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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/2025/03/20/latest-news-bulletin-march-20th-midday
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:00Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to win time and when on the battleground while
00:05Ukraine is ready for peace.
00:07This is according to Manfred Weber, the president of the center-right European People's Party
00:12EPP.
00:13Speaking in a live interview hours before a crunch summit of EU leaders kicked off in
00:18Brussels, Weber said the Trump administration in the US is now seeing the reality.
00:23Well, the result is that there is no ceasefire.
00:26That's the result in this moment of time.
00:28There is no final agreement and we don't know what really will happen in the next upcoming
00:33days on the battleground.
00:35And you can really see that Zelensky, the Ukrainians are ready to go for peace and Putin
00:40is playing.
00:41He wants to win time.
00:42He wants to win on the battleground.
00:44That's a reality.
00:45He has no interest to stop the war.
00:46Now also the American administration is now arriving in this reality that the war is not
00:52easy to be stopped because Putin has a clear plan and that means to really conquer the
00:57really occupy Ukraine.
00:59The EPP leader also reacted to Europe's current exclusion in the telephone diplomacy between
01:05the three leaders.
01:06So we have a Ukraine.
01:07Weber said Europe and Ukraine must be on the table.
01:10Well, absolutely.
01:11Europe and Ukraine must be on the table and America must understand there will be no agreement
01:17at all without the country of Ukraine.
01:20It's a sovereign country.
01:21They have their president.
01:22They have the parliament.
01:23They have national unity in defending themselves and their values, democracy and freedom.
01:28So that's why it's unthinkable.
01:30High on Thursday's summit agenda are plans to rearm Europe so as to ensure it can rely
01:36on its armed forces and military might in the event of aggression.
01:42What I want to say is that we would save a lot of money if we would do things together.
01:47That's why the main initiative is now come and procurement, do things together, invest
01:52in Europe, buy European, and we need some flagship projects where people immediately
01:57understand that as Europeans together, we are better protected.
02:01Look for cyber defense where everybody understands that there is no national border anymore,
02:05or a missile defense system, a drone defense system.
02:08Let's do this on the Polish-Belarusian border for all Europe.
02:13Then we are better protected if we do it together.
02:16Thursday's emergency meeting in Brussels was convened in reaction to Trump's fast-moving
02:20diplomacy.
02:21The meeting will also address the need to boost competitiveness, the situation in the
02:25Middle East, amongst others.
02:31The threat of Russia attacking the EU and NATO states from the territory of Belarus
02:36should be taken very seriously.
02:39Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya told Euronews, warning that it will depend
02:44on whether Ukraine's interests are sacrificed now.
02:48How do you assess this risk?
02:52I would perceive these threats very seriously, because while Lukashenko is in power, Belarusian
03:01land can be used as a launching pad for attack again on Ukraine or on our Western neighbors.
03:08It's no problem for Lukashenko to serve Putin and give our land and infrastructure for the
03:15invasion.
03:16But until the regime is there, there will be a constant threat to your security.
03:22We have to dismantle this regime, to get rid of Lukashenko, only in this case Belarus will
03:26not be the source of constant blackmailing with migrants, you know, a nuclear weapon
03:31or joint drills with the Russians.
03:35Do you think the risk of the possible invasion from the territory of Belarus towards NATO
03:41members, the Baltic states, could be coming as quickly as this year?
03:46Look, I can't predict this, because dictators are irrational.
03:50I understand that all the countries who want peace in our region, including the USA, not
03:58to provide long-lasting peace, it would allow Russian troops to regroup, to strengthen itself
04:08and to start invasion or blackmail with the invasion in the nearest future.
04:14So on the fact how the European Union, together with hopefully the USA, will act now, if they
04:23will not sacrifice with the Ukrainian territories or with Ukrainian interests, that will embolden
04:30the Russians, so maybe it will not happen.
04:33But if the solutions that we are taking now about Belarus, about Ukraine, that we are
04:38ready to leave some territories under Russian influence, so it will show that the democratic
04:47world cannot answer decisively, that they accept that subjugation or invasion of other
04:54countries is possible and they don't have instruments to counter this, it might happen
05:01that they will knock to the doors of the European Union.
05:08Viktor Orbán, Hungary's righteous Prime Minister, awarded Italy's Deputy Prime Minister
05:13Matteo Salvini with a Medal of Honor for what he called defending traditional Christian
05:18values and fighting migration.
05:22At the awarding ceremony in Brussels, Orbán applauded the United States administration
05:27migration policy.
05:28The Union cannot be a financial network whose goal is to weaken the national governments.
05:35We will need the clean-up that our friends are doing in the USA in Brussels as well.
05:41Matteo Salvini is the leader of Italy's far-right anti-migration Lega party.
05:47During his acceptance speech, he denounced the EU Commission's 800 billion euro defence
05:52plan and called on the EU to take concrete action to ensure peace.
06:00President Trump was on the phone with Putin to talk about peace, while today President
06:07Trump was on the phone with Zelensky to talk about peace.
06:11In these buildings there is someone who talks about war, who prepares for war, who talks
06:17about weapons, and I don't think that the future of Europe is the third world war, so
06:22I think that here there are people who want peace, peace, work, serenity, well-being.
06:31Salvini has previously been accused of migrant kidnapping over his refusal to let a migrant
06:35rescue boat dock in Italy in 2019.
06:39The Italian court acquitted him last year.
06:42Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Istanbul on Thursday despite a demonstration
06:50ban implemented by local authorities.
06:52People are protesting against the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul's mayor who is also
06:57a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
07:01What has been done is absolutely unlawful, unlawful and baseless, this is not democracy.
07:10The leader of the mayor's Republican People's Party criticised the arrest and claimed Erdogan
07:15targeted İmamoğlu as he feared losing to him in the ballots.
07:19What has been done is a coup, a coup attempt.
07:24The Turkish Minister of Justice countered these allegations and said that the courts
07:28operate independently.
07:29It is extremely dangerous and wrong to claim that independent and non-independent jurisdiction
07:36is carrying out investigations on different sides, with statements such as a coup.
07:42European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed deep concern over the arrest.
07:47She reminded Turkey of its obligation to uphold democratic values.
07:52We want Turkey to remain anchored to Europe but this requires a clear commitment to democratic
07:58norms and practices and it is key that Turkey respects these fundamental principles.
08:05Prosecutors have accused İmamoğlu of corruption as well as aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'
08:10Party.
08:14The CEO of Barclays Europe has weighed in on Europe's economic attractiveness amid concerns
08:18over tariffs and global competition.
08:21His comments come as Germany's parliament this week approved a reform of its debt break
08:24proposed by Chancellor-in-Waiting Friedrich Merz.
08:30Attractiveness is inherently a relative concept and investors and the global capital that
08:36they represent have choices and where they apply their capital ultimately expresses that
08:42choice of relative attractiveness.
08:45So I think what we've seen in the year-to-date period is clearly a compression in the U.S.
08:54stock market for example and an increase in the indices that I look at for the European
09:00stock market.
09:01That tells you something.
09:03According to a recent report from Morgan Stanley, European equities have this year outperformed
09:07U.S. stocks by the widest margin since the year 2000.
09:11The MSCI Europe index has risen over 9% since January, beating the S&P slide of 4.5%.
09:19CEO Cesato also warned of a possible recession that could be triggered by the situation in
09:23the U.S.
09:24At the end of the day, the euro area has roughly 480 billion euros of goods exports to the
09:32U.S.
09:33Now, at the moment, the latest models that our research team have looked at are relatively
09:43mild in terms of the tariff assumption that's being made, but were there to be a 25% tariff
09:51on all of those goods, that could actually tip the eurozone into recession.
09:57Finally on improving Europe's competitiveness, Barclays CEO highlighted the need for deeper
10:01capital pools, advocating to pair institutional firepower with private capital to address
10:06major challenges, noting that relying solely on retail investments would be insufficient.
10:17Having ring-fenced 800 billion euros for its Rearm Europe plan, the EU will have to spend
10:22wisely on defence, and timing is everything, a lesson that Ukraine has learned in three
10:27years of war.
10:29I think Europe has to invest a lot in general in defence, just because we see how the world
10:38is uncertain right now.
10:40If you have a stock of really good, but really expensive equipment, it will be depleted really
10:45soon.
10:47So drones are our way to answer a big opponent.
10:53Cheap drones have been crucial, both in terms of surveillance and launching attacks ahead
10:58of using more expensive tech.
11:00The Ukrainians have driven the Russian Black Sea Fleet away from the coast without the
11:06Ukrainians having a navy at all.
11:08They've used basically drones and new technologies to do it.
11:13So if you're Europe and you need to replace capabilities or develop new effects, I think
11:21the main takeaway is look at dual-use technologies.
11:25Being able to test the tech on the battlefield is also vital, and that takes time.
11:31Time is really precious right now, in politics, in economy and in defence too.
11:37If you can buy some time with money, you better do it.