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00:00Austria's far-right party and conservatives have reached a budget agreement on Monday,
00:05which should cut the country's deficit below the EU's 3% limit.
00:11Croatians reacted with mixed emotions after President Zoran Milanovic, a critic of the
00:15EU and NATO, overwhelmingly won re-election.
00:21Nearly 30,000 people marched through the streets of Brussels in a show of unity against a proposed
00:28pension reform.
00:35Austria's far-right party and conservatives have reached a budget agreement on Monday,
00:39which should cut the country's deficit below the EU's 3% limit.
00:43The two parties agreed to €6.3bn in savings to cut Austria's deficit below the EU's 3%
00:51limit.
00:52Kicill, whose Freedom Party won Austria's parliamentary election in September, received
00:57a mandate to try to form a government with the conservative Austrian People's Party a
01:02week ago.
01:03The conservatives had previously attempted to form a government without Kicill, but lengthy
01:08talks with two other mainstream parties collapsed.
01:12Conservative Austrian leader Karl Nehammer resigned following his failed attempt to put
01:17together a new coalition.
01:19In the meantime, Foreign Minister Alexander Schellenberg has taken over as interim chancellor.
01:25Negotiations to form a new government could take months and aren't guaranteed to succeed.
01:35Croatians reacted with mixed emotions after the opposition-backed President Zoran Milanovic,
01:40a critic of the EU and NATO, overwhelmingly won re-election for another five-year term
01:46on Sunday.
01:47Milanovic won with 1.1 million votes, almost four times the amount won by his challenger
01:53Dragan Primorac, who is backed by the ruling Croatian Democratic Union Party.
01:58I think someone said it well.
02:01We were against the HDP, we weren't for Milanovic, but in any case, it's good, and I like the
02:10result.
02:11I think he's crazy enough to actually be opposed and to do something.
02:17I listened to him in the morning, when he said he would give a hand to peace and that he would
02:21continue according to the law, and if that's okay, but listen, maybe it's too late, and
02:29tomorrow is another day, I don't know, we won't believe him, but what can you do?
02:36Milanovic is sometimes compared to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump because of his combative style
02:41of communication with his political contenders.
02:45He is a fierce opponent of Croatia's conservative Prime Minister Andrei Plenkovic and his government.
02:51Milanovic regularly accuses Plenkovic and his conservative HDZ of systemic corruption,
02:57while Plenkovic has labelled Milanovic pro-Russian and a threat to Croatia's international standing.
03:03However, Milanovic denies government claims that he is pro-Russian.
03:08The incumbent president is against Western military support for Ukraine in the war against
03:12Russia. He is also critical of the European Union, accusing it of being non-democratic.
03:18I don't believe that he will change foreign policy so much. He has largely been excluded
03:24from contact with other politicians in the European Union or in the world, but I think
03:32it is possible that he will be more aggressive in terms of carrying out what is in his constitutional
03:39obligations.
03:41Despite limited powers, many believe the presidential position is key for the political balance of
03:46power in a country mainly governed by the HDZ.
03:53Defence ministers from Poland, France, Italy and Germany met in Warsaw on Monday to discuss
03:58military aid to Ukraine and security in Europe. The meeting of the NATO defence ministers
04:04together with the deputy defence minister of the UK comes as Poland begins its rotating
04:10presidency of the EU.
04:16It is a strong organisation and three pillars of a strong Europe. It is a strong society,
04:23which means our resistance to hybrid warfare. It is a strong army, a strong national army
04:30and the strength of our alliance.
04:32As a key NATO member on the Alliance's eastern frontier, Poland has been a strong voice about
04:38NATO's future for Eastern Europe and Ukraine. It remains one of Ukraine's strongest allies
04:44in terms of both defence and humanitarian aid, particularly as its geographical position
04:50allows for the rapid movement of supplies to Ukraine's front lines.
04:54Poland is NATO's biggest relative defence spender after Warsaw earmarked 4.7% of its
05:01GDP spending on defence this year. Trump wants NATO members to increase the current 2% target
05:08to 5%.
05:15Speaking at his first stop of his election campaign tour in Bielefeld, German Chancellor
05:20Olaf Scholz pushed back on a demand made by US President-elect Donald Trump last week
05:25who had asked NATO's European members to more than double their defence spending.
05:30Trump requested for an increase to 5%, which Scholz said would be too costly.
05:36He said that 5% would be over 200 billion euros per year and noted that the federal budget
05:42is not even 500 billion euros. Scholz concluded that he would adhere to the current NATO target
05:49of at least 2%.
05:54The Social Democrat leader kicked off his election campaign in Bielefeld and is planning
05:59more than 30 public talks between now and the day of the election.
06:03Germany's election campaign is now in full swing. The Christian Democrat Union and its
06:08leader Friedrich Merz are currently leading the polls with 30%. They are followed by the
06:13far-right AfD party with Alice Weidel as its candidate, polling at 20%.
06:19Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrats came in around 14-17% in the polls.
06:25Nearly 30,000 people, including firefighters, teachers and civil servants, marched through
06:41the streets of Brussels in a show of unity against a proposed pension reform, answering
06:47the call of the unions. Belgium's likely future government has introduced a pension reform
06:54proposal. The so-called Arizona Coalition has yet to form a government seven months
07:00after the elections. This potential reform could affect special retirement schemes, which
07:06currently allow railway workers, police officers and military personnel to retire earlier.
07:24The legal retirement age in Belgium went from 65 to 66 on January 1 and will rise to 67 by
07:532030. With an ageing population, pensions are placing an increasing burden on the state's
07:59budget, costing €63 billion annually. The Arizona Coalition aims to save €3 billion.
08:23Public transport, including air and rail, was heavily disrupted by the general strike,
08:34with two-thirds of trains connecting major cities halted. At Charleroi Airport, flights
08:40were grounded starting Monday at noon. Meanwhile, Brussels Airport anticipated that nearly
08:4640% of flights would be cancelled. Since 2018, Belgian laws require a minimum transportation
08:53service during strikes.
09:00Switzerland and Serbia are reportedly willing to host a meeting between US President Donald
09:05Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nicolas Bideau, head of communications for
09:10the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, said Ukraine, Russia and the US have been
09:15regularly informed of Switzerland's availability to support diplomatic efforts to establish
09:20peace. Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said his country would also offer to host
09:26a meeting between Trump and Putin. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no preliminary
09:32preparation was in place yet. Trump's incoming national security adviser, on the other hand,
09:38told ABC that a meeting between Trump and Putin was being prepared.
09:58An outstanding warrant for Putin from the International Criminal Court would be an obstacle
10:02to the potential meeting. Switzerland or Serbia would be legally obliged to arrest
10:08Putin. However, the Swiss Federal Council reportedly has the authority to grant exceptions
10:14in situations involving peace negotiations. Trump, who has criticized US aid for Ukraine's
10:21war effort and publicly commented at the US potentially reconsidering NATO membership,
10:26has sparked concern amongst allies and security experts.
10:32The US President-elect has vowed to bring Kiev and Moscow to the negotiating table,
10:37at one point claiming he could end the war within a day.
10:46Progress was made in ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, according to Israeli Foreign Minister
10:51Gideon Saar.
10:54Mediators reportedly presented Israel and Hamas with a final draft of a deal which they
10:59hope will end the ongoing war between the two in Gaza.
11:03Progress was made. We see some progress in the negotiations. Israel wants a hostage deal.
11:13Israel is working with our American friends in order to achieve a hostage deal and soon
11:21we will know whether the other side wants the same thing.
11:27A Hamas official said a number of contentious issues still needed to be resolved, including
11:34Israel's commitment to ending the war and details about the withdrawal of Israeli troops
11:39and the hostage prisoner exchange.