Tag: European politics

Ex French diplomat says world order at risk amid global conflicts

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Around the world conflicts are multiplying and democracies seem increasingly in crisis. Has the world become ungovernable? Sergio Cantone put this question to Hubert Védrine, ex advisor to French President François Mitterrand and former Minister of Foreign Affairs for The Global Conversation.

In the 1980s and 90s when Hubert Védrine served as a foreign policy advisor to France’s President François Mitterrand, and later as Foreign Affairs minister from 1997 to 2002, the world was going through tumultuous times. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the apparent end of the Cold War upended the post-WWII geopolitical order and caused a fundamental reset in global relations. As a leading diplomat Védrine was part of international efforts to chart a course through the chaos and gained a profound insight into the challenges entailed in the quest for peace and stability around the world; insight which he agreed to share with Euronews.

An end to world order?

Decades on and the question of global governability persists. Sergio Cantone began by asking Védrine if, in the turmoil of 2024, we are witnessing the end of a global political and economic order.

“Overall, there has never really been world order,” Védrine says. “In fact, there has always been world disorder. But there have been times when there have been powers that have managed to dominate the system. After the Second World War, it was the Americans who organised the aftermath, very well indeed. It was one of the rare moments when a dominant power managed to combine national interests, which are the case for all powers, with a kind of more general vision.

“Then there was the Cold War, which was quite stable, by the way, and we understood. There was the East, the West and the South, the famous Third World. And then, when the Soviet Union disappeared, there was a surge of enthusiasm, of triumphalism in the West, with a slightly nationalistic form in the United States: “We’ve won, we’re the masters!” Now we’re back to classic geopolitics: the strength of the United States, the strength of China, what’s happening to Russia, etc, etc, all that.

“So, I wouldn’t say that all regimes are in crisis, that’s different. In China or Russia, it’s different. On the other hand, all democracies are in crisis, in my opinion, they’re under threat. Look at the United States, they’re in a frightening situation. It’s like two countries fighting each other. So, there’s a crisis in democracies and representative democracies. The old ideas of electing people, presidents, members of parliament and so on, and letting them do their work, then judging the results, and taking them back or not, that’s dead.”

Relations with Russia

On the issue of the West’s relations with Moscow, Russia remains a dilemma for both Europeans and Americans. Some European countries take a hard confrontational approach, seeing Russia is an existential threat, while argue for more engagement with the superpower. How does Védrine see it?

“I’m of the same opinion, to be frank with you, as the old American realists: Kissinger, Brzezinski who are for once in agreement and who thought that we completely missed the 90s,” he says. “So, I also think that in this period: Yeltsin, Putin the second time, Medvedev, we should have done what Kissinger proposed, i.e., a major security agreement, including Russia. And Brzezinski, himself a Pole, he was with Carter, and even afterwards he had enormous influence, he said: ‘Ukraine must be cut off from Russia.’

“So, reinvent Ukraine, cut it off from Russia, so that Russia is no longer an empire. But don’t put it [Ukraine] in NATO. We need to create a neutrality status, like the Austria of the Cold War era. That’s not what’s been done at all. But not at all with a strategic duplicity approach. I use the term of Olympian offhandedness for the United States: “We’ve won. Our values are going to be imposed everywhere, with sermons, sanctions, bombings and so on. We’ve won”.

“Realism has not failed. Realpolitik hasn’t failed, it hasn’t been tried. So, it was a kind of confused realpolitik that dominated. And here, I do share Biden’s approach, and not the one of all the Europeans. Biden, from the start, said: “We’ve got to stop Putin from winning in Ukraine. We absolutely must. But we’re not going to let ourselves be dragged into a war with Russia.” And there’s a divide here, because there’s a group of Europeans who don’t dare to say it outspokenly, but they think we should remove the Russian regime. That’s the truth.

Ending the Ukraine war

In concrete terms what does the is mean for ending Russia’s war in Ukraine? Where does Védrine see the path to a resolution to the conflict lying?

“I expect some sort of freeze,” he says. “Either this is the famous Trump plan we know the beginning of. He tells Zelensky that it’s time to stop, so Zelensky anticipates, saying ‘I’ll get along with Trump, I’ll invite the Russians to negotiations,’ he’s already figured it out, and even if it’s the Democrats, they’re not going to promise perpetual support.

“So, a sort of freeze. After that, I can’t imagine negotiations, at least not direct ones. Ukraine has suffered too much, it’s too disgusting the Russian war in Ukraine, it’s monstrous in human terms, the targets, etc. It’s frightening. It’s frightening. So, they can’t negotiate with any president, even if it’s not Zelensky, even if it’s someone else, he can’t negotiate with Russia.

“Different countries were proposing plans, plans for coexistence, for neighbourliness, for an organized ceasefire, and so on. The Turks, who pointed out that they had allowed negotiations to take place in the first year. You remember. Eventually the Indians, the Chinese, Lula, everyone, but not the Europeans, who are in one camp now. I think that the Europeans, without giving anything up, continuing to help Ukraine, should position themselves to be able to play a role in the follow-up to this. And that means being able to accept that at some point we’ll have to talk to the Russians again.”

Whether Ukraine’s future lies in the European Union is less clear for Védrine, and he is even more sceptical about further eastward expansion of the bloc:

“Enlargement in general, one day, must stop somewhere. So, the idea that we’re going to enlarge all the way to Mongolia… Well, it’s a joke now, but we’re not there yet. Ukraine, I can understand that at some point, for reasons of human solidarity, given the atrocities suffered by the Ukrainians, we make this gesture, but it’s very complicated. They don’t meet the conditions. So, there must be a realistic timetable. On the other hand, we can’t let down countries like those in the Western Balkans, which have been in the waiting room for years.

“I was in the contact group, including the Russian minister at the time, Igor Ivanov. But I would point out that Spain has not recognized Kosovo. There are several European countries that haven’t recognized it because it’s too dangerous a precedent. So, I don’t see how the European machinery, which is rigid in its thinking, with much, much, much arrogance, perhaps a little less now, I don’t understand how it’s made a condition [for Serbia’s accession to the EU].

To see the interview in full, including Védrine’s thoughts on European defence and the rise of the far right in Europe, click on the video above.

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Why could Renew Europe see a major drop in MEPs after EU vote?

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Euronews pollsters predict a potential loss of up to 20 MEPs for the EU liberal-democrats group Renew Europe, reflecting a decline in popularity at the national level, especially in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

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According to the Euronews Super Polls, which uses publicly released polls to forecast the European Parliament vote on 6-9 June, the continent’s liberals are set to suffer a historic defeat, with their number of MEPs expected to drop from 102 to 82.

Polls suggest the liberal Renew Europe group is set to lose most of its MEPs in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

If the loss is confirmed by the final European elections vote, it could result in significant changes in the next EU legislature.

“Renew’s struggles reflect many of the issues it has faced in national level votes over the past year-plus,” said Boyd Wagner, chief analyst at the Euronews Polls Centre.

“With a range of issues top of mind for European voters, including purchasing power, migration, energy and farmers protests, Renew member-parties have largely failed to address the domestic-level issues favoured by many voters in Europe’s western flanks, where Renew was strongest in 2019,” he explained.

The liberal-democrats’ policies have clashed with the growing sense of insecurity among citizens in the western flank of the EU.

“There is a general trend that liberal democracy is under threat, and that might affect mostly liberal parties. But there are also some specific reasons, and France is a very interesting case,” Steven Van Hecke, Comparative and EU Politics professor at the Public Governance Institute of the University of Leuven, told Euronews.

“In 2019, a lot of French liberals were elected in the European Parliament, after the election victory of Emmanuel Macron two years earlier, in the national elections of 2017,” Van Hecke added.

France is the second largest country in the EU, represented by 79 MEPs in the current 705-seat European Parliament, elected in 2019. Of these, 23 MEPs belong to the “Renew Europe” group, which holds a total of 102 “yellow” seats.

This is particularly relevant as the next European Parliament is set to have a total of 720 MEPs due to a new seat distribution.

According to the Euronews Polls Centre, Renew Europe MEPs from France’s Renaissance party could drop down to an estimated 15 members in the European Parliament.

The next European Parliament could become the stage for numerous political showdowns, pitting liberal democratic and liberal-socialist values against conservative principles.

In this ideological “Squid Game”, France is set to play a relevant role for at least three reasons.

Firstly, France’s importance within the EU and the eurozone cannot be overstated. Secondly, there is the leadership of President Emmanuel Macron, who advanced the values that shaped the Renew Europe group. And thirdly, the French radical right is projected to win the EU elections in France, surpassing Renaissance by nearly double the votes.

Macron’s popularity at home has been on the decline since at least 2019. The French voters rejected the economic reforms implemented by the presidential majority.

Measures including decarbonisation policies, pension reforms, planned reductions in unemployment benefits, and what the far right criticises as an “ineffective anti-migration policy” have all contributed to the president’s negative impact on popularity.

As is often the case, people in Western Europe use the EU elections as a platform to voice their discontent with their national governments.

Similarly, the Dutch liberal-conservatives led by former PM Mark Rutte face a similar situation. The VVD, or People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, is the second-largest force within the Renew group in the current European Parliament.

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However, it may face expulsion from the group due to a government deal struck at home with the far-right Geert Wilders’ Party of Freedom (PVV), a partner of the Identity and Democracy group, which includes Marine Le Pen’s and Jordan Bardella’s National Rally (RN).

In the Netherlands, dissatisfaction with the liberals largely centres around their migration policies.

The Dutch compromise between the liberal conservatives and the radical right stands in stark contrast to the intense ideological battle between Macron and his main opponent, Le Pen, setting the stage for the French presidential elections in 2027.

Macron’s electoral success in France in 2017 provided momentum for European liberals. In 2019, he remained relatively popular at home, and his party emerged victorious in the EU elections.

“It brought exceptionally a high number of French liberals into the (EU) parliament that eventually funded a place in the Liberal group. And now, in a way, the liberals will not receive any French doping anymore. And they’re just going back to the size of 2014. So in that way, it’s a little bit of a normalisation,” Van Hecke said.

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Liberal principles are not the exclusive monopoly of Renew Europe — they are present in other groups.

“We should not underestimate that a number of more or less traditional liberal forces are attached to the European People’s Party (EPP) and even to the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. Just to give you two examples: Civic Platform from Donald Tusk in Poland might be called Christian Democratic People’s Party, but it’s also liberal-conservative and it is now part of the EPP group and not of the liberals. Also the Flemish nationalists of the NVA, for particular reasons are not in the Renew group. They are instead in the ECR group,” Van Hecke explained.

From a political realism perspective, the existing multi-party liberalism could potentially open up other options, such as the formation of a liberal-conservative coalition.

There is also an important issue concerning the European liberals: the geographical divide between Western and Central Europe.

“Liberal parties traditionally were strong in Western Europe. And it’s particularly in Western Europe that you see a fragmentation of the political landscape. So they become smaller at the national level and, therefore, also at the European level, without being able to compensate for this loss in the so-called new member states in Central and Eastern Europe,” Steven Van Hecke concluded.

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European Parliament’s rival hard-right groups will unite – Vistisen

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Vistisen exclusively tells Euronews there is “no more political divide” between Meloni and Le Pen’s political factions than there is within other mainstream political groups.

The man who has been fronting the far-right Identity and Democracy’s European elections campaign is confident that the European Parliament’s two most right-wing factions will join to form a united bloc during the upcoming legislature.

In an interview on Tuesday, Anders Vistisen told Euronews he believes there is no substantial political rift between his Identity and Democracy (ID) party – which harbours Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, Italy’s Lega and Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) – and the nationalist European Reformists and Conservatives (ECR), considered slightly less hard-line than their ID counterparts.

ECR includes the likes of Spain’s Vox and Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS). It also includes Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s Civil Democratic Party (ODS), both of whom have controversially been touted as potential partners for Ursula von der Leyen’s centre-right EPP following June’s ballot, in a sign the firewall that has traditionally cordoned off far-right parties will be torn down.

“What is in my opinion wrong is that you have two groups to the right, and I think that has more to do (more) with big personalities in some of the bigger parties than it has to do with political differences,” Vistisen, who hails from the far-right Danish People’s Party, told Euronews.

“There is no more political divide between the ID and the ECR, than what you can see within the EPP, the S&D or the Renew parties, for instance.”

Asked whether he believes both groups could form a united bloc in the European Parliament, Vistisen replied: “I think we will see that someday (…) I think maybe not just after this election, but I think the French presidential elections that are coming up in a couple of years (in 2027) could be a point in time that is very interesting to look forward to.”

Vistisen spoke just hours before a crisis erupted in his party, as Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National indicated they would no longer sit with Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the European Parliament over damning Nazi comments made by AfD’s lead election candidate Maximilian Krah, prompting Krah’s sudden resignation from the party’s federal executive board.

After speaking to Euronews, Vistisen said on social media platform X that Krah, who will continue to be the AfD’s lead candidate in June’s ballot, had “shown with his statements and actions that he does not belong in the ID group.”

“If the AfD does not take advantage of the situation and get rid of Krah, the DF’s (Danish People’s Party) position is that the AfD must leave the ID group,” Vistisen added.

But when pressed by Euronews hours earlier about whether deep divisions within his ID party and mounting dissatisfaction with AfD’s increasingly extremist stances could prompt member parties to seek to move across to the ECR group, Vistisen defended his party’s unity.

“No, I don’t really see that. I think it’s a bit of a false narrative put out there,” he said.

Vistisen claimed deeper divisions can be seen in the competing hard-right ECR group, especially when it comes to their stance on Ukraine, adding that Poland’s PiS – who staunchly back unhindered EU support to Ukraine – had invited both Rassemblement National and Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán into their European party despite their scepticism towards military support to Ukraine.

A source from Rassemblement National told Euronews that Le Pen’s party favours joining the same group as Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz, which currently does not belong to any European political group after it was forced to quit the centre-right EPP in 2021.

Vistisen ‘not paid’ by sanctioned Voice of Europe

The latest debacle follows multiple controversies surrounding AfD that have ruffled feathers in the ID party. In January, senior AfD figures were reported to have met with neo-Nazi groups to discuss plans to deport millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship, prompting discomfort within their European family according to Euronews sources.

The two names topping the AfD’s electoral lists for June’s elections are also connected to ongoing investigations into foreign interference within the European Parliament, including an alleged pro-Kremlin operation suspected of paying sitting MEPs to spread Russian propaganda.

The aide of Maximilian Krah was arrested last month on suspicion of spying for China, while Petr Bystron is accused of receiving as much as €20,000 in cash from Russia, as part of a sprawling investigation into a suspected pro-Kremlin influence operation.

Vistisen admitted he is “always concerned about outside influence,” and vowed that should investigations find candidates guilty and the AfD failed to suspend their membership, then his European party’s bureau would take the matter into their own hands.

But he defended the decision not to take immediate action in response to the damaging allegations of foreign interference within his party.

“Mr. Krah was through the ethics body of the European Parliament, and they didn’t recommend one of the sanctions available to them,” Vistisen claimed.

“So if his political opponents didn’t recommend a sanction, it’s very difficult for us as a political group to sanction on this background, but I’m very glad that the AfD already stipulated that if these allegations have truth to them, then they single-handedly would suspend his membership of the AfD and thereby he would not be a member of the ID group either.”

The company at the heart of the investigation, led by the Belgian prosecutor, is Voice of Europe, now blacklisted in the European Union.

Asked whether he was paid for a one-on-one interview he gave to Voice of Europe earlier this year, Vistisen emphatically denied.

“No, of course not. That interview was set up at the same premise as this interview. I was asked to give an interview and I obliged. That’s my job as a politician,” Vistisen responded.

” I have an impeccable record when it comes to being firm on Russia, firm on China. Has nobody ever doubted that? So, sometimes these allegations are, of course, also used politically (…) I think you can easily be your to without spreading fake news.”

Lack of EU support leaves Ukraine without a ‘fighting chance’

Vistisen also sharply criticised the European Union for what he called its failure to “step up to the plate” when providing Kyiv with the military aid and equipment it needs to withstand Russia’s invasion.

“I would challenge the perception that Europe has been very pro-Ukrainian,” he explained.

“When it comes to concrete action, it lags behind. So no, if the Americans were not in it to help the Ukrainians, the war would be lost for them because Europe has not stepped up to the plate,” he added.

“I think if Ukraine should have a fighting chance to push back Russia, through the borders from before the Russian invasion of Crimea, the military aid is falling far too short and far too late, unfortunately.”

He also claimed that the EU had committed less military support to Ukraine than the United Kingdom, despite the bloc’s military aid amounting to a staggering €33 billion, compared to the UK’s £7.6 billion (€8.9 billion) in military assistance.

He nonetheless spurned the prospect of Ukraine joining the bloc as a full-fledged member state, claiming that EU leaders were trying to impose timelines to fast-track Kyiv’s accession.

“It’s the same forces that are complaining about rule of law in Hungary (…) who are now saying let’s speed up a procedure where we are letting countries in with a far worse track record when it comes to a lot of these benchmarks than what you have seen in Orbán’s Hungary,” Vistisen claimed.

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Nicolas Schmit: S&D won’t do deals with far right after elections

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The S&D’s lead candidate in the European elections outlined his views on revising the Migration Pact and opposing the far right to Global Conversation’s Isabel da Silva Marques.

For the past five years, Nicholas Schmit has held the Jobs and Social Rights portfolio in the Ursula von der Leyen-led European Commission. Why has he decided to run for the presidency of the EU’s executive body? 

“I think that after the five years where we tried to put social [agenda] at the centre, I thought that there was still more to be done. I think this is the right moment for social democracy to get the Commission [presidency] after such a long period, because we had for 30 years, well for 25 years, conservative presidents of the Commission. It’s time for change.”

Schmit believes EU citizens are living through a time of great instability and insecurity, and that that has fuelled the rise of the extreme right:

“We are living in a very uncertain period. It’s uncertain for different reasons. We are coming out of major crisis: the COVID crisis was not so far away, the financial crisis. We had difficult moments for many, many European citizens due to inflation. We have a war in Europe. So, I think this uncertainty, plus the topic of migration, has now being focus of the debates. And finally, the extreme right are playing on fear. They are not proposing anything, but they are playing on fear. And I think this creates this special situation. But we still have a few weeks to go and to show that it’s not about fear, it’s about building confidence.”

To save the Green Deal, support farmers

A major undertaking of the next five years will be building confidence in the Green Deal, according to Schmit. The future of the EU’s landmark strategy to achieve net zero climate goals has been called into question by angry farmers’ protests in recent months. 

“We have seen during the last years and decades that farmers’ income has gone down,” Schmit says. “We have seen immense hikes in their production cost but their income, their prices have not reflected these increases. I think we have to reflect about how far also the idea of a pure market functioning is adequate, because it penalises, finally, many, many farmers. In many cases, smaller and medium sized farmers have big difficulties.”

“This another fact: how to support the transformation of our farming industry, of our farming. Also introducing technology, obviously is important. We are developing artificial intelligence. How can farmers be supported by artificial intelligence or other technological means? And, at the end, it’s also about bureaucracy. I agree that if the farmer spends more time in the office than on the field, this is something which is not normal. But, at the end, farmers have a big interest in the success of a fair, socially fair and economically fair Green Deal.”

Deep concerns about Migration Pact

The EU’s groundbreaking Migration Pact is another transformative piece of legislation from the current parliament. Years in the making, it centres on bilateral agreements with Tunisia, Egypt and Mauritania. But Schmit views it as a work in progress:

“I am quite reluctant about these deals, which have still to be prove efficient. We are spending now huge amounts of money, giving these money to different regimes or governments like the Tunisian government. We know that the authorities there are really treating very badly the refugees. We have still the problem in Libya, where there is no real… there is a government there, even two governments. We have the question in Egypt. So I’m quite reluctant with this kind of, deals. […] 

“I think we have to revise them and see what can be done. How can we do it differently? Because we do not know exactly also how the money is used. That’s another issue. I’ve heard now that there has been a deal with Lebanon too, to keep the Syrians away from Europe. Nobody knows exactly how the money which has been announced will be spent in Lebanon, given the situation of the Lebanon’s government, which is in some way a very weak government. And the Hezbollah and other influences, being there.”

Countering a resurgent far right

Migration is among the main issues of the European election campaign and one that far-right parties seek to capitalise on. Polls suggest they will make major gains in June and become a substantial force within the next parliament. Schmit believes the conservatives of the European People’s Party may be willing to negotiate deals with the hard right on the legislative agenda, but he is adamant that his Socialists and Democrats bloc will not.    

“There is no way. I’m very clear on that. There’s no way to have any arrangement, deal or whatever with the extreme right. Because I noticed that, with EPP, they make some very special distinction between extreme rights; the ‘decent’ extreme right and the pariah extreme right. Well, when I look at the so-called decent extreme right, who are these people? They are Vox. They are Franco admirers. They are Mussolini admirers. They are PiS party, who was about to abolish the rule of law in Poland and was sanctioned by the commission. So where is the decent extreme right? There is none. And that’s why there is no way to have any arrangement to just buying votes. Because the extreme right is intelligent, they will not give their votes for nothing. So, they will ask concessions on the way how European policy will be defined.

“Their [the far right] idea, their conception of Europe is fundamentally different from ours, social democrats. But I suppose, I suppose now I am not sure anymore of the EPP conception, because the EPP conception is very much linked to the former Christian Democrats. Now, I know that for real Christian Democrats, there’s no way to have an alliance with whichever form of the extreme right. And that’s our position too. I’m very clear. No way to have any understanding here.”

To see more on this and on Nicolas Schmit’s views on supporting Ukraine, dealing with China, and other issues, click on the video above.

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‘You have a choice,’ says Roberta Metsola ahead of European elections

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The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, reflects on two and half years in the hot seat, the recent migration pact and explains why voters should go to the ballot box.

Millions of people are expected to vote in the European elections in six weeks time and collectively decide on the future of the European Union. 

Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, sat down with Euronews Correspondent Méabh Mc Mahon in Strasbourg to discuss her electoral campaign, her achievements and the impact of recent corruption scandals involving MEPs.

To watch this latest episode of the Global Conversation click on the video in the media player above or read the full interview below.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: President Metsola, thank you so much for being our guest on the Global Conversation. They say when you have small children, the days are very, very long, but the years are short. Do you have the same feeling, perhaps, after two and a half years as president of the European Parliament?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, I have four children. Some of them are smaller than others, and I would absolutely agree. If somebody had told me at the beginning of the two and a half years what these two years were going to look like, I would never have been able to predict how much we managed to achieve, but also how many crises and challenges we’ve had to overcome and handle.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: And on those achievements, what stood out for you? What was your highlight? What are you most proud of?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, in terms of an institutional perspective, we have managed to push through a huge amount of reforms, perhaps also to address challenges that we were met with head-on, in terms of how this Parliament will come back in July. I am extremely proud of those reforms, of the effectiveness of the way that legislation will be able to run tomorrow through this Parliament more smoothly. 

From a legislative perspective, I would say the migration pact, which we thought would not see the light of day after almost a decade of being blocked, we managed to push it through, with a sometimes narrow but much-needed majority in this House.

The EU’s migration and asylum pact

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: It was hailed indeed as an achievement by you, wasn’t it – the migration pact – after so many years. But nobody really likes it…

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, I would say that the extremists don’t like it on both sides of the spectrum. Why? Because it is a balanced package which has solidarity as its focus. Reinforcement of external borders, working on returns. 

Still, a lot to do with how we deal with third countries, that we talk to our neighbouring countries not only about migration, but also about investment, development and possibility, and we never forget that at the very centre of this package are human beings and migrants.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: Well, indeed, do migrants like the package do you think?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, we have to make sure it works for everybody, and that if there is somebody who is looking for a future because there’s none at home, then Europe will be able to look at that person rather than squabble between the countries, and almost face a certain death in the Mediterranean.

Political scandals

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: And just on that note as well, you mentioned, putting out a lot of crises here as well. That was, of course, your job. You did, of course, have last winter that corruption scandal, where allegedly some of your members were under the influence of certain governments. How did it feel, when you got that phone call from the authorities to have to go to investigate, to go to the home of one of your vice presidents of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, actually, I went to the home of a Belgian member of the European Parliament. This was a specific, I would say, ‘gut punch’ on that night in December 2022. Now, we had a choice that day, either we say that this is something that would happen in any Parliament or that we look at the party political colour or that we look at the country involved. But I refused to do that. I said this House needs to move on. 

This House needs to make sure that if something like this happens again, then firewalls would be put in place and alarm bells would be sounded. It took a very long time, to go through the motions of what needed to be done. 

This was, I would say unprecedented, and also unexpected. But once we did that, we realised as a house that we need to indeed reform in the way we do things. The status quo was always better. Pushing through that was very hard, but there was no doubt and here I am proud of the response of the members when they said, you know, we do not want this mandate, which is huge in terms of its impact, to be tarnished by the alleged actions of a small number. And I think that’s where we can say we are today.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: I remember very well, that you called it an attack on the European Parliament. And just moving from that scandal to another, you have just a couple of weeks before the EU elections, the so-called Russiagate, where some of your members here have allegedly been under the influence of people close to the Kremlin in return for money to therefore spread positive messaging about Russia. What more can you tell us about this?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, first of all, what I know for now, until now, we have something that we have been discussing, and I have been discussing this with prime ministers for many months now. 

We have been alerted when we looked at national elections, that there would also be a certain amount of unprecedented disinformation, Russian disinformation in some countries more than others. 

We continue to wait for information to be received from national authorities because this would require any waiver of immunity being adopted by this House. Investigations that would need to take place like we had, like had happened in the past and would require national authorities to ask. We’re waiting for that. And if that happens, we will do our job as we’ve always done.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: So you don’t know how many MEPs could be involved and some could be potentially running for office. They want to sit again in this chamber.

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: So far no names have been communicated to us. And we are waiting. We are waiting.

Why are the European elections important?

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: And meanwhile, of course, as I said, these elections are coming up. Why should people vote? I mean, I know in this Parliament everyone will be voting. Everyone’s excited about the elections, but why should our viewers care?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, look at the chairs. They’re empty, but in a few minutes, they will be filled with, 705 today. 720, in just over a month, where those 720 are going to be making decisions for you. Now you have a choice. You either decide who you want to sit in these chairs, or you let others decide for you. 

Those people sitting there from your country are going to be your country’s ambassadors
They’re going to be taking decisions that affect your everyday life, whether it is on decisions to do with climate, or on social issues. We adopt, for example, the Violence Against Women directive, a very, very big, let’s say pillar of legislation that we’ve been working on for many, many years. This is something you can affect with your vote every five years. Don’t miss out on that opportunity.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: And you’re on TikTok, right? I’ve seen you just joined TikTok.

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Yes, my kids are not so happy going back to the first question.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: How’s it going for you? Are you managing to get the message out to the people and bring this Parliament that feels so abstract, closer to the people?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, there was a choice to have made. Do we go on to social media platforms that I say my children have been saying for a very long time, please don’t go on it, Mom. Four countries vote at the age of 16 and one country will vote at the age of 17. 

We have seen and this is what I’ve done, going from one country to another, asking young people, where do you get your news? What I don’t want is for those young people to get their news potentially from propaganda or misinformation sources. So we said, let’s get on there, let’s get our message through. And hopefully, once those kids are scrolling through, they get something that says, oh, I like this, I’ll go vote.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: Okay. You pique their curiosity. And what about you? What’s your future looking like? Would you like one day to be the president of the European Commission or to run your country?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, this has been a privilege of a lifetime, to be able to have this responsibility that my colleagues have entrusted to me in the past two and a half years. I’m now working pretty hard back home because I need to run for my seat. And that’s my aim in order to be elected once again to represent the citizens of Malta and Gozo.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: And which elections are more important? The ones taking place in June in Europe or the ones taking place on the other side of the pond in November.

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, all democracies deserve a good election and a good campaign. There are more people in the world who can’t choose their leaders, and there are who can. So we will be very much looking, to the November elections. But first, we have pretty big ones here, and I’m hoping that those big ones will return a group of members who will come here and say, we want to work for more Europe. We want to work for the better lives of our citizens.

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EU Commission Vice-President urges stars to mobilise young voters

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EU Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas joins Euronews Correspondent Sasha Vakulina on the Global Conversation to discuss newly agreed migration policies and the upcoming European elections.

Has the European Union got it right in its recent migration pact with Egypt?

According to the United Nations, some 34,000 people have entered the EU so far this year outside of regulated channels, mostly across the Mediterranean Sea.

Brussels announced the signing of a €7.4 billion agreement with Egypt on 17 March, which includes provisions to curb migration amid concerns that conflicts overseas could aggravate the refugee crisis.

While rights groups have criticised this pact and other deals with Mauritania and Tunisia for ignoring humanitarian law, the EU maintains these agreements will allow for greater cooperation with the Middle East and Africa and help stabilise cash-strapped economies.

A deal with Lebanon might also be on the cards following reports that Cyprus is struggling to cope with a surge of migrant arrivals from the Middle East.

But how will these pacts affect voting behaviour in the EU Parliament elections and what will the next administration look like amid fears of heightened polarisation? EU Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas shares his insights.

To watch this episode of the Global Conversation, click on the video in the media player above or read the full interview below.

Sasha Vakulina, Euronews: Let’s start with one of the most burning issues when it comes to the EU policies – migration. When you became the Commissioner in 2019, it was already an important issue. The crisis is now in a different dimension – there are more conflicts and there is the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. How do you see current EU migration policies, given the recent agreements signed with Egypt and Tunisia, do you think we’re going to see more agreements of this kind?

Margaritis Schinas, EU Commission Vice-President: In the current political cycle, with migration, we had to work like firefighters and architects. Like firefighters, in dealing with the many crises, both at our external border but also within the union, running from crisis to crisis, from incident to incident, ship to ship. And I would dare say in most cases, successfully managing the many migration emergencies. 

Next to that for the first time, after decades of failure, we managed to produce a major European agreement on a new EU pact for migration and asylum.

Since 20 December last year, Europe, at last, has had a comprehensive, holistic migration policy that starts at our borders, rather, starts with countries of origin and transit (I will come to Egypt in a second) then on a more federalised control of our external border, and finally on solidarity.

When it comes to the external dimension of migration policy, we have invested lots of time and effort, and many of my colleagues from the president down – President Michel, also very helpful in that – we tried to establish partnerships with the 25 countries of origin and transit that mattered to us on migration. We will never be able to cope internally unless we’re able to cope externally.

 And I think that now with a landmark agreement with Egypt, which is following the line of our earlier statement with Turkey, following the agreement with Tunisia, now we have a web of partnership agreements with major migration partners that will undoubtedly help us to improve the situation in managing migration flows in a cooperative way.

The rise of populism

Sasha Vakulina, Euronews: Let’s talk a little more about the elections. Migration, of course, has always been one of the most divisive issues for national politics and European politics. We have seen over the past years that across Europe, the governments are shifting to the right. Are you worried about the possible swing from centre to right ahead of the EU elections in June?

Margaritis Schinas, EU Commission Vice-President: First of all, I think that we have to be collectively proud of the European Union because we are a union of democracies. Elections are a good thing for us. This is why people envy us, this is why we are so admired in the world because we have elections, free open elections. The European election is the second most numerous electoral process on the planet after the Indian elections. So, no, I’m not particularly worried.

Okay, 24 per cent of the Dutch people voted for Geert Wilders, but 76 per cent did not. And he will not be the Prime Minister of the Netherlands. And if you look at Poland, it was not the populist right that won, it was Donald Tusk and his moderate allies.

If you look at Rome, I don’t see Giorgia Meloni as a catalyst for the extreme Putinophiles, I see her as a barrage to the extreme right and the friends of Putin. So let’s wait a bit. Let’s not jump to a conclusion. We still have two months. Let’s see what happens.

Sasha Vakulina, Euronews: Do you consider your political group having an alliance with the far right? And where would be the red line that your political group would not cross when it comes to making possible alliances?

Margaritis Schinas, EU Commission Vice-President: Well, I am here in my quality as Vice president of the European Commission, I am not after Manfred Weber’s job, but, I can offer my personal view of how things are developing. I think the EPP would be at the heart of a broad coalition of moderate pro-European forces. As it has always been the case.

So far I do not see the EPP of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for example, joining any extreme right allies. This will not happen. Kyriakos and Jean-Claude Juncker are the ones who wanted Orbán out of the EPP, I may remind you. So I see the EPP central at the heart of the new web of political alliances in the European Parliament.

I see that on certain subjects we can work, as we did for the migration pact – a large chunk of the ECR, Giorgia Meloni and the Italian MEPs of Fratelli d’Italia overwhelmingly backed our pact, together with the liberals, the centre-right and the socialists. So that’s how I see the centre of gravity in the new parliament.

Star power

Sasha Vakulina, Euronews: Do you consider doing more now in terms of motivating the young Europeans to come to the polls and vote in June, specifically those for whom that’s going to be the very first election?

Margaritis Schinas, EU Commission Vice-President: Absolutely, I mean, look what happened during the Brexit referendum. We had so many inspiring pro-European figures admired in the UK, but the ‘Yes’ vote failed to mobilise them. And it was a mistake that we paid dearly. Let’s not make the same mistake in the European elections.

There are so many leaders out there in sports, in culture, in arts and philosophy and creative industries. We are the envy of the world when it comes to football. In all areas, we excel.

Most of these people are committed Europeans, they work across borders, and they make their reputation across borders. What’s wrong with having these people talk to young Europeans and tell them to go to vote? 

That’s, I think, something that governments should also embrace. I’m doing it from Brussels. I don’t think that commissioners are the right people to talk to young people, to tell them to vote. Probably it will create the opposite effect. 

But I take the opportunity of the launch of the new Euronews now to make this appeal to those who lead by example to the role models. These are the people whom we need.

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Charles Michel: We need to give Ukraine more military equipment

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Euronews Correspondent Shona Murray sits down with European Council President, Charles Michel, to discuss support for war-ravaged Ukraine and the lack of consensus among EU leaders on the situation in Gaza.

The upcoming European elections, widely regarded as the world’s largest transnational vote, are set to bring about significant policy shifts, affecting the EU’s position on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, the transition to a greener continent and various economic challenges.

Over 400 million European voters will take the polls in June and elect a new Strasbourg-based parliament that will, in turn, appoint Brussels’ next line of top officials. 

European Council President, Charles Michel will remain in his position as representative of the 27 member states at EU summits until his mandate ends in December. Michel had announced he would run for election but revised his decision at the end of January.

If he had been elected, EU leaders would have needed to quickly agree on a successor or allow Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose country is set to assume the rotating presidency on the EU Council in July, to lead the organisation.

As the EU budget comes under close examination, the bloc aims to reinstate pre-COVID fiscal rules aimed at limiting debt and deficits, Brussels is currently managing the consequences of borrowing approximately €807 billion over the past four years to mitigate the economic and social impacts of COVID-19.

To watch this episode of the Global Conversation, click on the video in the media player above, or read the interview in full below.

Shona Murray, Euronews: Forty-six per cent of voters say that they want less influence by the European institutions, the European Council, the European Commission and more power, particularly going to national governments. Why do you think that is? Do you think that represents some sort of failure by the institutions, a lack of perception?

Charles Michel, President of the European Council: No, I’m not surprised. But on the other hand, I know that many people across the EU, know, for instance, if we face COVID-19, that the answer, the solution will be at the European Union’s level – if there is an energy crisis, if there is inflation, if there are challenges related to climate change. 

We need more European cooperation and coordination. And I think it is a mistake to try to oppose the national level and the European Union’s level. If we have strong member states, if we have a strong European Union, then it will be good and positive for all our citizens across the EU.

Shona Murray, Euronews: And on that issue of delivering peace in Europe, you said yesterday that if we don’t give Ukraine enough support now to stop Russia, we here are next, we have heard this a lot over the past two years, but it is resurgent. 

We heard, for example, the Spanish defence minister saying she said she doesn’t think that people realise the grave danger we’re in right now. Why are you saying that right now? What evidence do you have, and what are you calling for?

Charles Michel, President of the European Council: I must first tell the people the truth. We are facing a huge challenge with this decision made by Russia to invade Ukraine. And it’s not only a challenge for the Ukrainians, it’s a challenge for all of us, who believe in the fundamentals of democratic principles. And I am absolutely convinced that this is a serious threat. 

That’s why I feel that we did and are doing what’s needed. We immediately decided and we are united to support Ukraine and to sanction Russia, to put pressure on Russia. But this is not enough. We need to do more. 

We need to act quickly. And it’s why, once again, we try to make concrete steps to provide more military equipment to Ukraine, more financial support for Ukraine and to put more pressure against Russia. This is needed if we believe in peace, security and prosperity which are the premises of the founding fathers of this European project.

Shona Murray, Euronews:  But you’re going far beyond that. You’re calling for a war economy, essentially the mobilisation of all sectors of the economies throughout Europe. It’s a fundamental shift in the structure of societies.

Charles Michel, President of the European Council: Yes. And you are absolutely right that I want us to do more. Why? Because if we observe the last decades, this European Union project was built on the idea that we have common values and that we need to cooperate for more prosperity. All of us understand that we need to adapt our economic model. We need to invest much more in our defence industrial base to protect our stability and security.

Shona Murray, Euronews: But why are you saying a war economy now? Is it because of the situation in Ukraine that there’s a stalemate, that there doesn’t seem to be any significant gains predicted for Ukraine in the coming year?

Charles Michel, President of the European Council: On the one hand, I think it is very good that Ukraine succeeded in resisting and pushing back, but it’s not enough that it succeeded in taking more control of the Black Sea. This is very important. We don’t talk so much about it, but from a strategic point of view, this is important. 

On the other hand, today this is not a secret that, Russia is in a stronger position from a military point of view in terms of ammunition and military equipment. And that’s why there is this sense of urgency, that we need to provide more military equipment. Now, not in two years. It would be too late. Now. 

That’s why we concretely support, for instance, this Czech initiative. I commend this decision made by the Czech authorities to propose to many other countries, to purchase together military equipment so that very quickly this equipment can be delivered to Ukraine.

Shona Murray, Euronews: I want to move on to another major issue, which is the situation in the Middle East because obviously, part of your role as president of the European Council is to build consensus on complex issues amongst EU member states. And we’re seeing quite heartbreaking scenes in Gaza at the moment as a result of Israel’s response to Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack against Israelis on 7 October. 

But we’re hearing things like starvation used as a method of war, as Josep Borrell has said, the monumental death toll on children and the lack of basic medical supplies for amputations. Has the EU been weakened by this? Do you feel that there may be double standards, that there’s not as much unity or sympathy for Palestinians as there is for Israeli civilians and Ukrainian civilians?

Charles Michel, President of the European Council: First, I’m observing that we are more and more united at the European Union level. But we should tell the truth. This was exactly at the beginning, following this, attack launched by Hamas. We were on the same page in the condemnation of Hamas. There’s no doubt that this was a terrible terrorist attack. But on the other hand, it was more difficult to have a unanimous position in the European Council. Why? Because our member states have their own relationship with Israel and with Palestine, their own history. 

But what’s very important is, we are making huge progress. And I’m very confident that in a few days, we will be united with a very strong message based on two or three fundamental pillars. 

1.  Humanitarian access. No double standards. Each civilian life matters. It must be extremely clear. And all communication from the EU should be crystal clear on that topic if we want to be credible at the international level. 

2. We must do everything to avoid any further regional escalation. Lebanon, the Red Sea. It’s extremely important to do everything from a political and diplomatic point of view.

3. We are fully in support of the two-state solution. And on this topic – 27 member states, agreeing without any ambiguity on this important question.

Shona Murray, Euronews: But do you feel that there have been double standards?

Charles Michel, President of the European Council: I feel I’m being very sincere with you. On COVID-19, we did very well on climate change. We are setting the tone. We are setting, standards and others are following. The war against Ukraine – we succeeded in getting united to have a strong position. When it comes to the Middle East – I accept the criticism, that it took more time to get united because, from a starting point, there are differences between the member states. 

But in a few weeks, a few months, we will be in a position to make significant progress. And the trend, this is the unity, the direction is this – it is true that when there were some ambiguous communications from the EU leadership, it was being used by Putin, by the Kremlin to fuel this idea of, so-called Western hypocrisy. 

And I engage a lot, you know with African countries in the global South: Africa, Latin America, Central Asia. And I can feel that those countries are expecting us on the EU side to be very clear, to promote always and everywhere, international law and rules-based order, including in the Middle East.



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How will the EIB lead Europe’s green transition under its new chief?

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Euronews sits down with the President of the European Investment Bank, Nadia Calviño, to discuss how it is accelerating Europe’s goal to offset carbon emissions by 2050 and its efforts to rebuild Ukraine.

It’s the biggest multilateral lender in the world; the European Investment Bank is providing funds for green projects instead of fossil fuel investments. It is also financing the reconstruction of Ukraine and supporting innovation and competitiveness, not just in Europe but across the globe.

Euronews Correspondent Stefan Grobe spoke with Nadia Calviño, the Former Deputy Prime Minister of Spain and newly-appointed President of the European Investment Bank on The Global Conversation.

To watch the full interview click on the video in the media player above or read the full interview below.

Stefan Grobe, Euronews: You just started your six-year term a few weeks ago and already have a lot on your plate. I want to mention one priority, to begin with, Ukrainian reconstruction. Obviously, a monumental task that requires strong European commitments. I wonder how this is going to be managed, how do you fund projects that could still be destroyed by war?

Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank: Well, the bank has been active in Ukraine for a long time. And actually, since the war started, we have already invested €2 billion in Ukraine. It’s [also] very good news that last week, leaders agreed to reinforce the Ukraine facility. That’s also going to give more guarantees and more firepower to the European Investment Bank Group to continue to support Ukraine now and invest in the reconstruction once the war is over, as soon as possible, I hope.

The EIB’s fight against climate change

Stefan Grobe, Euronews: The EIB is also known by many people as the green bank.So, tell us a little about the projects, the industries, the numbers. And are investors still excited?

Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank: Absolutely. Well, last year we invested €49 billion in the green transition. So, I think it’s very good. And it’s really a good description of the bank to call us the climate bank. And we have consolidated our brand and we are financing, the whole cycle. That has to do with the green transition from R&D [research and technical development] and deployment of disruptive technologies to reinforcement of the grid. Also, decarbonisation of heavy industry, energy efficiency and net-zero technologies. And so, I think that is the right way to support the transition.

Stefan Grobe, Euronews: There is currently an increase in big carmakers delaying the rollout of new electric models, farmers protesting environmental regulations and populists ignoring climate policy. Is the Green Deal in real danger?

Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank: We are in a transition and changes are disruptive, there are costs involved, which is why the public sector, politicians, as well as public institutions such as the European Investment Bank Group need to accompany those sectors. 

We need to support the agricultural sector in undertaking the necessary investments. We need to support heavy industry to make these adjustments. We need citizens to have access to affordable green technologies. 

It is our duty to explain things and to accompany our economies and societies, to close the investment gap and ensure we seize the opportunities of these twin green and digital transitions.

Stefan Grobe, Euronews: The EIB’s investment report shows that European companies have increased investments in things like innovation, energy efficiency and supply chain diversification. However, the report also warns that there is a risk that corporate Europe is going to be divided, going forward. What is the issue here?

Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank: It is clear that companies have to think twice about undertaking some of the necessary investments. There is very high uncertainty and geopolitical tension that is also limiting the appetite, the risk appetite of corporations. And that is why the EIB has an important role in de-risking investments. 

When we invest in green hydrogen or a circular battery factory, we are really making this project possible because we bring with us other public investors, but also private investors that see the role of the bank as a very important element of de-risking, but also technical analysis. We rubber-stamp, to a certain extent, that this is a viable project. This is a good project and that is mobilising private investment.

Stefan Grobe, Euronews: You mentioned geopolitical tensions. A lot of people in Brussels and in the EU capitals fear the return of Donald Trump to the White House. Are you among them?

Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank: 2024 is an important year from the perspective that billions of citizens around the world are going to go to the polls, are going to vote and decide what future they want for their lives and their children, including the EU. 

We have the European elections coming up soon, and all these elections are certainly going to have a large impact on our destinies. But most importantly, I think the European elections should lead to a strong unity of Europeans and a solid commitment to remain together and to respond together, united and in a determined manner to the challenges around us. Because that has proven to be throughout history, the right way forward.

The EIB and the capital markets union

Stefan Grobe, Euronews: One key policy in Brussels and in Europe is competitiveness. And let me bring this up in connection with a good old goodie of EU policy ambitions, with a long shelf life, and that is the capital markets union [CMU]. A few days ago, the Council and Parliament agreed to review market infrastructure rules. Are you confident that this could come to a conclusion this year?

Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank: This is an area where I’ve been working in for many years. You know, I have a lot of experience in dealing with financial regulation. Capital markets union was already one of our top priorities 15 years ago, 10 years ago. And so, I hope that in the next mandate, we will be able to have an updated legal framework in this regard. 

But, in the meantime, as president of the European Investment Bank Group, I have already launched a number of workstreams in the House to see how we can be pioneers of some of the financial instruments that can form the building blocks of this actual capital markets union.

Stefan Grobe, Euronews: You just started your term here at the EIB in Luxembourg. Where do you want Europe to be in six years?

Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank: Well, that’s a very difficult question to reply to because who knows what can happen in the coming six years. Just looking back and thinking what we’ve been through with the pandemic, the war, inflation. I really hope that going forward, we are able to respond in an efficient manner to the challenges that will surely come our way. 

I hope that we have restored peace on our borders and that we can, you know, looking back, think that this was only a short period where so much war and destruction was surrounding the Union. And I hope that we will also see a strongly united, deeper, more integrated economy and society within our European Union and of course, prosperity, welfare and happiness for our kids and grandkids.

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Prognosis for Russia’s economy is ‘not good,’ says EU sanctions envoy

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Euronews speaks to David O’Sullivan, the EU’s sanctions envoy, about loopholes, circumvention, Russia’s economy and criticism over the EU’s response to war in the Middle East.

As the West continues to sanction Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine, some foreign companies have stepped into the fray and are supplying the Russian military with critical technologies prohibited by the EU, US and UK.

The EU’s special envoy for sanctions, David O’Sullivan, has been travelling to third countries with the aim of limiting sanctions circumvention. 

Listen to this episode of the Global Conversation by clicking the video player above, or read the full interview below.

‘There’s always going to be a degree of circumvention’

Shona Murray, Euronews: So your job is sanctions envoy, but I suppose really what you’re trying to do is ensure that sanctions potential is maximised so that other countries around the world or private entities are not undercutting the sanctions deployed by the US, the EU and the UK. Tell us a little bit about your role.

David O’Sullivan, EU Sanctions Envoy: Well, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. We have an unprecedented range of sanctions against Russia, more than we’ve ever sanctioned any other country. We have 60% of our imports, previous imports from Russia are under sanction, 55% of our exports. And obviously, ensuring effective implementation is very important. One part of that, which is my responsibility, is to reach out to countries that have not aligned with our sanctions.

Shona Murray, Euronews: So what would you say then would be a successful use of your time and this time next year, would you hope to see that these critical goods, this critical infrastructure, isn’t found on the battlefield in Ukraine?

David O’Sullivan, EU Sanctions Envoy: Well, we are already seeing that it’s getting more difficult for Russia to acquire these things. I think we have to be realistic. There’s always going to be a degree of circumvention. There’s money to be made. A lot of these products have previously been sold to other countries and are kind of out there on the free market. So if somebody wants to try and buy them, they are still available. But I think our main objective – and in this, I think we are succeeding – is to make it harder, to make it slower and to make it more expensive for Russia to access these products.

Russia increasingly relying on ‘substitute products’ from China

Shona Murray, Euronews: Do you worry, though, that Russia will just re-orient its economy completely and be able to take all of these exports from huge countries like China?

David O’Sullivan, EU Sanctions Envoy: Well, the thing to remember is that the point about these products and most of them – maybe for your viewers, we should explain – I mean, they are typically semiconductors, integrated circuits and fibre optical readers, flash memory cards. They’re things that have a perfectly innocent civilian application in normal circumstances. But they are largely made with US or EU technology. They are not easily replicated in other countries. So it’s hard for Russia to get them as we cease to export them and as we persuade countries, intermediary countries, to no longer re-export them to Russia. And I think, yes, we do see some evidence that it’s getting much more difficult. And they are using substitute products sometimes of Chinese origin, but which are of inferior quality. So this is giving the Ukrainian military a certain technological advantage on the battlefield.

War in Ukraine ‘a different situation’ for Europeans than the Israel-Hamas war

Shona Murray, Euronews: Have things changed for you or maybe become more difficult since the heinous terrorist attack by Hamas on 7 October? Because we saw criticisms from the likes of King Abdullah of Jordan, for example, who was concerned that the EU position when it came to international humanitarian law protecting civilians in Palestine wasn’t the same or wasn’t the same concern when it comes to civilians in Ukraine.

David O’Sullivan, EU Sanctions Envoy: I think they understand that for the Europeans, this is a different situation. I mean, Russia has attacked Ukraine without any provocation. Ukraine posed absolutely no threat to Russia. So this is an unprovoked, full-scale invasion of a sovereign country. And I think people understand why for us in Europe, we have to push back very strongly. And Mr Putin’s ambitions of re-establishing Russian hegemony in the immediate neighbourhood of Russia is something we cannot accept. So I think people do understand it’s different. And that is why, as Europeans, we have a particular obligation in this situation. Of course, I would argue we have also taken a firm position in relation to what’s happening in the Middle East. But I don’t sense that people see this as a sort of binary choice. I often explain we can manage more than one crisis at a time.

Russia is ‘cannibalising the economy’

Shona Murray, Euronews: But we hear from some member states that say that these [sanctions] are pointless and they’re just impacting the European economy. So citizens are suffering at a time when there’s a cost of living crisis. And yet the Russian economy is growing, albeit much slower, 1.1%, I think the IMF said. So what do you say to that response that this is pointless and Europeans are just suffering?

David O’Sullivan, EU Sanctions Envoy: Well, it does come at some cost to us, let’s be honest, because we traditionally have traded a lot with Russia. It’s still not a major part of our trading pattern. And I think companies have been able to find alternate markets. In terms of the effectiveness, I mean, honestly, we had three objectives. One was to deprive Russia, the Russian military, of the technology. The second was to deprive the Russian government of the revenue. And the third was to impose a high cost on the military-industrial complex. Across all three of those objectives, I think we have had quite a lot of success.

We are seeing Russia struggling to get hold of the technology it needs and is now turning to Iran or North Korea. And we do see evidence that the Russians are having to roll out older weapons, older tanks, in order to keep their military equipped. On the revenue side, we estimate that the Russians probably have about €400 billion less to spend. The Russian government traditionally had a surplus in their public expenditure. They’re now running a deficit of 2 to 3%. And yes, the Russian economy is growing a bit. But you need to look closely at why that’s the case. It’s because they’re massively investing in their military. 30% of Russian public expenditure is now on the military, nearly 10% of GDP. If you put your economy on a war footing, of course, you can bend everything to the interest of the military, but you’re cannibalising the economy. There’s no investment going into social welfare, education, health, into research. So the prognosis for the Russian economy, and that’s the third objective of reducing their industrial capacity, the prognosis is not good.

Addressing the loophole in Russian oil sanctions

Shona Murray, Euronews: India is buying a lot of Russian oil, refining and sending it back to the West. That seems kind of counterproductive. What is your position on that and how much of a loophole that seems to be?

David O’Sullivan, EU Sanctions Envoy: Well, we decided at the very beginning that we would not do an embargo on the export of Russian oil in the way that we did, for example, with Iran. The reason for that was because many parts of the global South were dependent on continuing to allow Russian oil to flow. And we took the position that we would allow those flows to continue. So it is perfectly legal for other countries. We’re no longer buying Russian oil, but it’s perfectly legal for other countries to buy it.

Shona Murray, Euronews: And sell it back to the West…

David O’Sullivan, EU Sanctions Envoy: We have kept the price at which it can normally be purchased in a way that still undermines the revenue that Russia gets. Our estimate is that in the first half of this year (2023), revenue from oil went down by 50% in Russia. But yes, they are still able to export it. And yes, in some cases like India, they refine it and send it back to us. The Indian argument would be that they’re the ones making the profit, not the Russians. I think the main objective for us is to make sure that the Russian revenue is severely impacted by the oil price cap. And I think we see a lot of evidence that that is the case.

Shona Murray, Euronews: Okay. David O’Sullivan, EU sanctions envoy, thank you very much for joining us on Global Conversation.

David O’Sullivan, EU Sanctions Envoy: Thank you.

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The far right is already part of the European mainstream

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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

The far right is not ascendant in the sense that it is banging on the door. It is already in the room and occupying part of the furniture, Tom Junes writes.

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In late November, Geert Wilders and his far-right PVV’s victory in the snap Dutch general elections seemingly stunned political observers across the media spectrum.

Analysts were quick to point out how the success of the far right was the result of “mainstreaming” by predominantly centre-right parties who tended to take over the far-right’s rhetoric and programmatic talking points on immigration.

And while Wilders’ result of 23.5% of the vote in a very fragmented partyscape was arguably a political “earthquake” in the Netherlands, dire statements about the far right’s ascendancy in Europe and pessimistic predictions about the upcoming European elections followed.

You win some, you lose some

It seemed quickly forgotten that just a month earlier in October, in Poland — a country with more than double the population of the Netherlands — a broad alliance of opposition parties managed to trounce the competing radical and far-right parties in an ugly and heavily contested election signalling the likely end of eight years of illiberal rule under Law and Justice (PiS).

Also in October, the far right underperformed in local elections in Bulgaria, a country where various far-right parties (ATAKA, NFSB, VMRO) had been junior governing partners or offered necessary silent support to minority governments for most of the past decade and a half.

Admittedly, neither Poland nor Bulgaria, owing to their post-communist transitions after 1989, have any traditional centre-right parties of the western European kind such as Christian-democratic or liberal parties that would have mainstreamed a generic far-right.

Nor is opposing immigration an exclusive talking point of the far right or centre-right in Central and Eastern Europe, as the nominally left-wing and populist SMER of Robert Fico in Slovakia proves.

Despite the claims of far-right ascendancy, populist, radical right and far-right parties have effectively been “mainstream” and part of the political status quo across Central and Eastern Europe for quite some time.

Poland’s PiS has been the requisite half of a political “duopoly” in the country since 2005, and Victor Orban’s Fidesz has ruled Hungary with a supermajority since 2010.

Slovakia’s SMER has governed for most of the past two decades, while Bulgaria’s far-right has exhibited a dynamic pluralism and series of metamorphoses in the past two decades with its current incarnation representing the third largest parliamentary force.

Seen as the “poorer periphery of the EU”, Central and Eastern Europe often fails to fit political models that are tailored to fit western European realities. But the latter has an enduring far-right phenomenon that goes back nearly a generation as well.

The West is not immune to an enduring far-right presence

Italy, the third-largest EU member state by population, is currently governed by a far-right party, Georgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, or Brothers of Italy.

And though Meloni is the country’s first far-right PM since Benito Mussolini, her party — like Matteo Salvini’s Lega or League — is part of a right-wing bloc that has governed Italy on and off since Silvio Berlusconi’s rise back in the 1990s.

If it would not be ironic to talk about ascendancy while noting that Geert Wilders is at present the Netherlands’ longest-serving MP, the breakthrough of the Dutch far right can be traced to the general elections of 2002 with the emergence and immediate government participation of the Lijst Pim Fortuyn.

The Dutch far right’s story is overshadowed by the neighbouring Flemish far right’s trajectory in Belgium following the first so-called “Black Sunday” in 1991 with governmental participation prevented by a three-decade-old cordon sanitaire against Vlaams Belang (formerly Vlaams Blok).

This was not the case in Austria, where the FPÖ under Jörg Haider managed to enter government in 2000 triggering widespread dismay and outcry about the rise of the extreme right.

Conflicting interests means far-right would struggle to unite

More recently, far-right parties have seen breakthroughs in several countries and entered government in Finland and Sweden, but perhaps the most mediatised case has been France with Marine Le Pen’s consecutive presidential run-off defeats to Emmanuel Macron.

Yet, Le Pen’s presidential campaigns built on her father’s surprise performance back in 2002 which — though ultimately providing incumbent president Jacques Chirac with a Belarusian-style vote share — already signalled the incipient rise of the French far right.

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In the end, far-right parties’ influence has grown over the past two decades as “mainstream” parties increasingly emulated their agenda while their own performance in turn has made far-right parties now become one of several “acceptable” options for voters in many countries.

Does this mean that some broad international far-right alliance is possible in Europe? In theory, perhaps. In practice, this would be rather unlikely since far-right parties tend to have more conflicting interests than what could unite them beyond opposing immigration.

In addition, European elections tend to produce different results than national elections. 

At the moment, there are two groups that bring together radical right and far-right parties (ID and ECR) in the European Parliament. Yet, more than half of their MEPs actually come from only three countries: Poland, France, and Italy.

More so, Wilders doesn’t even have a single MEP, while Meloni’s European policies have been so mainstream that she could more probably lead her party into the EPP rather than join some large yet-to-materialise anti-establishment far-right alliance.

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The far right is already sitting on your sofa

Does this mean that the far right has no clout? On the contrary, it does, but exactly because it is already part of the mainstream in many countries and able to exert a profound influence on the policies of other parties.

The far right is not ascendant in the sense that it is banging on the door. It is already in the room and occupying part of the furniture which requires a change in thinking, meaning, how to deal with a far-right that is not going away in the short run.

And it should also tell those who wish to oppose the far right that these parties’ success and the fact that they are now deemed salonfähig is due to the existence of a large percentage of people who endorse racist, homophobic, sexist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobe, illiberal and authoritarian views. 

Perhaps that is something more profound to reflect upon when we think about Europe’s political future.

Tom Junes is a historian and Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is the author of “Student Politics in Communist Poland: Generations of Consent and Dissent”.

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