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A 8 heures du matin, heure de Bruxelles, retrouvez le nouveau programme phare de la matinée d'Euronews. En 20 minutes seulement, nous vous présentons les principales nouvelles de la journée.
LIRE L’ARTICLE : http://fr.euronews.com/2026/02/27/europe-today-entretiens-exclusifs-avec-les-premiers-ministres-estonien-et-lituanien
Abonnez-vous à notre chaine. Euronews est disponible sur Dailymotion en 12 langues
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NewsTranscription
00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
01:00...is a letter that adds some nuance now to the spat, of course, which is now escalating in European politics.
01:07Yesterday, in public, Prime Minister Orban, in the context, of course, of an election, it's important to remember the Hungarians
01:13were head to the polls in April.
01:15Once again attacked President Zelensky, saying that he is flat-out lying, that the pipeline is not broken, that as
01:21a result of the halt in transit, that means that energy prices could go up and the Hungarian people will
01:27be punished for it.
01:28Of course, he also said that he is going to reinforce security around strategic assets.
01:33We should note that Ukraine has not attacked Hungary directly or indirectly, even during the war.
01:39But, of course, all of this is being played up in the context of this election.
01:42Having said that, behind the scenes, Orban did send a letter to Antonio Costa, which we have here, in which
01:49he acknowledges, as you said, that this Hungarian double veto has created political difficulties for the EU.
01:56Remember, there is a sanctions package against Russia at play, but also a loan to which Hungary will not participate
02:04and has no financial obligation to that is being blocked by Budapest, too.
02:09So, in this letter, he says Hungary is ready to constructively engage in all efforts to return the transfer of
02:16oil to Budapest.
02:18He also says that Hungary supports the idea of a fact-finding mission.
02:22This is not surprising because, of course, Euronews this week, we reported that this was an idea floated already on
02:28the Monday, that inspectors could go on site just to check out and figure out what's going on with this
02:35pipeline.
02:36The Hungarians suggest that experts that are delegated, so vetoed in some way by Slovakia and Hungary, could go and
02:44see exactly what is the status of the Dursva pipeline.
02:47It seems like a possible solution, but I should note that the Ukrainians were not very keen at the start
02:54of this week.
02:55They said they needed to ask for permission, certainly the Ukrainian foreign minister told that in a meeting on Monday.
03:01And, of course, this is an active war zone.
03:03It's not clear that Ukraine would allow this immediately, considering, obviously, the complexities and the complications on the ground.
03:10So, OK, but then what, Maria?
03:12Well, that's a very good question.
03:13Well, there's two focus points at this point.
03:15One is to look at the alternatives.
03:17And Croatia is emerging as a big player.
03:20Obviously, it's a big business opportunity for the country, the transport of oil.
03:25The Croatian operator, Jana, have said this week that it has capacity to supply both Hungary and Slovakia.
03:31They also say that seven tankers will get to Hungary by the end of April.
03:36But there is a catch.
03:37All of this is non-Russian oil.
03:40And for the Hungarians, that's a problem because they won't pay the price.
03:43They pay for Russian oil, which is cheaper to some of the alternatives in the market.
03:48At this point, the Croatians, they say they need to figure out whether or not they can carry even Russian
03:53oil because there are sanctions in place from both the EU and the U.S.
03:57The other point, perhaps, is money.
03:59The Hungarians have applied for a loan for defense to the EU.
04:03Most of the funding is frozen, of course, because of the issues over rule of law.
04:06So perhaps if they get an indication that money could flow, they could step back from this maximalist position.
04:12OK, Maria, you mentioned as well Croatia.
04:14You have an exclusive interview with the Prime Minister Plankovic right here on your play on Monday.
04:18So stay tuned for that, Maria.
04:19Thank you so much for those details.
04:21Well, this Hungarian veto and, of course, the ongoing war in Ukraine is making EU leaders nervous this week,
04:26especially given the full-scale war has now entered its fifth year.
04:30For the view from Estonia, a country that borders Russia, I sat down with Prime Minister Christian Mihail, a fluent
04:35Russian speaker.
04:36I started by asking him why Vladimir Putin was agreeing to peace talks while bombing civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
04:43It's like riding a bike, being a dictator, that when you stop, you will fall away.
04:48That is the same with Vladimir Putin.
04:50For example, everybody in Europe, and I always remind my colleagues that right now Putin has more men under the
04:57arms than at the start of the war.
04:59If we would stop right now, and he would stop right now killing women and children in Ukraine, then what
05:07to do with those guys?
05:08They need medical assistance, but they have to glorify this hero in Russia.
05:11And they will come all over the Europe and so on.
05:14So we will have everybody problems in Russia and also domestic security problems.
05:18And the Americans, of course, are leading these peace talks.
05:21Do you think they're mindful of the fact that Ukraine cannot budge on their red lines?
05:26It used to be like a 28-point plan to the Thanksgiving.
05:30Right now it's something all different already.
05:33Europe stepping up, having 90 billions, funding Ukraine, changed the game.
05:39But we don't have 90 billions. It's frozen.
05:40We will have, because meeting Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, they have different plans how to deliver the
05:48money.
05:48And just in Kiev, they also said that they have plans.
05:52What are these plans?
05:53They will tell.
05:54Are they going to work?
05:55I hope so.
05:56Because to be honest, if Europe cannot make this kind of big decisions, which affect our security,
06:03then probably there will be many discussions about how Europe will decide things altogether.
06:08Will there be some kind of enhanced cooperation, how it will go?
06:11But are we on plan C now?
06:12Because, of course, we spent months talking as well about the frozen Russian assets.
06:15They're off the table now.
06:16The Russians have said so.
06:17So and so, because they are not off the table.
06:20They are still frozen, which is a good thing, because I can remember back to each six months we had
06:27to roll over the sanctions,
06:29say, keep them frozen.
06:31But right now they are frozen permanently, which is a good thing.
06:34But we need to deliver this 90 billion, we decided.
06:37And to be honest, we decided everybody was in this room.
06:41Orbán was in this room.
06:42Fico was in this room.
06:43Babish was in this room.
06:46They decided to opt out, but we still decided.
06:49So do you feel they're traitors, Hungary's traitors for doing this?
06:51For a long time, I don't understand Viktor Orbán's position, but he exactly knows that nobody understands his position to
06:57have this kind of idea that we should ask for European security from a dictator from Russia.
07:04And are you being tough enough on him in these meetings?
07:07Everybody's been tough enough on him in this meeting and outside these meetings.
07:11But going forward, how do you deal with these vetoes in the future?
07:14We'll see how it goes, because I have the feeling there's probably a couple of lines everybody's right now waiting
07:20in Europe.
07:20The first one is how Hungarian elections will go.
07:24Everybody knows that that can be a game changer.
07:27And the second thing is that there's also different kind of talks of how to change the deciding mechanisms, because,
07:35for example, on the economic side, Mario Draghi and his report said that we need more central deciding, more federalization.
07:42But on the security side, maybe some kind of enhanced cooperation to pull in Norway, UK, Canada, Iceland, these kind
07:50of countries, which we need.
07:51One final question on the transatlantic bond, which is, of course, very important for both Brussels and D.C., but
07:57it's going through a bit of a rift.
07:58How bad is it?
07:59Tough to say, because on the one side, which Trump had the message that Europe should invest more in security,
08:10because Europe is very free and wealthy neighborhood.
08:13And that's to my liking, to be honest, not the wording, but also the message that we should be able
08:19to keep ourselves the way we like it.
08:21Estonia is behaving accordingly, because we have this year, we have our defense expenditure 5.4% of GDP.
08:28This is very tough thing to achieve.
08:31This is not easy.
08:32But at the same time, I know that my grandchildren will live in peace, because our neighbor knows that we
08:38take ourselves also seriously.
08:39So if whole Europe would behave this way, I would say that we are better off in five, seven, ten
08:46years.
08:47But at the same time, the rhetorics that Europe is decaying gold and so and so and not free, this
08:54is not serious, because if you look at different indexes, we are among the freest nations in the world.
09:03Estonian Prime Minister Christian Mihal there.
09:05And the ongoing war in Ukraine and the spat over the Drozba pipeline is also under discussion over at NATO
09:11this week.
09:11Secretary-General Mark Lutte has welcomed a number of leaders, including the Lithuanian Prime Minister Inge Rugenina.
09:17Our correspondent Shona Moore-Murray reports from NATO.
09:20Well, Maeve, just as the dust has been relatively settling here at NATO in relation to Donald Trump's claims last
09:27month that he was going to take over Greenland,
09:29a new fissure has emerged.
09:31As we've seen, Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minister, saying he's going to block a 90 billion euro loan for
09:37Ukraine,
09:37a considerable amount of which was going to be spent on military support.
09:41And I caught up with Lithuania's Prime Minister, Lithuania, of course, a frontline state in all of this war, Inge
09:46Rugliene.
09:47And I asked her about this situation.
09:49When you live, you know, in a border of Europe and Union, when you face off every day with the
09:56threats,
09:57different kind of threats from balloons and other things,
10:01when you're fighting for the security, not just for Lithuania, but for whole Europe,
10:06to hear such words and decisions, it's nonsense.
10:12So we are worrying about it.
10:16And I am speaking about that in different levels in European Union, that it is unacceptable.
10:24And the European Union can be strong if we can have a strong one voice.
10:31So we have to be, we have to have ability to have common decision in very strategic questions.
10:39When you say it's nonsense, are you saying the whole point that Orban is making,
10:44that Ukraine is blocking Hungary's access to the Drozhba pipeline,
10:49we know that Russia bombed the pipeline.
10:51Are you saying it's nonsense his claims, that Ukraine isn't fixing it, isn't bothered to fix it?
10:57It's almost yes.
10:59And, you know, for me, I don't understand that the person thinks that if the war will start in NATO
11:07area,
11:07in European Union, he thinks that it will not come to Hungary.
11:14I think it is, again, it is, it is quite silly, silly thinking.
11:23So you think basically, you know, Hungary is being naive here.
11:26If he, if the Hungarian government believes that this war can't go to Hungary because it can.
11:31If Russia will put a step into European Union, they will go further.
11:38And we as Lithuania, we have a big experience about Soviet Union times.
11:46We know how it's, how you feel when Russia comes to your land.
11:51We know how, how the life is, life is going on.
11:55That's why for us, it's very sensitive questions.
11:58That's why we as Lithuania invest a lot of into defense.
12:02So this year we have 5.38% of GDP investments into defense.
12:09It is a huge amount.
12:10It is almost 25% of whole our budget because we understand that we don't want to come back to
12:18that times, to that experience which we had in the past.
12:22Given the context of, let's say, slow Europe and non-unified Europe blockages by Hungary and the United States no
12:31longer supporting Ukraine militarily, does Europe have the capabilities to defend itself for a few years until it rebuilds that?
12:40I think we have to work for the situation that we have a very strong NATO alliance and we have
12:52to do everything to build a very strong relationship between America and European Union.
13:02This is our top priority.
13:04Of course, we can speak about the worst, the worst plan, what, what it should be, but the first top
13:14priority should be strength relationship between transatlantic relationship.
13:21But by the same time, we have to work with Europe, within European Union and strong unity.
13:31One voice is crucial today.
13:35So it should be working in both ways.
13:42Shona Murray reporting for us there.
13:45Now, moving on, in other news, the European Commission has endorsed a citizens' initiative that aspires to guarantee access to
13:50safe abortion for every woman in Europe.
13:53Brussels says EU members may use EU funds voluntarily to finance safe abortions, but fell short of ensuring access across
14:00the EU.
14:01The campaign did manage, though, to clinch over one million endorsements and the nod from the European Parliament.
14:07Jakob Janis fills us in.
14:09Over a million signatures are quite a number.
14:12And the My Voice, My Choice campaign recently collected them to ask the European Commission for EU money for accessing
14:20safe abortions in other member states.
14:22And responding to this European citizens' initiative yesterday, the European Commission noted that health policy is a national matter and
14:30there will be no extra money allocated.
14:33However, and that's new, the member states can voluntarily use existing EU money to cover the costs.
14:39But wait a second, what is this European initiative about?
14:43Let's take a look.
14:44This democratic tool allows everyday citizens to formally ask the EU to propose new laws, no matter where they stand
14:53politically.
14:54However, to succeed, an initiative needs at least one million valid signatures from a minimum of seven member states.
15:02And for the My Voice, My Choice campaign, organizers got over a million verified signatures from 19 different countries.
15:09And among them were Hungary, Malta and Poland, so countries with highly restrictive abortion policies.
15:16Then, the European Parliament must discuss the proposal.
15:19And following that debate, the European Commission is illegally bound to respond.
15:24And it has then two choices, either propose a new law, or publicly explain why it will not do it.
15:31So is that initiative actually useful?
15:34The answer is yes, but it's not a magic wand.
15:38Campaigns like Right to Water have genuinely resulted in revised EU laws, improving drinking water standards.
15:46Yet only 14 campaigns, or about one in 10, have ever gathered the required signatures.
15:54And even then, success isn't guaranteed, as the Commission always retains the right to refuse new legislation.
16:01So, my dear viewers, if you are passionate about an issue, start collecting your million signatures.
16:08And maybe set up your own lobbying group, just in case.
16:16And for more on this story that has gained huge traction on and offline, we're joined now here in the
16:21studio by Austria's Minister for Women, Science and Research, Eva-Maria Hulstleidner.
16:26Good morning.
16:26Welcome to Europe Today.
16:28Quite an achievement there, one million signatures.
16:32What's the view from Austria here?
16:331.2 citizens signed the initiative, and it's a very important one, my voice, my choice, because in my point
16:40of view, women's rights are a unique selling point of the European Union.
16:45It's one of our huge differences to other global parts of the world.
16:52And so, to strengthen women's rights is very important for us, for our democracy within the European Union.
16:59And this campaign argued that 20 million women currently do not have access to funding for a safe abortion.
17:05Do you think a more harmonized look at this in the 27 EU states could be a good idea?
17:10We know that health issues are always very important for European citizens when we look at surveys, for example.
17:17So, it is a first step, the answer of the Commission.
17:22But in the future, maybe we can take a lot more steps towards saving and supporting women's rights in the
17:31European Union.
17:32And yes, the access to abortion is one of the most fundamental women's rights.
17:38And in Austria, you've declared war on violence against women and girls.
17:41How are you implementing your plan in a world run by men?
17:44We have a national action plan against violence against women and girls.
17:50And every ministry in Austria supports this national action plan.
17:54And we worked together.
17:56So, also the Ministry for Interior, for example, the Ministry for Education.
18:00Also, the male colleagues support this national action plan.
18:04And I think this is very important because we also need men's support for women's rights.
18:11And, of course, Women's Day coming up very soon.
18:12And just a final point on attracting scientists to the European Union and to Austria, this Choose Europe slogan.
18:18Is it working?
18:19Because, of course, a lot of scientists are leaving Trump's America currently.
18:22On the one hand, it's a very sad issue that researchers have to leave their research institutions, for example.
18:30But on the other hand, as Europe, we need to be attractive.
18:34We need to still be a safe haven for science and research.
18:38And so, Austria supported the Choose Europe for Science initiative.
18:42We started at a very early stage, a joint attractivity effort.
18:46And already 50 researchers came or are actually at the moment coming to Austria.
18:52Because we know that free science and research is a fundamental base of our democracy.
19:01And when researchers are threatened, democracy erodes.
19:05So, it's very important to support also free science and research.
19:10And, of course, then to get from the lab to the market.
19:14Minister, thank you so much for being our guest this morning here on Europe Today.
19:17Thank you.
19:18And thank you so much for watching.
19:20That does bring this edition of Europe Today to an end.
19:23Thank you so much for tuning in.
19:24We'll be back on Monday morning with an exclusive interview with the Croatian Prime Minister Plankovic.
19:28So, do tune in for that.
19:30For now, though, take care.
19:31And see you very soon on Euronews.
20:02Euronews.
20:02Euronews.
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