Europe Today: manobras da NATO perto da Rússia e o alerta de VDL para ameaça de drones

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:02][music] [music] >> Good morning. It is Wednesday the 27th of [music] May. I'm Maeve McMahon and this is Europe today. Your daily dose of European news and analysis live [music] here on Euronews. Coming up, EU foreign ministers are gathering in Cyprus today for two days of informal talks. From Israel's attack last night on Lebanon to Russia's ongoing attacks on Ukraine, >> [music] >> their meeting comes after a high-stakes phone call between Russia's Sergey Lavrov and his American counterpart Marco Rubio. Ministers will discuss whether formal communication channels with Moscow should reopen and of course, who should lead them.

[00:00:50]Meanwhile, Giorgia Meloni is urging Brussels to treat Europe's energy crisis as [music] an emergency. In a stern letter to the European Commission, the Italian Prime Minister, facing growing pressure ahead of elections next year, called [music] for urgent measures.

[00:01:05]Local elections in June will be seen as a key political test for her government.

[00:01:09]This as Sweden announces plans to half the price of monthly public transport passes in the second half of the year to give some relief to households. The country will be holding elections in [music] September.

[00:01:21]Plus, the World Health Organization has raised alarm over the speed of the Ebola virus in Central Africa where over 220 people have died. The EU and UNICEF have sent humanitarian supplies to the DRC to support [music] efforts to contain the outbreak. But first, NATO is carrying out a military exercise this morning just 30 km from the border with Russia.

[00:01:44]>> [music] >> It comes as the Baltics and other nations are on very high alert amid the ramped-up threat of drone incursions [music] within this territory. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been on the ground over the last couple of days to offer support from the European Union. Now, our correspondent Anze Logar is here in the studio to explain [music] how Europe and NATO aim to work together. Good morning, Anze. Thanks for being with us. Just tell us more about this. Yes, so it should start at the beginning of the story in Finland, roughly 30 km from the border of Russia. The Northern Star military exercises are kicking off today. This comprises 9,000 troops from across at least 10 NATO allied countries. We're talking about the Hungary and UK. They're at a military training base called Vuosanka. Now, the aim of this is to make sure that they're fighting fit regarding these drone incidents. We've seen them ratchet up in recent days, particularly over those Baltic nations, at least six since the beginning of May. The big question here is whether NATO is modernized enough to counter these incidents, as well as whether they're inoperable enough.

[00:02:49]That's the big question underpinning a lot of the NATO military exercises is whether they can work together at times of war as well as invasion. It's also important to point out that the United States has a significant presence here.

[00:03:01]There are at least two helicopters as well as military personnel. Of course, we all know that the United States have indicated that they will withdraw their presence at least from NATO, but at least today they're on the ground. But I do recommend watching Europe today tomorrow as we will have a special dispatch from our NATO correspondent Shahida Bari. Indeed, she's on the ground there on the border. We'll bring her in tomorrow on the show. But just tell us more as well about the visit of Ursula von der Leyen to the region. Has it made any difference? Yes, so European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was in Vilnius yesterday alongside European Commissioner for defense Andrus Kubilius. Now, she gave a press conference alongside the heads of state from Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia regarding these drone incursions. Now, she highlighted that these incidents have demonstrated that there are vulnerabilities when it comes to Baltic defenses, and she wants to make sure that they can close the gap. She's highlighted that she could work with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte if permitting to figure out what these holes are, but let's take a listen to what she had to say yesterday regarding these incursions.

[00:04:04]People in the Baltic countries have been experiencing what many believed belong to another area. Air raid alerts, families sheltering, schools [snorts] closing, transport interrupted.

[00:04:20]This is the reality on Europe's eastern border in 2026. This is a deliberate strategy from Russia.

[00:04:29]Trying to destabilize our democratic societies. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, of course, before that Angela Gouds, thank you so much for that update. But now the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe human rights body has approved a special tribunal to prosecute Russia's leadership over its war of aggression against Ukraine. To hear what's behind this idea, I spoke to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, and started by asking him if it would have any teeth.

[00:04:55]You know, it depends of the political will of of member states. So, we have now more than 36 countries ready to join the the special tribunal. We have we need to have a location, precise budget, and then the strong engagement of the member states, and then it can go it can go fast. Political will is always the question. We know that under President Donald Trump, the United States has not signed up to this initiative. Could that undermine the credibility of it?

[00:05:22]I don't think so. You know, I mean, we are we are really developing a huge framework for accountability. We have the European Court of Human Rights working on cases. We have the register of damage and the claims commission, and now the third pillar, the special tribunal. And the whole context will be key for Ukraine for stability in the in the context of the the war after the war. But who's going to pay?

[00:05:44]Who'll fund this tribunal?

[00:05:47]Member states, as I said before, I mean the member states must have the political will to develop the tribunal and also to fund the tribunal. We need now to have a precise budget for this tribunal. We have also some experiences with with well the precedent cases and also allocation and we are working quite hard on this. I mean with this what was happening right now, we will be able also to deliver on this very soon. And what happens if there is a peace deal?

[00:06:13]Could it establish then a blank amnesty and therefore render the tribunal pointless? Accountability and justice will be probably absolutely key in all peace discussions and what will happen will be will be in the discussions, but the best thing we can do to support Ukraine, to support the rule of law, to support justice is to be ready with the framework on accountability and it's exactly the reason why we are supporting so strongly by member states for doing this.

[00:06:38]>> [music] >> Now moving on, Spain's Socialist Party is in shock due to an ongoing probe into the former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Seen as a political mentor to the current party leader and premier this Pedro Sánchez, the scandal comes at a pretty rough time for the party. For more, we can go straight to Madrid where your news correspondent Rafael Salido is standing by for us this morning. Good morning and just tell us firstly more about this investigation.

[00:07:08]So good morning Maeve. As you were mentioning here in Spain, a former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero he's been indicted. He's facing charges related to influence peddling and other related crimes in a case that dates back to the pandemic where he was involved in the bailout of a company of a airline called Plus Ultra. This is a Venezuelan company or linked to the Venezuelan government and former Prime Minister Zapatero has really close ties to that government. So a few years back uh he was involved in asking the government to send to give some money to this company who was in crisis. And it's a huge blow for for the left here in general because in the past few years, Zapatero had become some kind of a moral compass for the left. Uh especially because when he left office, instead of joining some company's board or something, he decided to spend his time trying to sort some international crisis such as this one in Venezuela.

[00:08:10]So, it has come as a huge surprise now that we are learning that he may have benefited himself personally, and he's may have been receiving Spanish tax funder taxpayers' money.

[00:08:22]And it's a huge blow. He's expected to testify in front of the judge on June the 17th and June the 18th. So far, he has denied denied all the charges, and he has emphasized that he's innocent, but we are waiting to see what's going on here in what is a huge shock here in Spain.

[00:08:43]And as you're waiting, what impact do you think this could have on Pedro Sánchez, the current prime minister?

[00:08:51]Well, it's a huge blow, especially because the socialist government here in Spain is going through its own internal crisis. Let's remember that just in the past year, they've lost four local elections. They have been unable to pass any federal budget in the past 2 years, and they don't have a a majority in the parliament, so they depend on the support of a smaller parties. So, some people are concerned that this may be the last straw for these parties, and it may force some kind of change in the government. Just past weekend here in Madrid, we have a huge demonstration here in Madrid asking for elections, calling for elections. So far, Sánchez himself has discarded that option. However, we are waiting to hear from him. He's expected to talk today after he meets with the Pope. And we are waiting to hear what he has to say. But again, nobody's expecting that he may stop supporting his predecessor who has been really instrumental in his government for the past few months. Okay, Rafael Salido. Thank you so much for that live broadcast there from Madrid on a story that of course we're following very closely as well here on Euronews. And now from Spain, we can move to a story unfolding in Greece. The former Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, one of the main protagonists of the Greek debt crisis, has officially launched a new political party, Greek Left Alliance.

[00:10:16]For more on this new left wave in Greece, we can go straight to Athens and bring in Euronews' Fay Doulgkeri. Good morning. Tell us uh Fay about this party and how are people feeling now about Alexis Tsipras?

[00:10:28]Good morning, Maeve. No one can deny here in Greece that Alexis Tsipras, even those who didn't support him, is a charismatic politician.

[00:10:36]Uh he was widely seen as the Pope of this country the last difficult decade of Greece. Uh he gained a lot of support then. His rise was very fast and very impressive. But uh his fall was as fast as as impressive. And since he left politics main political scene, uh the opposition in Greece has been left highly fragmented. And that's how Kyriakos Mitsotakis that has been governing for 7 years now has survived political uh scandals and is still leading uh the polls. So the bet now for Alexis Tsipras is if he could manage to unite this fragmented uh opposition and gain uh the support he once had. But this task is very difficult because he has a very limited time until the elections. And what impact can he actually have on Greece's political scenery? And why did you choose now to announce this political party?

[00:11:34]He can have a very significant political impact here in Greece because there's no opposition that can challenge Kyriakos Mitsotakis effectively right now.

[00:11:48]An opposition that can really challenge him and can control his policies and his missteps. He chose now to present his new party because he wanted apparently to distance himself from the last government of SYRIZA that disappointed the voters and in the end was outvoted.

[00:12:05]He also found a lot of political room right now because the opposition after 7 years is not managing to gain support from the voters. And he wanted to have enough time to prepare his party for elections that are going to be held in a year or maybe even in the fall according to some scenarios. But maybe I need to tell you that pre-decision has already started around this new party and especially the name of the new party because its acronym ELAS is the same acronym as the acronym of the Greek police.

[00:12:42]I see. Okay, Fay Doulgkeri. Thank you so much for that update there live from Athens. Now, moving on. EU ministers for European affairs have wrapped up talks here in Brussels. On their agenda was EU enlargement, EU-UK relations, and of course the ongoing war in Ukraine.

[00:12:58]For all the insights, our Mary Gwen spoke to France's Minister for EU affairs, Benjamin Haddad.

[00:13:04]What we've seen over the last few days is one more criminal escalation from Russia against Ukraine civilians.

[00:13:10]But the truth is it's also a sign of the utter failure of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

[00:13:16]Russia is losing ground on the battlefield and we see Ukraine's incredible innovation when it comes to drone, for example, on the battlefield.

[00:13:24]It's losing ground diplomatically and [snorts] it was hoping for a long time to divide Europeans that we will weaken our resolve. We've seen exactly the opposite. We just recently finalized the 90 billion euro package to Ukraine.

[00:13:37]Remember that you know just about a year ago when we had President Zelensky's meeting in the Oval Office with Trump and Vance. A lot of people said that Ukraine would be forced into a capitulation in 24 hours and you Europeans would not be around the table.

[00:13:49]What we've seen is Europeans step up and now provide the bulk of the support to Ukraine. And we see Russia losing ground everywhere diplomatically. You know I was just in Armenia recently for the European Political Community where we also had the EU Armenia state visit. One more country like Moldova, like Sweden and Finland that joined NATO that wants to get rid of Russia's tutelage and they're closer to European norms and standards.

[00:14:17]This is the reality of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. If that is the case as you say and Russia is being weakened by Ukraine's resistance, isn't that then an opportune moment for Europe to step in and to say it's time to talk.

[00:14:32]I know President Emmanuel Macron has previously called for this.

[00:14:35]>> No, you're right. President Macron has always said that when the time is right, we should have our own channel of communication with Russia because there's no reason to let the Americans alone in the at the negotiation table when first and foremost it's the security of Europe that's at stake. Now, you have to look at the reality which is that Russia is not engaging seriously in diplomacy. It's not interested in the ceasefire and peace. It continues its escalation. So, I think the key now is to continue to provide our support to Ukraine. It's to continue to increase the pressure on Russia economically. We just recently passed the 20th package of sanctions. We need to continue So, just for clarity, I understand you're saying now is not the right time. Um and if so, isn't doesn't it make sense for Europe and nonetheless to be preparing for that time including thinking of who could do this role, who has the credibility, the clout to speak to the Russians. No, look, I see that this debate is going on in the media and the commentary and you're right that once again, you know, Europeans need to take matters in their own hand and so there's no reason why we should let others negotiate on the behalf of European of the European security architecture. So you Europeans should be ready also to have their own diplomatic track as President Macron has said repeatedly, but I would say our priority now clearly is to continue to support Ukraine to continue to increase the pressure on Russia.

[00:15:54]>> [music] >> Now moving on, if you couldn't sleep last night due to the hot weather, you're not the only one. A heat dome is pushing unusually high temperatures across Europe with new May records in the UK and France. For more on the science behind this and whether it's here to stay, we're joined now by Carlos Bueno Tempo. That's the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Good morning, Carlos. Thank you so much for joining us. Just tell us about these abnormal temperatures. Why are we seeing them now in May?

[00:16:22]Well, in a sense, what we are seeing now is just one specific instance of a broader pattern. If you look at the report the Copernicus Climate Change Service published last year about 2025, you see that this heat wave has become much more common and affect all European territory, not just the south or the west. Actually, the east and the north last year were on the on the spotlight. So is in this case is this high pressure ridge that is extending over Europe and is still ongoing very much. So we we will do the analysis once the event finish. And Carlo, is this due to climate change, do you think?

[00:16:58]Well, climate change certainly plays a big role. We have seen the warmest year on record last year in Europe. The last 11 years at the global level have been the 11 warmest. So this is pushing temperature up throughout not just in Europe, everywhere else. But Europe is warming faster and in that sense, I think climate change is likely to play an important role in what we are seeing now, making this event more likely, the the intensity going up and lasting generally longer. And Carlo, I guess the question is are European cities prepared for more frequent heat waves like this?

[00:17:32]Well, I think it's a work in progress in many in many respects. So, if you look at the report last year, actually thanks to our interaction with the World Meteorological Organization, there was a lot of work done with national met services. And that piece of work highlighted that the number of cities in Europe that now have a climate adaptation plan has doubled and now is above 50%. So, there is work being done taking this the information that is now available to inform our policy and prepare for it. But, there is still work to be done because many cities and many regions don't yet have a proper adaptation plan. And of course, it's only May, but it feels like a very hot, sticky August. Is this likely, do you think, to become Europe's hottest summer on record?

[00:18:15]Well, way too early to say, but clearly with the El Niño looming in the Pacific and the temperature likely to go up globally, it is possible that we'll see warmest month in front of us. Certainly will happen at the global level. Whether this will happen in Europe, well, we'll need to see exposed, but certainly is a concrete possibility.

[00:18:34]Okay. Carlo Buontempo, thank you so much for joining us here this morning on Europe Today. And for more, of course, [music] on that story or any of the stories that we're covering for you this for today here on Euronews, you can check out euronews.com. [music] You can also send us a letter. You can write to [email protected].

[00:18:51]Tell us what you think of Europe [music] Today, point out any other stories you'd like us to cover, or just reach out to say hello. But, that was it for Europe Today for this edition. We'll be back, of course, tomorrow, [music] but for now, stay with us here on Euronews. Take care and thanks for watching.

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