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Europe Today: Hungarian PM-elect vows rapid transition, targets state-controlled media
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Tune in to Europe Today, Euronews' flagship morning programme at 8 am Brussels time. In just 20 minutes, we bring you up to speed on the biggest news of the day.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/04/16/europe-today-hungarian-pm-elect-vows-rapid-transition-targets-state-controlled-media
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:14Good morning, it's Thursday the 16th of April. I'm Mared Gwyn and you're watching Europe Today,
00:21your daily dose of European news and analysis live here on Euronews.
00:26Coming up today, after his stunning electoral win on Sunday, Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Peder Magyar is making waves before
00:35he's entered office,
00:37vowing to undo Viktor Orbán's influence on public institutions and the media. We'll bring you the latest.
00:45And Russian bombardments hit the Ukrainian cities of Kiev, Dnipro and Odessa overnight.
00:50It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues his European tour in the Netherlands after a visit to Rome yesterday.
00:59He's been drumming up fresh defence deals with allies.
01:03And Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was once considered Europe's Trump whisperer.
01:10But tensions have flared up publicly this week.
01:13We'll be asking whether the sudden breakdown in the once-sweet relationship is creating a rare moment of national unity
01:21in Italy.
01:23But first, on our top story today, Peder Magyar is pushing for a rapid transfer of power in Hungary after
01:31that landslide win in the elections last Sunday.
01:34For more, I'm joined in the studio this morning by our Hungarian correspondent, Sándor Chiros.
01:40Good morning, Sándor.
01:41Good morning.
01:43Listen, Peder Magyar has been keeping you busy this week.
01:46He's really making waves just four days after that stunning win on Sunday.
01:51Tell us what he's been up to.
01:53Well, I think Peder Magyar brought a political tornado to Hungary.
01:57He's willing to change the system of Viktor Orbán very rapidly.
02:02And he launched an attack against the key holders of power and the key institutions.
02:09So, for example, yesterday in the morning, he went to the public broadcaster.
02:13He gave an interview.
02:14Actually, this was the first interview of him in the last 18 months.
02:19And he completely considers this institution as an urbanist propaganda tool.
02:26And he simply said that, OK, I'm going to shut it down.
02:28We will do a new television for Hungary.
02:31And then he went to visit the president of the country, Tomás Súlyok.
02:36He gave him a straightaway ultimatum, whether you leave or we will get rid of you.
02:41And suddenly the president understood the message.
02:44And he said that maybe I'm considering to leave by myself and put the mandate to you as soon as
02:51possible.
02:51Let's listen to what Peder Magyar said after this meeting.
02:55I told the president that if he does not leave willingly, we will use the mandate we received from our
03:03voters.
03:03And with some amendments to the Constitution, we will remove him and all the other puppets who were appointed in
03:09his place by the Orbán regime.
03:12So a very dramatic few days, Sándor.
03:14And Viktor Orbán, how is he dealing with this defeat?
03:18Well, there are indicators that, you know, it's not a simple defeat for Orbán, but a complete humiliation.
03:24He hasn't shown up publicly ever since the vote on Sunday.
03:28He posted only once on Facebook.
03:31And many government officials and many people around the government are blaming actually him for the bad campaign and for
03:39the bad results.
03:39Now, there is one very interesting thing that yesterday it turned out that Orbán is missing his last EU summit,
03:48which will take place next week in Cyprus.
03:51He's not going there.
03:52He's not going to face other leaders after his non-stop veto policies.
03:57This is just to avoid public humiliation at the summit.
04:01But remember that during his 16 years in power, Orbán never missed a single European summit.
04:08This is going to be the last one that he's missing.
04:12And it's also, in my view, it puts a shade on his legacy of 16 years.
04:17Indeed, Sándor, Viktor Orbán missing that summit next week.
04:20Thank you so much for bringing us up to speed there.
04:22Now, Peter Magyar's electoral win has a potentially huge impact on one country, Ukraine.
04:28Magyar has already laid out his position on Russia's full-scale invasion, saying Ukraine is the victim in this war
04:35and calling on Orbán to lift his controversial veto on that 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine before he leaves
04:43office expected in May.
04:45Joining me now in the studio for more is our Ukraine correspondent, Sasha Bakulina.
04:50Good morning.
04:50Thank you for being here.
04:51So tell us first, how important is this shift in the Hungarian position for Ukraine?
04:57It's crucially important for Kiev because there are, of course, a couple of vetoes, Viktor Orbán's vetoes, that are still
05:02there in place.
05:03This is the 90 billion euro loan.
05:04This is also the new package of sanctions against Russia.
05:08And, of course, anything regarding Ukraine's EU accession.
05:11But first and foremost, the most urgent thing nowadays for Ukraine and for the EU is unblocking this loan, which
05:17has already been agreed upon at the summit in December.
05:20And this is the money out of the 90 billion, 60 billion is something that Ukraine desperately needs for the
05:26defence industry and to make sure that Ukraine does have enough weapons.
05:31And Zelenskyy has been touring European capitals.
05:33He's been in Norway, Germany, Italy and expected in the Netherlands today.
05:37What is he trying to achieve?
05:39Volodymyr Zelenskyy is on the tour of securing defence cooperation agreements.
05:43Now it is with the EU states.
05:46And that's very interesting.
05:47Every time he goes to the capital, we could see that there are a couple of agreements at least coming
05:51out of them, specifically with attention to drone production,
05:54because Ukraine is having this strong expertise in making drones and the expertise and experience in air defence when it
06:03comes to drone attacks.
06:05Now, let's take a listen to what Giorgio Meloni had to say about it in Rome.
06:10We believe that supporting Ukraine is not only a moral duty, but also a strategic need, because it is not
06:16just about dignity, freedom and independence of Kyiv,
06:19but also the security of Europe in the broader sense of the term is at stake.
06:25We are working to increase the interaction between our defence sectors and between our defence companies.
06:31This will definitely add strength, technology and jobs to both countries.
06:36Of course, we discuss diplomacy and communication with the American side.
06:40But this is not easy for anyone right now.
06:44With the US-led talks now being stalled for a couple of weeks, Zelenskyy is indeed trying to secure the
06:48cooperation and help with the European states.
06:50But also, this European tour really resembles the recent Gulf tour, when Zelenskyy also toured the Gulf countries, securing the
06:58defence cooperation agreements with all of them.
07:00Sasha, thank you so much for that update.
07:02And speaking of the Gulf, we can now cross over to our correspondent, Adil Halim, who is standing by us
07:09for us this morning in Doha, in Qatar.
07:12Adil, good morning.
07:14We know that the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, was there in Qatar yesterday as part of his
07:21tour of the Gulf.
07:22Bring us up to speed on what President Costa had to say.
07:27Good morning.
07:28That's right.
07:28European Council President Antonio Costa wrapped up his two-day tour of the Gulf, ending here in Doha with a
07:34very clear message.
07:35Europe wants to play a larger role in a region facing a fragile moment.
07:39Costa met with leaders from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
07:42And while he mostly wanted to listen, he also wanted to push two key priorities.
07:47One is sustaining, enabling a lasting ceasefire and the reopening of free navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which is
07:55a vital global and energy trade route.
07:57Now, he also stressed Europe's solidarity with Gulf states facing recent Iranian attacks and made it clear the European Union
08:05sees itself as a reliable partner on security, diplomacy and economic cooperation.
08:10And he warned the stakes are high, saying that the world is entering a dangerous phase.
08:15And unless countries defend the international rules-based order, the alternative is chaos that we're seeing from the Ukraine to
08:22the Gulf.
08:22The Council President only took a handful of questions, including one from Euronews.
08:26I asked him what he heard from leaders across the region and what concrete steps are next in EU-GCC
08:32ties.
08:33Let's hear what he had to say.
08:35It's important that the European Union and the Gulf cooperation countries could work together.
08:46Between the EU and the EU and the GCC, but also bilaterally with each Gulf state.
08:53And we are keen to do this.
08:55We are negotiating free trade agreements with some of them, so there are partnerships with the others.
09:01And we are talking with all of them.
09:04I think more than ever, it's very important that we achieve this.
09:10Now, Costa also said the second EU-GCC summit will be held later this year.
09:15The first was in Brussels in 2024.
09:17The next will be held in this region.
09:19Maret.
09:20Adel, thank you so much for that update.
09:23And yesterday, in fact, I sat down with the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jazim al-Budewi.
09:31And I started by asking him whether he believed the war on Iran had brought the Gulf and the European
09:37Union closer together.
09:38I think the EU is one of the most important strategic partners to the GCC.
09:47It is a very historic relationship.
09:51It covers almost every aspect of our lives, from political to economical to educational to cultural to investment.
10:00All aspects are included in this partnership.
10:04We have achieved so many goals and so many achievements that we feel in our life on a daily basis.
10:13The, definitely, the escalation in our region and the Iranian continuous attack on the GCC country brought the GCC EU
10:24into even closer relationship.
10:27I felt it, and this was reflected in my discussion and dialogues here in Brussels with different leaders in the
10:40European Parliament and in the European Commission.
10:43So, this is bringing us together.
10:45We are looking at the stability and the security of the region because it is obvious to everybody that the
10:54stability in the Gulf is an important element for the international stability and security.
11:01I'd like to ask you how this experience, these seven weeks of conflict we've seen, have maybe changed the way
11:07that the members of the GCC think about security.
11:10Do you think there's been an inflection point here, and do you think there'll be more work on, for example,
11:16partnerships with countries like Ukraine to bolster the region's defense?
11:20There are many, many lessons learned from this conflict, and I can categorize them into two parts.
11:29The first lesson learned is how do we achieve our GCC integration that we've been working on since 1981 when
11:39the GCC was started.
11:41What do we need to do more economically, security, military?
11:46The second lesson learned that we have learned and we need to even work more on is to upgrade our
11:55partnerships with many of our true and good friends, such as, for example, the EU.
12:00How do we need to strengthen our partnerships?
12:04What aspects should we concentrate on?
12:06How do we look at our partnerships, the one we have?
12:10Do we need new partnerships?
12:11These are the lessons learned that we, you know, are trying to work on.
12:16But as I told you before, we are very happy about the fact that our integration and communication and cooperation
12:24is even beyond anybody's expectation.
12:30Moving on now, U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out publicly at the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, a
12:38leader he once called a fantastic lady.
12:40To explain why, I'm joined by our correspondent, Vincenzo Genovese.
12:45Good morning.
12:46Thank you for being here in the studio with us.
12:48And listen, what is at the root of this breakdown in the relationship between these leaders?
12:52Yes, Mardin, indeed, we have always seen Meloni as a sort of bridge between Trump and Europe for her right
13:00wing, our right policy for her position on migration, also for her proximity to the MAGA world.
13:06But a few days ago, Trump attacked Pope Leo, saying he was he is very weak on crime.
13:12And, you know, there are few things in Italy that you can't touch and the Pope is among them.
13:18Let's listen to Meloni.
13:23What I said is what I think, and that is that the statement, especially with regards to the pontiff, are
13:29unacceptable.
13:30I expressed my solidarity with Pope Leo, and I will tell you more.
13:34I would not feel comfortable in a society where religious leaders do as they are told by politicians, not in
13:40this part of the world.
13:41So I disagreed, and I said so.
13:46I have never heard anything similar, Mard.
13:49Coming from Meloni, she had never used the word unacceptable before speaking of Trump, and Trump didn't take it well.
13:57Of course, he said, and I'm quoting in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera,
14:02I'm shocked at her, I thought she had courage, but it was wrong, very sad, she's much different than I
14:09thought.
14:10She's not the same person, Italy is not the same country.
14:14So also here, then, Trump said in another interview that Meloni was very negative.
14:20These are kind of unprecedented attacks from Trump to Meloni.
14:24I would say that this bridge has collapsed now.
14:27But this is not necessarily bad for Meloni, because, you know, Trump is very unpopular in Italy,
14:36he is becoming more and more unpopular also in Europe,
14:38and this is becoming an issue for the right wing, for the conservative,
14:42and also for the far-right parties across Europe, as we are reporting on Euro news.
14:47Yes, Vincenzo, we'll keep an eye on that reporting,
14:49and how Trump is perhaps disturbing a little bit, the mega or mega movement in Europe as well.
14:56Now, moving on, tomorrow, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will host 15 world leaders in Barcelona
15:03as part of a mobilisation of the global progressive left.
15:08Joining us now live to explain more is MEP Hanna Yalul,
15:12a Spanish MEP who was previously Migration Secretary in the government of Sánchez,
15:17and who will join the mobilisation.
15:19MEP Yalul, welcome.
15:21Is it fair to say, first, that this gathering in Barcelona is also a united front,
15:27or a reaction against Trump and Trump's ideological allies across the world?
15:32Is this essentially an anti-Trump coalition?
15:36Good morning. Thank you for having me here today.
15:39No, I wouldn't say so.
15:40This is not an anti-Trump rally.
15:42This is not an anti-Trump conference at all.
15:45And it's very important to make this clear.
15:47The global progressive mobilisation is a work, a joint effort from all progressive forces,
15:53from different political organisations and different intellectual foundations and trade unions.
16:01You know, it's a wide range of progressive organisations and leaders,
16:08which is very important that we are gathering in Barcelona,
16:11led by Peter Sanchez, and that began with him as president of the Socialist International,
16:16as Stephen Lufen as president of European Socialists,
16:19that called this initiative that we have been working on for the last year.
16:23And now we are here in Barcelona, finally,
16:25with many leaders all around the world,
16:28and to fight for democracy, climate change, international law,
16:32but this is not an anti-Trump reaction to anything on any sort of scale.
16:35And the European left, I think it's fair to say, has been through quite a difficult period of time.
16:42If we look at the European Council, that's obvious.
16:44It's dominated by right-wing leaders.
16:46How are you hoping to kind of reclaim that narrative and reclaim your voter base across the continent?
16:53Well, I think the image of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez by itself
16:57talks a lot of what people are expecting for the future.
17:02I mean, his global image and the support he's taken with his stance.
17:05His coherence, political coherence, let's say, against double standards.
17:11You know, when we talk about Gaza or when we talk about Ukraine, when he said not to war,
17:17he's having a huge, massive support in his positions.
17:21And I think that shows how people, he's been very widely supported by civil society all around the world.
17:30I think that this not to war shows how people, things at peace, and we are at important moments for
17:37peace.
17:38He talks about climate change also, or when he talks about, you know, techno-oligarchs,
17:46you know, how to take care of our children with social media.
17:50I think he's always making a very important stance that are very widely supported.
17:55And I think this gathering in Barcelona is massive, you know.
17:58So that shows how much support he has and how much, you know, social democratic and left forces
18:05wants to unite with these main principles that he represents.
18:08Indeed, Sánchez has obviously been a bit of a figurehead on the global stage recently,
18:12but he has faced criticism from some certain political parties in Europe on his recent decision
18:19to regularise half a million migrants.
18:22Some saying it undermines even European security.
18:25How do you respond to that criticism?
18:29Well, I think that, let's go to talk about data, okay?
18:34So for the last year, we have had a very, I mean, let's say, a policy with migrants that
18:41talks about always security, of course, and legality within the framework of legality,
18:49which I think it is very important for everybody to understand.
18:51All these migrants are very well regulated in the sense that they all have permission to work.
18:59And last year, only 700,000 migrants collaborated and helped with the stability in the labour market.
19:08So I think it is important to understand that these migrants do not steal the job of anybody.
19:13At the contrary, we are the fastest growing economy in the world right now.
19:17Because of our policies also with migrants.
19:19Thank you so much. I'm afraid that's all we have time for.
19:22But we will be following, of course, that global progressive conference this weekend in Barcelona.
19:28And that's all we have time for today.
19:30Thank you so much for tuning in.
19:32We'll be back again at the same time tomorrow.
19:35In the meantime, do get in touch with your tips and suggestions at europetoday at euronews.com.
19:41We do love hearing from you.
19:43We'll be back the same time, same place tomorrow.
19:45See you then.
19:50Bye.
19:51Bye.
19:53Bye.
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