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00:00Defense and competitiveness central in the next EU strategic agenda to be adopted by leaders in Brussels.
00:11Europe braces as extreme weather events hit early days of summer.
00:22The European Parliament's largest group, the European People's Party,
00:27said it would allow new parties into its ranks on Tuesday.
00:32One notable member was Hungarian party Tisza and its leader Peter Magá.
00:38Magá is the political opponent of Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban,
00:43who left the EPP over disagreements on the rule of law in Hungary.
00:47Brussels and the European Parliament helped a lot to Prime Minister Orban to play this game in Hungary
00:53and to use this Article 7 procedure, the rule of law procedure, for his own political purposes.
01:02So we see that we need a new approach from the European Parliament as well.
01:08Our priority is to close the Article 7 procedure and to close the rule of law procedure
01:14and somehow to bring back home to Hungary the EU funds,
01:17which are crucial for the Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises, from the Hungarian farmer.
01:22The Dutch farmer citizen movement has also been accepted into the EPP group for the first time.
01:29Its members said that their party contests the goals of the Green Deal.
01:33We as a BBB party are very critical of the intermediate binding targets for 2040
01:39and we will continue to be critical about these.
01:43With its 14 new members, the EPP group now has 190 seats
01:48and has reaffirmed its position as the strongest political group in the European Parliament.
01:54Today is a great moment for us as the EPP. We have the constitutive meeting,
01:58so the new elected colleagues will come together and that shows the strength of the EPP
02:03thanks to the support of the voters of Europe.
02:06So that is the starting point for the next five years.
02:09However, entrances have also brought exits, such as the smaller Hungarian coalition party, KDNP,
02:15who announced that they are leaving the group.
02:22The response to the war in Ukraine has had a major impact on shaping the EU's strategic agenda,
02:29a political roadmap that the next Commission must follow until 2029, designed by the European Council.
02:35As an analyst weighing on it, the Union has said it will not give up on the Green Deal and the digital agenda,
02:41but there is a shift in focus towards security and autonomy.
02:46Now the green transition, green policies are taking another spin in Europe.
02:52They are put at the service of competitiveness on the one hand and security on the other,
02:58which makes sense, because over the last five years we have done a lot of legislation
03:03with the European Green Deal and now we need to turn into implementation.
03:06A strong and secure Europe and a prosperous and competitive Europe are the main drivers of the agenda.
03:13It will be materialised by greater industrial capacity in civil and military terms,
03:19also to reduce dependence on the USA.
03:22There is another element which is very important here, which is of course the US election.
03:26And what happens if Trump is back at the White House and what happens to Europe
03:31in terms of its own defence capabilities in case of a, let's say, withdrawal or less support by the United States,
03:42also in the context of NATO.
03:44Analysts agree that the willpower of the 27 EU leaders for this remain unquestioned,
03:49but what about the money needed to make it a reality?
03:53First of all, we need to use the European budget in a better way.
03:56So there is the whole discussion about how is the new EU budget going to look like,
04:01how are we going to spend this money and what is going to be the size of it.
04:05The second is the European Investment Bank, which will certainly play a greater role in the coming years
04:10when it comes to all these elements.
04:13And finally, new debt.
04:15Is there the possibility to create a new facility after the end of Next Generation EU in 2026?
04:21The agenda also includes a chapter called Free and Democratic Europe to strengthen the rule of law.
04:28The adoption of the agenda will take place during the next EU summit on June 27th and 28th in Brussels.
04:39Impunity is over, declared Ilva Johansson, Commissioner for Home Affairs,
04:45at a meeting on sexual and labour trafficking of human beings.
04:49Figures collected by Europol in April show 55 of the most dangerous criminal networks in Europe engage in trafficking.
05:00Last year, traffickers generated over 200 billion dollars worldwide.
05:06We are now countering the culture of impunity with the new EU asset recovery rules that I put forward.
05:13We'll take away the fast cars, big houses and mountains of cash from the criminals.
05:20The anti-trafficking directive proposed by the EU aims to make so-called knowing use a crime in all member states.
05:29In the updated anti-trafficking directive, I've made sure it will soon be a crime in the whole European Union
05:37to knowingly use the service of trafficked victims.
05:40Previously, this was only criminalised in a few member states.
05:45And now we're ending this patchwork of practices.
05:51Russia's war against Ukraine has also put Ukrainian refugees at risk of human traffickers and exploitation.
05:59Ukrainian women and children remain vulnerable and a target.
06:03The threat is not over. We need to remain vigilant.
06:07And I'm glad in March Europol set up an operational task force against traffickers targeting Ukrainians.
06:16Sexual exploitation isn't the only form of human trafficking.
06:2140% of all victims are trafficked for labour exploitation.
06:25A joint action involving 31 countries and Europol to address labour exploitation of non-EU nationals and refugees was launched in April.
06:37This resulted in 51 arrests and the identification of 334 potential victims.
06:45Inspections were conducted across sectors such as catering, food processing, beauty services, logistics, agriculture and construction.
06:54The new directive will also help to tackle new kinds of trafficking such as of surrogate mothers, forced marriage and illegal adoption.
07:07NATO's top officials said China could face sanctions for helping Russia.
07:13Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, said China's support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine could mean it faces economic consequences.
07:27In an interview with the BBC, Stoltenberg said China was trying to get it both ways by propping up the Russian war economy
07:35while trying to maintain a normal economic relationship with European and NATO allies.
07:43He said they shared technologies like microelectronics with Russia, which were key for them to build missiles and weapons against Ukraine.
07:53Stoltenberg said there was an ongoing conversation regarding possible sanctions against China,
07:59stating that if China doesn't change their behaviour, NATO should consider some kind of economic cost.
08:08A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to Stoltenberg's warnings.
08:30Stoltenberg also discussed Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea,
08:36saying that it showed Russia's dependence on what he described as other authoritarian powers.
08:46Spain's civil guard, supported by Europol and the United States FBI, has dismantled a U.S. intelligence agency
08:54Spain's civil guard, supported by Europol and the United States FBI, has dismantled a U.S. intelligence agency
09:04Spanish authorities have also arrested nine people in Girona, Cadiz, Almeria and Tenerife.
09:10Two of them have been remanded in custody.
09:14The centre's servers were used to disseminate worldwide propaganda through radio stations, news agencies and social media,
09:21and sent messages capable of inciting terrorism in at least 30 languages.
09:27The network ordered the unsuccessful attack on a bus carrying Real Madrid footballers,
09:32and also sent messages encouraging attacks on the Euros in Germany and the Paris Olympics.
09:39In its first days of summer, Turkey is hit by a massive heat wave,
09:44with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees in the southern and western regions of the country.
09:50Both the humidity rate and the temperature felt are above seasonal norms, as people rushed to the sea.
09:58Hungary is also suffering from a massive heat wave.
10:02The country's national chief medical officer has issued the highest level of heat alert,
10:08a level 3 warning, which is in place until midnight on Saturday, across the entire country.
10:17Experts urge everyone to drink more fluids and to wear a mask.
10:22The European Championship fan zone in Leipzig and Augustusplatz, Germany,
10:27were temporarily closed on Tuesday afternoon, due to an unexpected thunderstorm.
10:34The European Championship fan zone in Leipzig and Augustusplatz, Germany,
10:39were temporarily closed on Tuesday afternoon, due to an unexpected thunderstorm.
10:45The fan zones in Berlin, Cologne and Dusseldorf have also previously been closed,
10:50due to a severe weather warning.
11:03French actress Anouk Aimee, who starred in 70 films throughout her career,
11:09French actress Anouk Aimee, who starred in 70 films throughout her career,
11:15has died at the age of 92.
11:17Her death was announced on Tuesday by her daughter, actress Manuela Papatakis.
11:22Known for her roles in European at-house films, such as Jack Demi's Lola,
11:27Aimee was one of Europe's best-loved actresses.
11:31She was born in Paris as Françoise Dreyfus in April 1932,
11:36a name she later changed after landing her first role as Anouk in La maison sous la mer,
11:42a scion of a theatrical family Aimee lived her last years in Paris.