welfare.
08:33Ursula von der Leyen's first goal was to have gender balance in her new team.
08:37But the best she could do was the 40-60 ratio.
08:41She gave however four of the executive vice president positions to women.
08:45One of them is Romania which retracted its original candidate after von der Leyen lobbied for that.
08:52After the first relief now comes the hard part of the commissioners.
08:57The new commission is expected to be in place at least the first of December.
09:06Poland declared a state of natural disaster after heavy flooding killed at least five people.
09:13The Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says this will facilitate evacuation operations
09:18and expedite financial support for victims.
09:41Evacuations as a result of the widespread flooding also took place in the Czech Republic, Austria and Romania.
09:49The majority of the Czech Republic was impacted by the heavy rain and authorities declared high flood warnings in roughly 100 places.
09:58The Oder river that flows to Poland reached extreme levels in Ostrava, the third largest Czech city.
10:06Many parts of the city were underwater and centers have been set up for those who had to evacuate.
10:13Meanwhile Hungary braces itself for the rainfall.
10:16Locals helped fortify some of the most threatened areas.
10:20The mayor of Budapest warns that the capital faces what could be the biggest flood of the decade.
10:26The Hungarian interior minister Sander Pinter confirmed that 12,000 troops were on standby.
10:37Tensions at the border between Ceuta and Morocco continued for the third night in a row
10:43as riot police were deployed to disperse people attempting to cross into the Spanish enclave.
10:49The Moroccan police used water cannons to disperse the groups of young people
10:54who were hiding in the hills and throwing stones at the police.
10:58About 80 to 100 people tried to enter the Spanish town late Monday night.
11:03On Sunday hundreds of people had already been stopped in an attempt to cross the border following calls on social media.
11:10Ceuta is one of two small Spanish territories on the Mediterranean coast
11:15and has long been targeted by migrants and refugees seeking better lives in Europe.
11:20Many attempt to climb over the barbed wire fences or swim to reach the enclave by sea.
11:27In August alone the Moroccan interior ministry reported more than 11,000 migrant attempts were prevented in the region around Ceuta.
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