- 12 ore fa
Europe Today: Charles Michel a Euronews mentre i leader UE discutono la crisi a Cipro
Sintonizzatevi su Europe Today, il programma mattutino di punta di Euronews, alle 8, ora di Bruxelles. In 20 minuti vi aggiorniamo sulle notizie principali della giornata.
ALTRE INFORMAZIONI : http://it.euronews.com/2026/04/24/europe-today-charles-michel-a-euronews-mentre-i-leader-ue-sono-a-cipro-per-vertice-di-cris
Abbonati, euronews è disponibile in 12 lingue.
Sintonizzatevi su Europe Today, il programma mattutino di punta di Euronews, alle 8, ora di Bruxelles. In 20 minuti vi aggiorniamo sulle notizie principali della giornata.
ALTRE INFORMAZIONI : http://it.euronews.com/2026/04/24/europe-today-charles-michel-a-euronews-mentre-i-leader-ue-sono-a-cipro-per-vertice-di-cris
Abbonati, euronews è disponibile in 12 lingue.
Categoria
🗞
NovitàTrascrizione
00:14Good morning, it's Friday the 24th of April.
00:18I'm Mariette Gwynne and you're watching Europe Today.
00:21Your daily dose of news and analysis broadcast live here from Brussels.
00:26Coming up on today's show.
00:28EU leaders are gathering in Cyprus to talk Ukraine, Iran, energy and mutual defence.
00:35They arrive fresh off a major win, having unblocked a crucial loan for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.
00:43Leaders from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and the Gulf are also flying in for talks on the situation in the
00:49Middle East.
00:50And as world leaders gather at the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece,
00:54we speak to former European Council President Shave Michel about Europe's role on the global stage
01:01and his deeply critical stance towards the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
01:06And US President Donald Trump has said that Israel and Lebanon have agreed a three-week extension to the ceasefire
01:14in Israel's war on Hezbollah.
01:16It came after direct talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the US, the second such talks in recent
01:23days.
01:25They like each other, I found that out today and I've sort of heard about that.
01:29They actually like each other, Lebanon and Israel.
01:32They've agreed to an additional three weeks of, I guess, no firing, ceasefire.
01:39No more firing.
01:40Let's see.
01:40We hope that happens.
01:42It's not going to happen between them, but they do have Hezbollah to think about.
01:47But first, for our top story today, we're taking you to Cyprus,
01:52where EU leaders are holding an informal summit against a fraught geopolitical backdrop.
01:57Last night, over dinner, leaders discussed plans to revive the EU's little-known defence clause
02:03amid deepening cracks in the relationship between the US and its European allies.
02:09Today, they'll tackle the EU's long-term budget and they'll also lunch with leaders from the Middle East.
02:14For more, we can cross over to Cyprus now and to our correspondent, Jorge Liborero, who's there for us.
02:21Great to see you, Jorge, this morning.
02:24Listen, this should have been Viktor Orbán's last summit, but he's decided to skip,
02:29and that really seems to be defining this gathering.
02:35Calimera Marit, indeed, the longest-serving member of the European Council,
02:40is not making his way to this summit.
02:43It would have been his farewell summit, so to speak, after 16 years of uninterrupted power.
02:48But as we remember, Viktor Orbán was defeated in the polls earlier this month,
02:53and opposition leader Peter Magyar took over with the promise of restoring ties between Budapest and Brussels.
03:01Leaders yesterday, as they made their way to the dinner,
03:04were noticeably relieved by the change in power,
03:07because Viktor Orbán has been a figure of disruption and obstruction for 16 years,
03:13and now everybody wants to bring back a sense of normalcy into the collective decision-making.
03:19And, Jorge, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was also there,
03:24joining the leaders over dinner yesterday.
03:27And he had some very interesting comments on Ukraine's bid to join the European Union.
03:37Yes, indeed.
03:38At first, we didn't know if Zelenskyy was going to make it in person to the summit here in Cyprus.
03:44But after the vetoes on the 90 billion loan and the package of sanctions against Russia were lifted earlier this
03:50week,
03:50he decided to show up in person, and his message was unmistakable.
03:55He was pushing to really speed up the accession process of Ukraine,
04:00which has been blocked by Hungary for almost two years now.
04:04The frustration of Zelenskyy was very palpable as well.
04:07He said that he needs a clear date for accession,
04:11and he wants to speed up the process as soon as possible.
04:14However, other leaders, like the prime ministers of Belgium and Luxembourg, were more cautious.
04:20They said that they don't want any shortcuts,
04:22they don't want any fast tracks for Ukraine's accession.
04:25So my short analysis here in Cyprus is that after the end of the urban era,
04:31EU leaders will have to finally face head-on the complex issue of Ukraine's accession with no easy answers.
04:38And yesterday, I got to talk to one of these leaders, the Estonian prime minister, Kristen Michal,
04:44and we talked about accession, but also other topics that are hot on the agenda right now.
04:48Take a listen.
04:50We'll see, because always there's a chance,
04:53at least for a fresh start.
04:55So it will mean that you can start again.
04:58And to be honest, I cannot see any other way that Ukraine's future is in the Europe.
05:06That is definitely so.
05:08That will mean that the question is only when, not if and how.
05:15Now, I know you've been working on an initiative to introduce an European-wide ban for Russian soldiers who have
05:22taken part in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
05:24Why are you pushing for this measure now?
05:27And why is it so important to you?
05:29It's not even important to me, but it's important to everybody living in Europe because, to put it very simple
05:37terms, that before the war and at the start of the war,
05:42Russia had less men under the arms than right now.
05:45So we have more men under the arms right now than at the start of the war.
05:50And we would imagine for a moment that the war would stop.
05:54There will be ceasefire, peace and some, but hopefully just a lasting peace.
05:59Fine.
05:59But what will those people do?
06:02Most of them are criminals, but they have to be treated as heroes inside Russia.
06:07So, once again, I would ask everybody that, do you want these guys near to your home?
06:11No, you don't.
06:12So that's why you have to ban them for life from Schengen.
06:16Ideally, you think it could happen this year or do you think it needs more time?
06:21Ideally, it could happen.
06:23It should happen before the summer, but this is ideally.
06:26I have this kind of feeling that we will be talking about it before the summer already,
06:32but I don't know if enough decisions will be made before the summer, but I hope so.
06:37Another issue here for this informal summit is mutual assistance.
06:41We know that the European treaties have an article of mutual assistance, 42.7.
06:46It hasn't been explored until now, but we also know that many member states like yours
06:51are also part of NATO, which has an article 5 of collective defense.
06:54Do you see a possible contradiction between these two articles or can they coexist?
06:59They are coexisting because, for example, NATO article 5 has been invoked only once from the United States
07:08and European article 42.7 has been also invoked once by France.
07:14So the question is about the need and they can exist together, I would say,
07:21because usually it's pretty much overlapping what we're doing because you need certain assistance.
07:28You need your allies to act with you.
07:30So I would say this is working well, but also we should talk about European capabilities,
07:36because, as we can see, President Trump's message is also that Europe should bear more burden in its own defense.
07:43Trump has also threatened to withdraw the United States from NATO.
07:47He's been saying this several times.
07:49We don't know what's going to happen, but do you think that because of these threats
07:53that he's making so publicly, the value of article 5 has been decreased,
07:58that it's not so powerful anymore?
08:01I would say no to that because, for example, when we had Russian MiGs in our space a little bit
08:09before
08:10that certain Russian drones were in Poland's airspace, which were shot down first time in NATO's history at that moment.
08:17At that moment, Trump's message was quite clear that America is standing to protect Baltics, Poland and so on.
08:24So I would say that the messages have been quite clear that NATO is working.
08:28Also in Hague, we had NATO summit there, and Trump said that if Europe is sharing the burden, he will
08:36commit to NATO.
08:38Yes, I can understand that there's a lot of political messages, but the military side is working absolutely well.
08:48That was the Estonian Prime Minister, Kristian Michal, speaking to our correspondent, Jorge Liborero.
08:54And we'll, of course, keep an eye out for Jorge's reporting throughout the day from those talks in Cyprus.
09:00Now, when he was president of the European Council,
09:03Charles Michel had a notoriously strained relationship with commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
09:10Those tensions have resurfaced in recent weeks.
09:13Our Europe editor, Maria Tadeo, caught up with Michel earlier today at the Delphi Economic Forum.
09:20She began by asking him about von der Leyen's leadership style, often described as highly centralised,
09:27and whether sufficient checks and balances exist to keep that approach in check.
09:34All of us, we know what we have to do, what I'm observing, it seems that it's difficult to make
09:39decisions that are urgent and that are needed.
09:43I trust the European Council.
09:45I think that by nature, the European Council is the right body to decide what are the main orientations,
09:52and also to make the most difficult decisions, because, you know, the European Council is the guardian of the European
09:59unity.
10:00And this European unity is something that's not easy to achieve.
10:03It requires a lot of work, a lot of preparation.
10:06It requires a lot of collective intelligence.
10:08It requires to listen to each other.
10:11And I'm confident that sooner or later the European Council will make additional decisions to clarify some of the orientations
10:20we have to decide on in the near future.
10:23Do you, are we to understand, therefore, that the Council's stance, it should be stronger, it should have a louder
10:29voice?
10:30It's not as strong as it should be the message now.
10:32You know, in my opinion, there's not a question of voice, it's a question of decisions, the fact that they
10:38have to be made.
10:39And what is a bit frustrating for all those like me, who are absolutely convinced that this project is more
10:45needed than ever,
10:45the European project, the European dream, the European principles, the European values, the European coexistence,
10:51and what is frustrating is the fact that all of us, we know what we have to do.
10:55We know exactly what we have to do.
10:56Everything is on the table.
10:58They are observing that there are always good reasons to procrastinate.
11:01There are always good reasons to waste time.
11:05And that's regrettable.
11:06And again, I don't want to blame anyone in particular.
11:12Let's be clear.
11:13That's not my point.
11:14When I want to blame someone, I'm very clear.
11:16You know me.
11:17Here, that's not my point.
11:18My point is, let's look at the future.
11:20And we have tools, we have capacities, we have capabilities, we have great companies, we have great searchers.
11:29We have a lot of strength within the EU.
11:31And there is a crisis.
11:32There is chaos across the world.
11:34And by experience, we know when it's difficult in the world, in general, the EU is able to learn lessons
11:42fast.
11:43Let's act faster and let's learn our lessons.
11:46Some would argue the weakness at times of the Council goes back to the idea of unanimity.
11:52And that has been dragging the action and certainly the peace and the speed around it.
11:56Viktor Orban obviously has been crushed in a defeat.
11:59Viktor Orban now is gone from the Council.
12:02Is that going to make things better?
12:04Or actually, would you argue the dynamics are more profound?
12:06Even with the Hungarian Prime Minister gone, this issue will remain.
12:10I hope that it will help the European plans to be more united in the future.
12:16Are you relieved that Viktor Orban lost?
12:18I wouldn't say that.
12:19Because I will tell you why.
12:20Because I think that based on the experience I have on some topics, some in the European Council were hiding
12:28behind Viktor Orban.
12:31Point one.
12:31And point two, in some of the European countries, you can have tomorrow some national leaders who are not so
12:38far from Viktor Orban's ideology.
12:41On some topics, including on Ukraine, for instance.
12:44Point two.
12:45Does it mean that unanimity is a problem?
12:48For sure, unanimity is a challenge.
12:50There is no doubt.
12:50But I think you should think carefully before making a decision not to use unanimity anymore.
12:57Because if you stop to try to involve every country in the same decision, the reason is that you will
13:05weaken the weight of the EU at the international level.
13:10And that's why I think that the priority should be different.
13:14In my opinion, you should fight against the abuse of this veto right.
13:18Because if you follow the philosophy and the principle of the Lisbon Treaty, the idea was really that the veto
13:25right was supposed to be used when your vital interests are at risk.
13:30And the problem is that today, too many countries are tempted too many times to use this veto right as
13:37a kind of tool to blackmail it, to get something in the other side.
13:40That's the problem, the one, I think.
13:42It seems to me, however, listening to the leaders just finally on this point, that they would agree that larger
13:45needs to happen as soon as possible and complete the union.
13:49But they would also say we need to reform and there is no fast track for Ukraine.
13:53Are those three statements compatible?
13:55Yeah, but what you are mentioning is this agreed language, no fast track, etc.
14:01When we want to do something, but in parallel, we add a sentence so that it is in fact more
14:10difficult to get the result.
14:14Let's be clear.
14:16There is no doubt that in those countries, they have to do their homework and they know what they have
14:21to do.
14:22There is to put in place a reform, there is to guarantee the independence of justice, to fight against corruption,
14:27etc., point one.
14:28On the other hand, let's be honest, in some of the European countries, it was very comfortable to use the
14:35argument of those countries not acting as fast as needed because there is, in some European countries, a difficult question
14:47debate with this enlargement policy.
14:49And I think in those circumstances, we could all win if we tell the truth to our people everywhere in
14:58Europe.
14:59The future will be more stable, more secure with them within the EU.
15:03And of course, there are some efforts, but also our efforts that are needed in terms of domestic reforms and
15:10in terms of what kind of policy we put in place.
15:17That was the former president of the European Council, Charles Michel, speaking to our Europe editor, Maria Tadeo.
15:24Now, the FIFA Football World Cup is just around the corner, happening this summer, of course, in the US, Canada
15:31and Mexico.
15:32And it's becoming deeply intertwined with global politics.
15:37The Trump administration is reportedly working behind the scenes to replace Iran, which did qualify for the tournament, with Italy,
15:46which painfully lost in the playoffs to Bosnia and Herzegovina, missing out on a spot in the World Cup for
15:53the third consecutive time.
15:55For more, our Jakob Janis has this explainer.
16:00Could the 2026 World Cup see a team that failed to qualify take to the pitch?
16:06A plan is brewing in Washington to give Italy a wildcard entry by replacing Iran.
16:12Paolo Zampolli, a special envoy to President Trump, confirmed he has pitched the swap to both the White House and
16:18FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
16:21But wait a second. Is this game-changer even in the rulebook?
16:26The Financial Times reports this is an attempt to repair ties between Trump and Italy's Giorgio Meloni after the Republic's
16:33part over the Iran War and the Pope.
16:36And Zampolli argues Italy four world titles offer the pedigree to join the 2026 tournament hosted across the US, Mexico
16:44and Canada.
16:45All right, but how is it legal? Article 6 of the World Cup regulations gives FIFA sole discretion to replace
16:53any team that withdraws or is excluded.
16:57And while Iran insists they plan to participate, FIFA has already set a precedent.
17:03Just last summer, they used the same powers to hand a spot at the Club World Cup to Inter Miami,
17:10enabling Lionel Messi to play.
17:13But football is not the only arena where the guest list is being rewritten.
17:17This February, Russia and Belarus were barred from flying their flags at the Milano-Kortina 2026 Winter Olympics in response
17:24to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
17:27Yet, when the Paralympics, which are governed by a different body than the Olympics, allowed these symbols back after a
17:33Swiss court ruling, the European Commission boycotted the opening ceremony.
17:37Sport commissioner Glenn Mikalev called the return of the national banners unacceptable, while Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine continues.
17:46So if Italy does make it to Los Angeles this June, it could be the most historic wildcard in the
17:52history of the sport.
17:54They just have to hope their diplomatic pedigree is as strong as their footballing one.
17:58Especially after the brutal defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the qualifying play-off final.
18:09And that brings this edition of Europe Today to an end.
18:13Thank you so much for your company today and throughout this week.
18:17We will be bringing the latest from that meeting of EU leaders taking place right now in Cyprus.
18:23Our correspondent Jorge Liborero is there on the ground.
18:27Keep an eye out for his reporting throughout the day on Euronews and Euronews.com.
18:32You can also get in touch with us.
18:34Email us at europetoday at euronews.com with your tips, questions and feedback.
18:39We love to hear from you.
18:41We'll be back on Monday with more news and more analysis from Brussels and across our European bureaus.
18:48In the meantime, do have a great weekend.
19:02We'll be back on Monday with more news and more news and other news and more news and more news
19:16and more news and more news and more news.
19:20Grazie a tutti.
19:56Grazie a tutti.
Commenti