Europe Today: Merz under pressure again, Ukraine's biggest strike hits Moscow

Name: Europe Today: Merz under pressure again, Ukraine's biggest strike hits Moscow
Uploaded: 2026-09-21T06:59:30+00:00
Duration: 20 min 2 s
Channel: euronews (in English)

00:14Good morning, it's Monday, September 21st, you're watching Euronews, and this is Europe Today.

00:22Coming up, following Russian strikes on Kiev, Ukrainian forces started their largest-scale

00:28attack on Moscow since the beginning of the war. More than 1,000 drones were launched, killing at

00:33least two people and damaging a major oil refinery, according to the mayor of Moscow. The attacks came

00:39as Russians headed to the polls for the first parliamentary elections since 2022. A vote that

00:45President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party is widely expected to win. The far-right in Germany

00:52continues its political rise. In crucial state elections in East Germany, the AfD party scored

00:58big gains, but not enough to seize power. The Christian Democrats of Friedrich Merz suffered

01:04heavy losses, which will only increase the political pressure on the Chancellor. In Mecklenburg-Western

01:10Pomerania, the AfD came in first, closely followed by the Social Democrats and the CDU missing the

01:16five-percent hurdle. The city-state of Berlin saw a win by the left, with the AfD ending up third.

01:23We'll go live to the German capital. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has announced that the

01:29government is preparing a bill that would ban burqas and kneecaps in school and limit the number of

01:34foreign pupils in each class. Italy hats to the polls next year, with competition intensifying to the right

01:41of Meloni's party. Several European countries, including France and Belgium, already banned

01:46face coverings in public places. And as tensions are escalating in the Middle East, Iran has threatened

01:54Washington and its allies in the region with renewed strikes should the U.S. resume action against Tehran.

02:00The warning followed reports the White House was preparing fresh attacks on Iran. Meanwhile,

02:06U.S. embassies across the Middle East issued security alerts and President Trump cut short a visit to

02:11Camp David without explanation. We'll speak with our correspondent in Doha. Welcome to the program,

02:18I'm Stefan Grobe. The war in Ukraine shows no sign of abating. Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces launched

02:26massive drone strikes against Moscow and its region and also claimed territorial gains in a key area of

02:33Donetsk. This came after weeks of relentless Russian attacks on targets in Ukraine. Let's bring in Federico

02:40Borsari now, a fellow with the transatlantic defense and security program at the Center for European

02:46Policy Analysis, who joins us from Paris. Good morning and thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me.

02:53Good morning. So Ukraine is hitting Moscow, attacking another refinery on the day of Russia's

03:00parliamentary election. How is Putin going to react? Should we expect another Russian offensive?

03:08I think we definitely should expect Russian further attacks in Ukraine. This has been ongoing for

03:15more than four years now, so I don't see any sign that Russia will try to negotiate or will try

03:23to

03:24diminish its pressure on Ukraine. We should expect more missile and drone attacks against Ukrainian

03:31critical infrastructure, against Ukrainian cities and villages. And also we are approaching the winter,

03:40so there will be definitely an attempt by Russia to destroy and damage even more the power grid and

03:50and the critical infrastructure of Ukraine in order to try to ban the population and diminish, you know,

03:56the willingness of Ukrainians to continue to resist. And what about Russian hybrid attacks on Western Europe?

04:03Will the situation deteriorate here too? We just had stark warnings from France, from President Macron and

04:10even from Marine Le Pen. Yes, I think the trend is that Russia is trying to increase the pressure also

04:19on European

04:20capitals and European allies. It's trying to, you know, increase also the hybrid attacks. And in this sense,

04:31I think the trend is clear. There is an increase in, you know, subversion, sabotage operations, hybrid attacks and cyber

04:42attacks as well.

04:43On the other end, I don't see signs of a potential conventional attack by Russia, also because, you know, it

04:52needs significant preparation for that.

04:55But I think many leaders across Europe and many intelligence services are converging on the fact that Russia is trying

05:05to increase the pressure and to

05:09see if there are ways to, you know, weaken European willingness to support Ukraine.

05:17All right, Federico Borsari from the Center for European Policy Analysis. Thank you very much for your insights.

05:24And now to Germany, where the latest political trend continues. In two more regional elections,

05:30the far-right AFD party made significant gains, though it did not come anywhere near gaining power.

05:36The parties represented in the federal government, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats are facing

05:41difficult times, even more difficult than before. Let's head straight to Berlin, where our correspondent Laura

05:48Fleischmann has the latest for us. Good morning, Laura.

05:51Laura, so what are the key takeaways from yesterday's elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania?

06:01Good morning, Stefan. And well, the results are very different, but they do share one common

06:06threat. And that is that the parties of the federal government here in Germany, the conservative CDU and

06:11the Social Democrats, the SPD, are losing ground. And at the same time, the parties at both ends of the

06:16political spectrum are gaining support. Here in Berlin, the left party won the election at around a quarter of

06:22the vote, with the CDU in second place at around 19%. And the SPD has been reduced to around 12%,

06:28which is a historic

06:29loss for them in the capital. The AFD had also some significant gains here in Berlin. And looking at Mecklenburg

06:35-Western

06:35Pomerania, it has been a very tight race between the far-right AFD and the SPD until the very last

06:41second.

06:42Now the AFD came out on top, but they will likely not be able to form a government since they

06:47are

06:47lacking a coalition partner. Far behind are all the other parties, among them the CDU, which will no

06:53longer be part of the state parliament, since it didn't manage to take the 5% threshold.

06:58That is quite remarkable. I mean, Chancellor Mertz is in trouble. Just how big is this trouble?

07:07This was, of course, a devastating result for him and his party. He called it a disaster before he

07:13even knew that his party will no longer be part of the state parliament. Nevertheless, he wants to keep

07:18going and wants to push down on his reform cause even harder, even though it is responsible for lack

07:23of support from voters. There's been quite a lot of tension within the CDU, with some party members

07:28calling for him to step down or for him to be swapped out for another chancellor. But as I said,

07:33he wants to keep going. And there's now a lot of pressure within his coalition partner, the SPD, as well.

07:38All right, Laura Fleischmann with the latest. Thank you very much. And we're staying in Germany.

07:44What do these election results mean for the country and for Europe? To find out, we're now joined by

07:49Sabrina Repp, a member of the European Parliament for the Social Democrats, who hails from Mecklenburg,

07:55Western Pomerania. Good morning. Great to have you here.

07:59Good morning. Thank you very much for the invitation.

08:02So we're seeing the same trend that we saw in Saxony-Anhalt two weeks ago. The AFD scores big

08:08gains and the parties of the federal government are being marginalized. How much pressure can

08:13Friedrich Merz's coalition sustain? At what point is its collapse inevitable?

08:20Yes. So there is lots of pressure to the coalition in Berlin. And what we saw is when you are

08:25looking

08:26to the results since the European Parliament, since the elections of the European Parliament,

08:30there you can see, especially in the eastern port of Germany, really much increase of the results of

08:38the AFD over 30%. So it is not that something is, it is not that it is new. So we

08:44see it since the

08:46elections of the European Parliament. But now we see that lots of people lost their trust in the

08:54federal government. And these are the results also for the state parliament elections.

09:00Would the Social Democrats support the Christian Democrats replacing Merz by somebody else?

09:07So this is something we need to discuss because there is lots of pressure, but we need to really

09:13look, these are now our results for the local elections. And here it is the most important thing,

09:20that we now stabilized the situation and that we can have a good coalition in the different federal,

09:29in the different state parliaments. And for that, we need to see how we can end up in this

09:36special situation. And then we can see what is going on in Berlin. But there is lots of pressure.

09:41And something that was really new is that Friedrich Merz gave an interview directly after they

09:47represent the results of the elections. And there you can see there is lots of pressure.

09:53All right, Sabrina Repp, Social Democratic Member of the European Parliament. Thank you for sharing your

09:58thoughts with us. In the Persian Gulf, the situation remains murky, despite the escalating rhetoric on

10:05both sides. Is there really no perspective for a peaceful solution? The Iranian President and

10:11Foreign Minister were given visas by the US government to attend the UN General Assembly in New York this

10:17week. That could be a positive signal. Could be. For more on this, I'm now joined by our correspondent,

10:24Adil Halim in Doha. Good morning.

10:28Good morning, Stefan.

10:30So, Adil, President Trump addresses the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. What will the Gulf countries be

10:36listening for?

10:40Stefan, the big question is, what does President Trump say about Iran? Does he see a way out of this

10:44war

10:44through diplomacy or is more military action still on the table? Because right now we're hearing both.

10:50Trump has again threatened Iran with more military action if there's no deal. But he's also said he's

10:54willing to meet Iranian President Masoud Pazeshkian in New York. And diplomatic channels are still open.

11:00Iran says it sent Washington its conditions for ending the war through Qatar. Those include ending the

11:06fighting, releasing frozen Iranian assets and ending the US naval blockade. And Tehran says the Strait of Hormuz

11:11will remain closed until those conditions are met. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakji is on his way

11:17to New York with a stop here in Doha for talks on the latest developments. So there is a lot

11:22happening

11:22behind the scenes. Both sides are talking about diplomacy, but both sides are also saying the

11:26situation could get potentially worse. And Gulf countries will be listening tomorrow to see any

11:30indication on which direction US President Donald Trump wants to go.

11:34And Donald Trump is also expected to meet Gulf leaders in New York. What will they want from

11:40that meeting? Well, I think the first thing is clarity. What is Washington's endgame? And what

11:46happens to security in the region when this war eventually ends? Because the situation became much

11:51more serious over the weekend. Saudi Arabia says it intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile targeting

11:57Riyadh on Saturday and flames and thick smoke were seen near the city's main international airport.

12:03The Houthis are warning that their attacks on Saudi Arabia will continue. So the stakes are very high

12:08here. Qatar's Prime Minister described the fallout from the war on Sunday as a quote earthquake,

12:13saying it had challenged assumptions on security and stability. So the question for Gulf leaders

12:18is simple. Does Trump have a path out of this war? Or is the region heading for more escalation?

12:23And either way, what comes next? All right. Thank you very much, Adel Halim in Doha.

12:29And now to a different sort of conflict. In the city of Brussels, shootings related to drug trafficking

12:36have become routine over the past couple of years. There were over 100 in 2025 alone and more than 65

12:43shootings so far already this year. Just a few weeks ago, one particular neighborhood saw three

12:49shootings in as many days. Many are already comparing Brussels to scenes from major US cities. Really?

12:57Is Brussels starting to resemble Detroit or Chicago more and more? Now, who better to address this

13:04question than the US ambassador to Belgium, who joins me now on the set? Welcome, Bill White.

13:11Hey, Stefan. How are you? Nice to see you.

13:13I'm very good. Thank you so much. So is Brussels looking more and more like Chicago? Do you still feel

13:20safe here? Oh, yeah. Well, I feel safe. It's not it's not fair to ask me if I feel safe

13:26because I am

13:28very grateful to the Belgian federal police who are who are here in the studio with me. They're wonderful

13:33men and women who are serving their country. They are also very frustrated with the crime here. There are

13:41certain policies, of course, that we all know, as there were in major US cities until President Trump

13:49came to town in Washington, D.C., where criminals really are not being properly prosecuted or put in

13:56jail. I actually went to visit the jail here. They renovated the beautiful Palais de Justice and I went with

14:04my husband to visit and we talked with the police officers. I actually went into the jail to see it's

14:11full. We have many, many, many illegal aliens in the jails here. But some good news, the Minister of

14:20Migration in the various countries from where these people have come from are moving quickly to extradite

14:28them back to their home country. That's a good thing because there'll be more room in the jails then

14:32to put the real criminals who keep getting let out. We have a prosecutor here in Brussels who is the

14:39King's prosecutor and he's doing a fantastic job trying to clean this up once and for all.

14:45What would be your number one recommendation to the Belgian authorities to fight drug crime?

14:51Yeah, I think they keep doing what they're doing. Minister Canton and the Minister of Defense,

14:56that's the Belgian federal police, that's the military. They're on the streets in front of the

15:02synagogues and at the train station. I went there the other day and they're doing a great job. The

15:06crime there is coming down. You have a new minister president in Brussels, Boris Deliers. They are

15:15focused on this. They know it hurts business. It hurts tourism. It hurts, of course, their own citizens

15:21first and foremost.

15:23I know you love Belgium. You love the Belgians. I do. I'm going to ask you this question about that

15:30survey that came out during the summer that now more than half of Belgians believe that the US

15:36is a bigger threat to global security than China. Why do you think that is?

15:41Oh, I don't know. I think it's because of fake news. The news here in Belgium is very negative on

15:48President Trump. It really disappoints me. I had a nice talk with the man who owns most

15:55of the stations here. And I said the last time I did a survey, it was 90% of the

16:00media on President

16:02Trump is negative. I will tell you one thing. In the United States, our GDP is going through the roof.

16:09It's 4.3% and rising. In Europe, it's fairly stagnant. The economy is surging. Unemployment is

16:19way down. We have $19 trillion in new investment. With President Trump encouraging NATO to come to

16:27the 5%, you'll have $1 trillion now. $1 trillion. It's the Trump trillion that you'll be able to spend

16:34in Europe that will be millions of jobs over the next 10 years, that those funds will be spent

16:41to build a stronger defense for NATO and for Europe.

16:45If I may, I mean, President Trump doesn't always make it easy for Europeans to like the US. I mean,

16:53there are his attacks on European leaders, the tariffs, there's the anti-European rhetoric in

17:01general, there's NATO, there's Greenland, all these things. Does that make your life more

17:06difficult here representing the US? No, not at all. In fact, you mentioned Greenland.

17:12It's been resolved. So everybody here who was worrying and calling me and coming to see me,

17:18I told everybody to relax, take a deep breath. It will all be fine. And yesterday, it was announced

17:24that it's all fine. President Trump was looking to secure the strategic importance of Greenland to

17:30the safety and security of the United States. If the United States is not safe, it certainly cannot

17:35help Europe if Europe is attacked. Because if America is not safer, stronger, more prosperous,

17:42it cannot help anybody or be a good partner. So I think the criticism is really unfair. I hate it.

17:49I will tell you that. I wish people knew President Trump the way I do. I've known him for 32

17:54years.

17:54He's a fantastic human being. He's a great father. He's a great grandfather. And he's a great friend.

18:00And he's a great president. I would say he's the best president the United States has ever had.

18:05With the EU-USA trade deal being signed, you will see hundreds of billions of dollars moving forward.

18:12So we're across the street from the EU. They signed a historic trade deal. I'm talking about 50 billion

18:18of LNG coming into Belgium. I'm working on 10 billion of US financing for nuclear power plants.

18:25I'm also talking about getting global entry for Belgium so they don't have to wait on any lines

18:30when they go to the United States. And on October 2nd, I will announce this with you first.

18:35We have three World War II veterans, 101, 102 and 103, coming to visit the Henry Chappelle cemetery,

18:45where one of the men is visiting his brother-in-law, who's buried there for the first time.

18:51I love your enthusiasm, Ambassador, but I got to ask you this. What good does it do

18:57attacking America's closest allies almost constantly and not, for example, Vladimir Putin?

19:04Oh, that's not fair at all. President Trump is not attacking its closest allies. He is

19:11in a long-standing, I would say it's like a marriage. I'm married 26 years. We do have arguments.

19:19This is normal. In loving relationships, sometimes you have to do a little tough love,

19:24and tough love is actually very effective. I understand where this is going.

19:28I think he's doing a great job. All right. Thank you so much, Ambassador Bill White. Thank you so

19:33much for coming on. All the best. And that does it for us today. Stay tuned for more news throughout

19:39the day here on Euronews. Thanks for watching. I'm Stefan Grobe. See you tomorrow.

Europe Today: Merz under pressure again, Ukraine's biggest strike hits Moscow

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