Europe Today: Roberta Metsola, Glenn Micallef, and Hadja Lahbib join us for an interview

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00:14Good morning. It is Friday the 13th of February. I'm Maeve McMahan and this is Europe Today,

00:22your daily dose of European news and analysis. Coming up, Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel

00:27Macron have set a June deadline to unblock important economic reforms or they say smaller

00:34groups of EU member states will have to move forward on their own. That was the main outcome

00:39of yesterday's gathering in Belgium. There was a sense of urgency in the air but stark divisions

00:44remain on the issue of joint debt with the German Chancellor clearly saying nine. Your News' EU

00:49editor Marie Tadeo was on the ground and had the chance to speak exclusively to the President of

00:54the European Parliament's Roberta McSola and she started by asking her for her view on how to

00:59boost the European economy. We have a narrow opportunity before the March European Council

01:05to have concrete outcomes and a timeline. Those who have said that for far too long the European

01:12Union talks a lot and have not come with actions are now needing to be disproved. So all the proposals

01:20on the table, no matter how different they might be, at the end of the day, they ask to do

01:25more.

01:26They ask to do more. Now, if you look back to the last few months of 2025, when there was

01:31an agreement

01:32between the European Commission, the Parliament and the Council on 10 legislative priorities,

01:38deeds need to be backed up by a full commitment on the Capital Markets Union, on the Banking Union,

01:45Savings and Investments Union, the Energy Union, all of these big words, but ultimately they boil down

01:52to legislative initiatives that will make it easier in Europe for you to invest, for you to grow,

01:59to innovate and scale up. So what do you want to see? Well, 2026 is going to be the year

02:04where we need

02:05to save the automotives industry. Two, we need to shore up where we are market leaders. Three,

02:12we need to conclude more trade deals. We're doing this already. We've seen what happened with the U.S.,

02:17with India, different trade deals on the table that we need to, in Parliament, also vote on.

02:23This is the year where we no longer say we might do it next year. We need to vote this

02:28year. And we're

02:28already going through that. The head of the commission, she talked about a commission that is committed

02:32to providing that executive action, but she also said that co-legislators really need to do their part.

02:38Do you view that as criticism that the European Parliament is not playing its role?

02:42Absolutely not. If anything, it is a common call to action, just as the European Parliament

02:46has asked for a long time for the commission to come forward with simplification proposals.

02:53We now have the proposals on the table and we're working pretty fast on them.

02:56Mario Draghi was in attendance to this retreat. It's been almost two years since that report

03:00came out. What makes you think that this is really the time and what makes you think that

03:04it will come to fruition? Because many would argue it's two years late and the money question is still

03:09not solved. Well, if you think about this simplification drive and what we're currently

03:14working on, all of this comes, if you will, from the Draghi and Letta reports. Do we need to go

03:20further? Absolutely. We're talking about 800 billion euros that are injected into the European

03:26economy every year. What are we doing on that? Are we going to manage to save the industries where we

03:31are market leaders? This is what 2026 is about. And this is the discussion that it's not only Mario Draghi

03:37having with the European leaders, but every single leader of a company in Europe, every single

03:43family, but also every citizen that would like his and her bills to go down lower for us to be

03:48able to

03:49make it easier for them to live. And I think it's a common discussion across the continent. Perhaps in the

03:54past, we would have waited a little bit longer. Now's the time because we have no choice.

03:57And the question of the euro bonds, is that something that you think it should be explored?

04:01And then secondly, Mario Draghi has talked about this pragmatic federal union. Is that something

04:06you can rally behind a form of federal Europe, pragmatic federal Europe? Well, first of all,

04:10we've never been against member states going further. We've had it with the Schengen area. We've seen it

04:16with the euro in different areas. This is not an obstacle or a shortcut to unity. Rather, it's a pathway

04:22to unity. That's number one. The second thing is, what are we going to do to decrease the productivity

04:28gap that we have? At the end of the day, the arguments are weighed between whether you increase

04:34the financing in our economies by capital. At the end of the day, we have savings in the European

04:39Union. It's the tools that we use that need to promote growth. And on the other hand, how are we

04:45going to pull up those member states that still see a big gap in their productivity level? This is all

04:53one that needs to be coming together. Because as a union, the better we are together, the better

04:59economically we can do.

05:03President Metzola there. And now many EU leaders have left Belgium and moved on to Bavaria as the

05:09Munich Security Conference gets underway. The biggest security conference in the world takes place in a

05:14context of what organisers call a new era of wrecking bull politics. For more, let's cross over now to

05:20Munich and bring in our Maria Tadeo. Maria, good morning. What should we expect here? Some big names

05:26on the guest list.

05:29Well, yes, Maeve. Good morning from Munich. Of course, the eyes of the world, to some extent,

05:34will be fixated on the city because of the names, the calibre of the speakers that participate,

05:41a U.S. delegation led by Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, who's now become the sort of brains,

05:46but also the operator of U.S. foreign policy. President Zelensky will also address the Munich

05:52Security Conference. Remember, he has often used this tribune to really show the priorities for

05:59Ukraine, but also the needs for the country. He warned about a war that was coming, then obviously

06:05the war broke out. And ever since he's used this conference to appeal for aid for more weapons. But

06:12really, it's about the active negotiations that are taking place between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine.

06:18Of course, we're expecting a number of bilateral meetings to take place between the Ukrainians

06:22and the U.S. delegation. On top of that, of course, is the Europeans. As you alluded to that,

06:29the head of the commission will be here, the French president too, and of course, the host country,

06:34the German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz, will also address the Munich Security Conference. For the

06:38Europeans, the mission is twofold. One is really show the world now that this is a union that is

06:44taking its security seriously, that it can and will protect itself. Obviously, there are questions

06:49about the capabilities that Europe really is able to deploy, or deploy, I should note,

06:55alone without the United States, and also insert itself into the negotiations on Ukraine. That will

07:01be really the mission for the Europeans, to use three days of shuttle diplomacy to send a message,

07:06but also really the negotiations that happen behind the scenes. That is really the value of a conference

07:11like this, is the sidelines, the face time between leaders. And just briefly, Maria, we remember last

07:17year, J.D. Vance gave a speech that shocked Europeans. Could we see more of that this year?

07:24Well, he did very much. And I may, just to give you an anecdote, a year ago, I was here

07:28at the Munich

07:28Security Conference, and I watched that speech by the U.S. Vice President next to a very senior European

07:33official who went, oh, wow, they hate us. And by hate us, it means the Europeans. At the time,

07:39remember, the U.S. Vice President said that the big threat for Europe is not coming external,

07:44it's coming from within, and alluded to climate, migration, censorship. Obviously,

07:49that signaled a rupture in policy between the two sides. This time around, he will not participate.

07:55It is Marco Rubio. Some believe this perhaps is a more diplomatic U.S. And we also should remember

08:00the response from the Europeans has changed. J.D. Vance got booed in Milan at the Winter Olympics.

08:06The U.S. delegation also was booed in Davos. So this could be, to some extent, a different,

08:11perhaps more polite Munich Security Conference.

08:14Okay, Maria, today, and whatever happens, you will, of course, report it for us. Thank you so much

08:18for that live update. And as those talks get underway in Munich, with President Zelenskyy as one of the

08:24main guests, airstrikes have knocked out many electricity and heating supplies in Ukraine.

08:28Hadja Labib, the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, has announced 1,000 more generators for

08:34hospitals, schools, and houses amidst constant Russian missiles.

08:38Uri News' Shona Murray reports from Kyiv.

08:42Well, Maeve, we're outside these so-called invincibility points. This is places where you can go if your house

08:47has lost heat or electricity because it's been bombed. There are often children here. If you look at these

08:52high-rise apartments behind me, a lot of them don't have gas installations. So if the house is bombed,

08:57or if you've lost electricity because of the power plants, then you're in a really bad way.

09:01As far as this four-year full-scale invasion has gone on, it appears that this is the worst winter

09:06ever, with temperatures plunging as low as minus 23 degrees. We were at a power plant that was

09:12completely destroyed by ballistic missiles, meaning that 500,000 people lost electricity and heat,

09:17and that included hospitals and schools. Within a few hours of being here, there was eight ballistic

09:23missile attacks. And at one point, obviously, we had to go down and find shelter with 200 workers

09:27near the power plant, where I caught up with EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Commissioner Labib,

09:33and I asked her about the situation we were in. We were also joined by the Ukrainian Deputy Minister for

09:37the

09:37territories. You know, we have alarms every day. And for the day attacks, the Russians tried to use

09:45these sub-zero temperatures, making the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and Kyiv particularly.

09:52We're only in Kyiv for a few hours, and you've already met people who are suffering

09:57with no heating. And now we're at a power plant, and you're in a shelter. What's your reaction?

10:03My reaction is that this kind of shelter saved lives. And thanks to this shelter,

10:10there were no one who was killed. And it's the day. It happened day and night now. So it shows

10:18that

10:18this is the real battlefield. Russian aggression is not only, you know, between soldiers. These are the

10:26soldiers of energy. Do you think it's realistic, President Zelensky's demand, that maybe there's some

10:32sort of partial membership of the EU by 2027? I mean, he's calling for a date.

10:37This is something that we need to consider. Because we need to move. Ukraine is part of the European

10:46Union family. And there are already candidates. And we need to move forwards. And we admire

10:55the efforts. Because under the war, they are able to move, to reform their governance, their constitutions,

11:06their capacities. And, you know, I'm sure that we will be only stronger if Ukraine is part of the

11:13Union. I also caught up with Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko. I asked him a little about the situation

11:20that's ongoing in his city, and also about EU membership. We have massive attack from Russian

11:26generation, chemical drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, attack our critical infrastructure.

11:31And let people living, let people freezing, living without heating, electricity, and we're

11:39fighting to surviving. And this help is this electric generators. What we receive right now is very helpful.

11:45Are you confident about the political negotiations that are ongoing at the moment?

11:48First of all, stop the war. Second, we need guarantee. Because it can be short breaks for Russians.

11:57And also a very important question about the future. Because we, Ukraine, have to save our

12:07national interest and our main goal to be the part of European family, not the part of Russian empire.

12:17Shona Murray reporting for us there. Well, the war in Ukraine has made an appearance at the Winter

12:21Olympics, with one Ukrainian skeleton racer banned from participating. And for more on that story,

12:27I'm joined now here in our studio by our Sasha Vakilina and the EU Commissioner for Sport,

12:32Glenn Michalov. Good morning. Welcome. Just, Sasha, first, bring us up to speed. What happened?

12:36Well, Lezav Haraskiewicz was disqualified from the Olympics for using his helmet. And that happened

12:41even before his first round. During the trainings, he was using the helmet featuring the portraits,

12:46you can see it now on the screen, of the Ukrainian athletes who were killed since Russia's full-scale

12:51invasion of Ukraine. There are no political slogans on the helmet, there are no flags on the helmet,

12:55only the photos of the athletes. And this was the reason, apparently, for the International

13:00Olympic Committee to disqualify him. Let's listen to what he had to say after the decision.

13:04You can imagine I'm a professional athlete and I spent hours of trainings every day for four years

13:10to be able to be here today to compete on Olympic Games. And I was disqualified and I cannot understand

13:16even why. Commissioner Michalov, you were there at the Games. What is your view here? We see dreams

13:21shattered. Well, let me just say, first of all, the Winter Olympic Games have been so far a fantastic

13:27celebration of sporting excellence, of fair competition, of friendship and promoting peace.

13:33Now, when it comes to the organization and the regulation of sporting events, the autonomy of

13:41sporting federations and of associations to regulate these games is a fundamental pillar in sport. So it is

13:48for the International Olympic Committee, it is for the federations to set the rules and regulations

13:53for the competitions. Now, this is uncontested. What we're talking about here is messaging and

14:02messaging rules, particularly to come out of the Olympic charter. Now, in this particular case,

14:10the rule is not directed at a particular country. These are rules to safeguard safety for athletes,

14:17but also fair competition. And I emphasize this point. I am sad to see that Vladislav

14:26and the situation could not be resolved before the competition.

14:30When you say messaging, what message does that say to Ukrainians?

14:33Well, let me just finish the point. I'm sad to see that the situation could not be resolved before the

14:40competition, I think, in a way that would have allowed him to express himself and pay respect to

14:47the fallen heroes in Ukraine. Ukraine is going through a very tough time. We've just seen in the

14:53previous message the difficult situation that Ukraine is going through. But decision by the IOC is one I

15:03respect. And I respect particularly the fact that Kirsty Coventry, the president of the International

15:09Olympic Committee, was speaking to Vladislav face to face, explaining the situation, trying to resolve

15:17the dispute through dialogue. I also admire the fact that she made an extraordinary, in the event of the

15:25extraordinary situation, made an appeal to the disciplinary committee also to revoke the accreditation and

15:30restore the accreditation. So it's not over yet? To Vladislav. Of course, I appeal for engagement and dialogue.

15:38Commissioner Len Michalaf and Sasha Vakilina, thank you so much for being with us here

15:41this morning. But now for something completely different. It is Valentine's Day this weekend,

15:47a day that some people love and some people hate. But it did get us thinking about the serious

15:52demographic crisis that the EU is facing. Our Jakob Janis takes a look.

15:59Valentine's Day is coming, and I'm pretty sure you know that. But do you know that Europe is running

16:05out of babies? Look, your reporter is not here to lecture you on whether to have children. That's a

16:11personal choice. But if you're planning to discuss it with your loved one this weekend,

16:16let's look at the numbers together, and without the pressure. Europeans are waiting longer to have

16:24children, and there is no sign it will change anytime soon. But here is the twist. Delaying

16:30parenthood doesn't necessarily mean giving up on children. In fact, the EU countries where women

16:36wait the longest also happen to be the countries with higher fertility rates. That might explain the

16:42explosion in fertility treatments, which allow couples to extend their window of opportunity.

16:49And according to recent data, Europe recorded around one million treatment cycles in a single year.

16:55So the desire is clearly there. In fact, most Europeans still say their ideal family size is two

17:02children. But sometimes they simply cannot afford it. Over a third of Hungarians cite financial limits as

17:11the main barrier to have children, while 30% of Italians blame job insecurity. But throwing state

17:17money at the problem doesn't always work. Despite massive pronatal public spending, births in Poland

17:24have almost halved since 1990. And as for Hungary, last year they saw the lowest number of babies born. Ever.

17:33And on the other side of the globe, South Korea is even more desperate. The government is paying new

17:40couples just to date. So if you are dating this weekend, with or without the intention to procreate,

17:47just remember, some countries would happily pay for your dinner. But hey, don't bring it up on the

17:53first date. It's kind of a mood killer.

18:00Jakob Janos there. And finally, as we reported yesterday, it's just two months until Hungary's big

18:05elections. And incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orban is running against the 44-year-old centre-right

18:10opposition leader, Peter Magyar. Well, overnight, there's been some developments on that sex tape

18:14that we mentioned just yesterday. For more, our Hungarian correspondent,

18:17Shander is in the studio. Shander, what's the latest?

18:20Yes, indeed. Yesterday, Peter Magyar, the opposition leader, admitted that this sex tape is real,

18:25and he's on it with his former girlfriend, Evelyn Vogel. This happened one and a half years ago when

18:31they visited a party in central Budapest in an apartment. And Peter Magyar said that they engaged in

18:37a consensual sex. And he said also that this was a honey trap. He has been lured into this. He

18:44also

18:44talked about drugs have been used at this party, but he never touched any drugs. Now the big question

18:49is whether or not this will impact the Hungarian electoral campaign. Everyone is talking about this

18:55in Hungary right now. Maybe let's take a look of what Peter Magyar had to say yesterday.

19:02It became clear to me that I walked into a classic Russian-style honey trap. But since I

19:07haven't done anything illegal, my conscience is clean.

19:13Peter Magyar there. And to find out if this is impacting his campaign, you can read Shander's

19:18reports on Euronews.com. But this does bring this edition of Europe Today to an end. Thank you so

19:24much for your company. As always, take care and see you very soon here on Euronews.

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