Latest news bulletin | March 19th – Evening
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Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/19/latest-news-bulletin-march-19th-evening
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:00The EU's foreign affairs chief, Kaya Kallas, has said the statements that followed the
00:04Trump-Putin phone call gave a picture of how things are going in the US brokered negotiations
00:10for a ceasefire in Russia's war on Ukraine.
00:13Speaking live on Euronews Europe today, Kallas noted the differences in the statements from
00:18the US and that of the Kremlin and said it was important to follow that of the US.
00:25I think it's really good to see how these things are going, I mean President Trump was
00:33very clear, the aid to Ukraine was not discussed, but President Putin said that it was discussed
00:41so I rather believe President Trump in this.
00:46Kallas described the current US-led talks as shuttle diplomacy and said Europe will
00:51have a seat on the table when formal negotiations on a peace settlement begin.
00:57There is no table where Russia and Ukraine are sitting right now, it's a shuttle diplomacy,
01:02I mean US is talking to Europeans, US is talking to the Russians, US is talking to the Ukrainians.
01:10Of course any deal to really work you need the Europeans to be around the table and agree
01:17to the deal because the implementation of the deal has to be in the hands of Europe.
01:22The EU's top diplomat also said there is no wedge between Brussels and the Trump's administration,
01:28she urged both sides to remain united in the face of Russia's aggression in Ukraine.
01:33I don't see any wedge there and of course Russia really wants to see US and Europe divided
01:41because then they are much stronger, if we are divided let's not give them that.
01:45KAYAZ has tabled a proposal to release a staggering 40 billion euros in fresh military
01:51support for Ukraine. The draft proposal seen by Euronews would see participating countries
01:57pitching with pledges, meaning it would not require the unanimous approval of all 27 EU
02:03member states.
02:04In a haze of smoke and surrounded by chaos, the Hungarian parliament passed a bill banning
02:12pride events. Opposition lawmakers from the Momentum party ignited the smoke bombs in
02:18the chamber, however the protests failed to prevent the law from passing by a two-thirds
02:23majority. During Monday's debate on the bill, Gergely Gulyaz, who represents the government
02:29said it is necessary to ban the march to protect children from so-called sexual propaganda.
02:37We want to strengthen the government's intention to consider the issue of child protection
02:43to be of paramount importance. This is not only true in the case of pride, it is also
02:48true in the sense that today we spend three times as much on the Hungarian child protection
02:53system as the post-communist government spent in the last year.
02:56However, Momentum fails to believe the ban is about protecting children.
03:00If the fate of Hungarian children were a little more important to them, they would not give
03:05mercy to pedophile criminals, the Hungarian children's homes would not be in such a state,
03:09and the Hungarian education system would not be in such a state.
03:14Pride marches are held in over 100 countries around the world, including all EU member
03:19states. Under the new Hungarian law, not only organizers but also the participants are subject
03:25to committing an offence. Attending a banned event will carry fines of up to 500 euros.
03:30Authorities can now also use facial recognition software to help identify attendees.
03:41EU foreign ministers debated ways Radio Free Europe could be kept afloat, after the Trump
03:47administration announced sweeping cuts to the pro-democracy media outlet over the weekend.
03:52The Czech Republic, which has hosted Radio Free Europe for 25 years, is leading an EU
03:57push to keep the network alive. Sweden's EU affair minister expressed support for the
04:02initiative on Tuesday.
04:05Today we will also support a Czech initiative, which Sweden has co-signed, with the ambition
04:11of making sure that Radio Free Europe really continues to be an important voice for freedom
04:18and democracy, especially in those places where it is most needed.
04:23But EU foreign chief Kayakala said finding funding may not be easy.
04:28It is sad to hear that the US is withdrawing its funding. Now the question for us is can
04:34we come in with our funding to fill the void that the US is leaving. The answer to that
04:45question is that not automatically, because we have a lot of organizations who are coming
04:50with the same request to us. But there was really a push from the foreign ministers to
04:57discuss this and find a way.
05:00Radio Free Europe began broadcasting during the Cold War, and its coverage has played
05:04an important role in countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.
05:10There was the most anticipated phone call in the world. Moscow had one week to respond
05:18to a 30-day ceasefire proposal by Washington, which Ukraine had agreed upon. What's missing
05:26in this crucial moment, which can help put an end to the largest and bloodiest war in
05:33Europe since World War II, is Europe itself. The EU has not participated in the talks,
05:40which can put an end to the war at its own borders. And that was a mistake, says Deputy
05:46Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium.
05:50We need to be involved in the process. It is not yet the case, and we think that it's
05:57certainly a mistake. It's not the role of President Trump representing the interests
06:02of Europe. And Europe should be around the table with its own representatives. I emphasize
06:12the key role that Kaja Kalas, our representative for the foreign policy of Europe, is playing.
06:21On top of getting its seat at the table, the EU is facing a challenge of getting all members
06:25agree first among themselves.
06:27The goal of the Americans is peace. And the Americans are talking about peace with the Russians.
06:35Brussels wants to continue the war. So it is doubtful that entities, countries, organizations
06:43that want to continue the war would call for peace talks.
06:51Germany's parliament on Tuesday passed a historic financial package to massively boost defence
06:57and infrastructure spending. The bill unlocks billions in defence spending and sets up another
07:03500 billion fund for infrastructure projects. But some experts say a temporary reform is
07:09not enough, and a full reform of the so-called debt break is needed.
07:14The package would be a very important step in the right direction. But that alone won't
07:19be enough. We need a reform of the debt break to permanently invest in infrastructure,
07:25education and defence in the federal budget. And we also need a reform in bureaucracy,
07:32in workers, in other areas, so that such investments can be implemented at all.
07:39Experts have also warned that any infrastructure projects will need additional reforms to address
07:45Germany's labour shortage.
07:48We don't have a good welcome culture for people from abroad, regardless of whether they are
07:53highly or poorly qualified. And we need to address this blind spot if Germany wants to
07:58be competitive and stay competitive.
08:01A hundred billion of the fund will go towards supporting climate measures, a key concession
08:06CDU leader Friedrich Merz made to get the Greens to agree on the package.
08:12The bill made it through parliament with 513 votes in its favour.
08:18The bill passed marks a historic shift in Germany's attitude towards taking on debt,
08:23triggered by a felt need to increase defence spending. But the bill still needs the approval
08:28of the parliament's upper house to become law.
08:31Tamsin Paternoster, in Berlin, for Euronews.
08:36Two NASA astronauts stuck in space returned to Earth on Tuesday, hitching a different
08:42ride home to close out a saga that began with a bungled test flight over nine months ago.
08:48Within an hour, Bud Wilmore and Suni Williams were out of their capsule, waving and smiling
08:54at the cameras, while being hustled away in reclining stretchers for routine medical checks.
09:00They both arrived at the International Space Station, ISS, early June last year and were
09:05to return home no more than 10 days later.
09:08The International Space Station program, the Commercial Crew Program and SpaceX came up
09:13with the plan that we just witnessed. The Crew 10 launch last week, the docking over
09:17the weekend, the undock early today and then the landing that we just witnessed.
09:23And splashdown, Crew 9 back on Earth.
09:26Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico early Tuesday evening, just hours
09:32after departing ISS. Splashdown occurred off the coast of Tallahassee in the Florida panhandle,
09:38bringing their unplanned odyssey to an end.
09:45Criminal organizations are the new soldiers in a hybrid war.
09:50Mafias have teamed up with hostile countries to threaten the European Union with cross-border
09:56criminal activities that have destabilizing political effects.
10:02The alert was issued by the EU's police agency Europol on Tuesday.
10:09Criminal organizations, of course, they are agile, they are borderless, they are controlling
10:18and they work to destabilize. So criminal organizations, they look always for opportunities.
10:24If they see an opportunity to work with a state actor, they will work with a state actor.
10:30According to the European Union, one of the most worrying examples of the interaction
10:35between organized crime and hostile state actors is illegal immigration. Human traffickers
10:41are being used by foreign powers such as Belarus to destabilize its neighbors in exchange for money.
10:49This is the modus operandi of the criminal gangs who cooperate very closely with the
10:54Belarusian and Russian government because without engagement of state actors from Belarus
11:00and Russia, it would be impossible to create this migration route.
11:07Europol has warned of risks coming from conflict zones and has established close cooperation
11:12with the Ukrainian authorities.
11:15Europol is also suggesting the European institutions to prepare a strategy in order to tackle the
11:22possible emerging risk coming from a post-war scenario in Ukraine where chaos could become
11:29a weapon for criminal organizations. Sergio Cantone, Denach, for Euronews.