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أوروبا اليوم: رئيس وزراء لاتفيا أندريس كولبرغز في مقابلة خاصة مع يورونيوز وروبيو يلتقي لافروف
تولى أندريس كولبيرغس رئاسة حكومة لاتفيا في أيار بعد سقوط الائتلاف السابق بسبب تعامله مع الطائرات المسيّرة، ويتحدث حصريا إلى "يورونيوز" بينما يلتقي وزير الخارجية الأمريكي ماركو روبيو نظيره الروسي سيرغي لافروف لبحث إنهاء الحرب في أوكرانيا.
لمزيد من القراءة : http://arabic.euronews.com/2026/07/23/europe-today-latvian-pm-andris-kulbergs-speaks-exclusively-to-euronews-as-rubio-meets-lavr
سجل: يورونيوز متوفرة باثنا عشرة لغة
تولى أندريس كولبيرغس رئاسة حكومة لاتفيا في أيار بعد سقوط الائتلاف السابق بسبب تعامله مع الطائرات المسيّرة، ويتحدث حصريا إلى "يورونيوز" بينما يلتقي وزير الخارجية الأمريكي ماركو روبيو نظيره الروسي سيرغي لافروف لبحث إنهاء الحرب في أوكرانيا.
لمزيد من القراءة : http://arabic.euronews.com/2026/07/23/europe-today-latvian-pm-andris-kulbergs-speaks-exclusively-to-euronews-as-rubio-meets-lavr
سجل: يورونيوز متوفرة باثنا عشرة لغة
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00:14ترجمة نانسي قنقر
00:30He will discuss the war in Ukraine with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when they meet in the Philippines
00:36later today.
00:38US broker talks between Kyiv and Moscow have stalled, but Rubio says there may be, quote,
00:44new conditions to bring both sides back to the table.
00:48We'll bring you more details.
00:50In other news, the European Commission has said it is preparing to accept new US tariffs in the coming days
00:56as long as they do not exceed the 15% cap agreed under the EU-US trade deal sealed a
01:04year ago.
01:05Trump is expected to announce fresh levies on goods allegedly made with forced labor.
01:11And the US has signed a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia,
01:16expected to allow the Gulf country to develop its own civilian nuclear program.
01:21The US Energy Department has described the deal as a peaceful cooperation agreement that will benefit American companies.
01:30But we start this morning in Latvia.
01:34Andris Kulberg became the Baltic country's prime minister in May
01:37after the previous coalition government collapsed over its handling of stray drones.
01:43Latvia is, of course, one of NATO's frontline states bordering Russia on Europe's eastern flank
01:49and plays a leading role in supporting Ukraine.
01:53And prime minister Andris Kulberg joins us live now from Riga.
01:58Prime minister, good morning.
02:00Really good to have you with us on the show.
02:03Good morning, Brussels.
02:04Yesterday, your armed forces in Latvia fired a warning shot
02:10and used tear gas to prevent migrants from crossing from Belarus.
02:15Do you believe, prime minister, that Minsk and Moscow are instrumentalizing these migrants
02:21in order to destabilize your country?
02:24I do not believe.
02:26I am sure.
02:27This happens since 2021.
02:29We're being tested, not just us.
02:31This moment, it is us.
02:34It is any given moment.
02:35It is our neighbors, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland or Poland.
02:38Any of us are tested.
02:41This is a hybrid threat.
02:42This is a war threat.
02:43That's what Russia does.
02:45This is for sure because we can see that it is not just asylum seekers
02:49what somebody might think of.
02:51They are really men, 18 to 25, with criminal past,
02:57with all given visas from Belarus.
03:00This is all organized from the top level of Russian mob as well.
03:06So this is an organized threat towards us to find a weak link.
03:11And we all have to do all the measures, take all the measures to prevent that.
03:15And why, prime minister, do you think that this is intensifying now?
03:19Why is Putin deciding to target Latvia in this hybrid war at this moment?
03:26Because he's losing in Ukraine.
03:29Simple.
03:29He needs to take attention somewhere else and have this action.
03:35Prime minister, I want to move on to talk about drones
03:38because the previous government there in Latvia collapsed
03:41amid criticism over its handling of incursions.
03:44What are you and your government doing differently
03:48to ensure Latvia is better prepared and protected against this threat?
03:52We're not simple.
03:54We're talking the truth.
03:55We're not giving any anticipations which cannot be met.
03:59We immediately have, I appointed the defense minister,
04:04a professional, not just from Latvia, but from the field in Ukraine
04:08who has clear knowledge, clear experience of warfare,
04:13what is happening in Ukraine.
04:14So getting the best of the best solution for us.
04:18So we signed a drone deal with Zelensky.
04:21This gives us access to the Ukrainian know-how
04:24and implement the umbrella for our skies in the best possible way.
04:29Do you think that the EU more broadly is moving quick enough on this?
04:34Because we know that this is a threat across the eastern flank.
04:37We know that the European Commission here talking about drone wall.
04:41Are you confident that those European initiatives will also work?
04:45They will work, but they have to be much faster in speed.
04:49You pointed it out really correctly.
04:51We are not up to speed.
04:53We are not just Latvia.
04:55We're investing 5%, above 5%, actually 6%, above 6% in our defense.
05:01Clear defense.
05:02Not some buildings.
05:03Real defense.
05:04But that is even not enough for the outside of European border,
05:08so eastern flank.
05:09We're defending all Europe, not just Latvia.
05:11So this is a matter which has to be whole Europe's matter for the defense.
05:15And this is an important point where we all have to be united.
05:20And, Prime Minister, when it comes to supporting Ukraine,
05:22obviously squeezing Moscow's war chest is very important.
05:26Yet we have now Greece blocking the latest package of EU sanctions against Russia
05:32as it seeks an exemption from the ban on Russian LNG.
05:36Does that frustrate you?
05:40Well, I've been quite vocal about it also in my speeches in our closed loop as well of the leaders.
05:48We have to understand, what is the purpose of the sanctions?
05:52Why are we doing that?
05:53Why are we supporting Ukraine?
05:55This is number one question prior to anything else.
05:58Do we want Ukraine to win?
06:00Do we want to support Ukraine so that the bully gets its peace?
06:05Or what do we want?
06:06Or we want to earn money?
06:07So there's a choice.
06:10It's not both.
06:11So the sanctions have to be implemented.
06:13But above all, the best sanctions that work today are the long-range Ukrainian sanctions deep into Russian heart,
06:23which is gas infrastructure, petrol station infrastructure.
06:26That is the biggest pride what Russia has.
06:30That's their only asset is selling gas.
06:32Now the pump versus propaganda, Putin's propaganda is working because the pump is winning.
06:39The pump where people cannot put their gas into their cars.
06:43That is the deepest sanction and the deepest signal to the whole society.
06:47The latest sanctions package was also meant to include a full EU entry ban on Russian soldiers.
06:54Are you disappointed that this has been watered down in these negotiations?
07:00I am.
07:01I am.
07:02Because, well, first of all, this is sanction package 21.
07:05We should have done it in the first year, not in the fifth year.
07:10We're waiting.
07:11We're doing all that.
07:13Let's see how it works.
07:15No, if we want to win, we have to give it.
07:17Where was it?
07:18Remember, what happened in the first year?
07:20We said, oh, no, don't shoot over the border.
07:23It's going to cause a chaos.
07:24It's going to cause.
07:25What happened?
07:27Nothing much has happened.
07:28But the escalation with so many Ukrainians had to die just because we did not take the decision timely enough.
07:35So I think it's all in all our interests just to finally unite, push it through and give the Ukrainians
07:44the momentum to use the momentum what they have now.
07:46OK, Prime Minister Andres Kulbergs, that's all we have time for, I'm afraid.
07:50But thank you so much for joining us.
07:52And we hope to see you again soon on Europe Today.
07:56Now we're moving on.
07:57The annual NATO summit earlier this month was hailed as a step towards a more balanced U.S.-European relationship.
08:05It also reconfirmed Russia as an ongoing threat to the alliance.
08:10Today, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss ending the war
08:16in Ukraine.
08:17This as the war on Iran shows no signs of subsiding.
08:21To discuss all of this, I'm glad that we can say we can bring in our NATO correspondent, Shona Murray,
08:27who is live for us from the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
08:31Good morning, Shona.
08:32Great to see you.
08:33The Ankara summit earlier this month, I know you were there, proved quite a positive moment for Ukraine.
08:39Is there hope now that the U.S. might do more to pressure Russia?
08:47Well, good morning, Murray.
08:48Indeed, it was a step towards Europe really stepping up, bringing the establishment of NATO 3.0 with a lot
08:55of procurement, 50 billion euros in procurement for European capabilities.
09:00At the same time, as you mentioned there, it was a good day for Ukraine in Ankara because the United
09:05States allowed the licensing and manufacturing of crucial patriot defence systems.
09:10And today, Marco Rubio said he is meeting his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
09:15The jury's out as to whether this means that it's a definitive moment because we heard also Marco Rubio saying
09:21that he won't be putting too much pressure on Lavrov.
09:24Lavrov also saying he's going to question Marco Rubio comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said that the
09:30war in Ukraine is coming closer to an end.
09:33So to discuss this, I'm joined by Colonel Martin O'Donnell, who's the senior advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander of
09:39the European Forces here at NATO.
09:42Martin, that meeting today with Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov, do you hope something will come out of it because
09:48of what we've seen in terms of the signs of Ukraine doing much better on the battlefield and Russia really
09:55on the back foot?
09:56Well, I think Secretary Rubio has said the meeting will comprise of a number of different things.
10:01We'll see what comes out of it in terms of peace.
10:04Of course, we all hope for and really want to see peace in Ukraine.
10:07The important thing to note, though, is until that point comes, NATO will continue to support Ukraine.
10:12Yeah, but do you think that it's possible because of that signal that Donald Trump gave the Ukrainians that they
10:20can manufacture and license Patriot defense missiles, that the United States is sort of a bit annoyed that Putin has
10:26not in any meaningful way come to the table when it comes to peace, that maybe the U.S. is
10:31giving a little bit more support to Ukraine than we've seen so far in the past couple of years?
10:35Yeah, I mean, President Trump has been pretty clear. He wants to bring about a peaceful end to that, to
10:40stop all of the killings.
10:42So then you see responses like you just described. And I think those are very, very positive movements towards peace.
10:52On the Iran issue, because we know that the war there has started apace, and in fact, it was at
10:57the NATO summit that Donald Trump decided that the Memorandum of Understanding was no more.
11:02That's not a good sign for NATO, because we know that Donald Trump was outraged that allies didn't support him
11:07in the initial days of the war.
11:08What do you think allies can do in defending the United States if they want to, and also the reopening
11:15of the Strait of Hormuz, because that's what everyone's very concerned about?
11:17Yes, I think it's not a good thing for anyone, right, that this is going on, that Iran has said,
11:23hey, we'll control the Strait of Hormuz.
11:27All the allies agreed at the NATO summit that you talked about that the Strait of Hormuz must remain free,
11:33and free it will.
11:34And if NATO can play a role, we've said time and time again we will.
11:37A lot of nations, bilaterally, multilaterally, have sent ships already to the region.
11:43Nations are also supporting the United States in other ways.
11:47Bulgaria, for example, their parliament met yesterday, decided to support the basing of U.S. refuelers.
11:56That was followed by a statement from a U.S.-European command saying that they will support Bulgaria with United States
12:03assets in the region if anybody thinks that they can threaten the United States or NATO.
12:07So these are strong reactions.
12:09They are indeed, because the Iranians have responded to that and said that that might bring Bulgaria as a party
12:15to the conflict.
12:16So there is a threat that this war in Iran could explode even further.
12:21Well, look, we saw that when Iran fired missiles towards Turkey, a NATO ally.
12:26Of course, NATO defended in all of those instances, and we will continue to defend against any threat posed by
12:32Iran or anyone else to this defensive alliance.
12:35Colonel Mark Donald, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
12:37And back to you in studio, Marad.
12:39Shauna, thank you so much, and thank you also to your guests there.
12:43Now, the European Commission is rumoured to be preparing to announce its first fine on Google under the Digital Markets
12:51Act, which is a set of laws aiming to rein in the power of big tech.
12:55This announcement could come as early as today.
12:58The move, of course, risks escalating tensions with the U.S. administration, which is critical of the EU's digital rules.
13:05Well, for more, I'm joined in the studio by our correspondent, Luca Bertuzzi.
13:09Luca, tell us first, what do we know about this expected fine on Google?
13:14Yes, indeed, Maret.
13:16We have been hearing about this fine for a few days now, and it's rumoured as imminent as early as
13:22today,
13:23even though we have no details about the total amount that is expected in the range of billions of euros.
13:31This is the culmination of a two-year investigation into Google and accusation that the tech company is favouring its
13:42own services in search results
13:45and preventing app developers to communicate with users outside its app store and with alternative payment system.
13:53Now, the European Commission has been criticised for being too slow in cracking down on big tech companies,
14:01taking years to conclude investigations only after the damage was already done and the competition squeezed out of the market.
14:11This is precisely what the Digital Markets Act is trying to avoid by bringing in a set of ex-ante
14:19rules meant to prevent Google and similar dominant companies
14:25to prevent European companies to compete in the same markets.
14:32This is the first investigation for Google, and it might be a testing bet for how Brussels is capable to
14:40make digital markets dominated by tech giants more contestable.
14:45Indeed, and also the timing of this one is quite notable because tensions with the US are quite high.
14:53So how could this impact that US-EU relationship?
14:56Well, indeed, there is never a dull moment in transatlantic relationship with Donald Trump in the White House.
15:02And as we heard before, Washington is preparing fresh tariffs as the current regime will expire in a few days.
15:13In the past, sanctioning American companies has proved controversial even inside the Commission,
15:19with senior officials working on a trade deal with the US pushing to delay fines.
15:24In this case, Brussels seems determined to go ahead nevertheless, but many will wonder how Washington will react.
15:33Indeed, Luca. Thank you for that. And as mentioned, that fine rumoured to be imminent.
15:40Now we're moving on. As efforts to enlarge the European Union gain political momentum,
15:46attention is now turning to how future enlargements will be financed.
15:50The cost of Montenegro's accession is already being debated as part of negotiations of the EU's next long-term budget.
15:58Meanwhile, some countries, including Germany, are pushing for a major overhaul of the bloc's enlargement rules.
16:06Euronews' Lena Roche sat down with Germany's Minister of State for Europe, Gunther Krichbaum,
16:11and started by asking him about Germany's recent proposal to allow candidate countries, notably Ukraine,
16:18to join the bloc in stages before completing all the required reforms.
16:24First of all, it is a common proposal from France and Germany,
16:29and we want to give more credibility to the enlargement process.
16:33What does it mean?
16:34At the moment, we are negotiating with all these countries since a couple of years, more than 10 years.
16:40So, ordinary people, they lose the faith.
16:43That means, ah, well, they think this European Union, in reality, they don't want us.
16:48So, giving back more credibility means to organize it step by step by step,
16:56not like a high-jumping competition like it was done in the years, all the years before,
17:03because it is not helpful.
17:05When I talk about a high-jumping competition, it means the bear is laying on 1,50 m.
17:10But in reality, this acquis communautaire, which is symbolizing this bear,
17:16is not any longer like in former times on 1,50 m, but on 2 m, because the whole acquis
17:23communautaire changed.
17:24And this means it is more complicated for these concerned states to jump over it.
17:31In reality, it means to organize it step by step by step, not to substitute a full membership,
17:38but it is the case that we have to find a better approach and a better way to achieve it.
17:45And this is now why they propose this gradual integration.
17:50And this is important, because after I each step, ordinary people and citizens,
17:56they will recognize an added value.
17:58So this is important and means to find here association membership with a membership in the council,
18:09with a membership in the European Parliament, with a status as an observer, and so they can join.
18:18And at the same moment, we are giving a message also to other countries like Russia, like China.
18:24These states belong to us, to the European Union.
18:27And what about the costs of the EU enlargement?
18:31Can the EU net contributors even afford this anymore?
18:35Well, all this will be managed in the multi-annual financial framework.
18:40So we have a budget in the European Union.
18:45And for this purpose is also the money which is inside this financial framework in this budget.
18:55So, of course, also in the future, it will be guaranteed.
19:00That was Euronews' Lena Roche, speaking to the German Minister of State for Europe, Gunther Krichbaum, in Berlin.
19:07And that brings today's programme to a close.
19:10Thank you so much for your company again this morning.
19:12Remember, we also want to hear from you.
19:15Send us your feedback to Europe Today at Euronews.com.
19:18And in the meantime, take care and see you tomorrow.
19:24And in the meantime, take care and see you tomorrow.
19:50Peace.
19:52Peace.
19:54Peace.
19:57Peace.
19:58Peace.
19:59Peace.
20:00Peace.
20:00Peace.
20:01Peace.
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