Europe Today: France to deploy army before weekend protests as Italy tightens powers

Good morning. It is Wednesday, the 21st of October. I'm Maeve McMahon, and this is Europe Today. Your morning dose of European news and analysis, live here on Euronews. Coming up, troops on the ground. The French government has said it'll be sending soldiers to the streets in anticipation of yet another wave of protests scheduled for this weekend. The violent riots have overshadowed this week's European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, where political finger-pointing continues. We'll take you live to Strasbourg. And Italy has approved draconian measures in response to a wave of protests that saw thousands of people demonstrate peacefully, though some turned violent. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini says police will be allowed to detain teenagers for up to 12 hours, even if they have not committed a crime, and their parents will be fined. And the Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani will be deploying 500 troops to Milan. Meanwhile, protests have rocked Albania's capital, Tirana, for the seventh day in a row, with many turning ugly. The demonstrators called for better quality jobs and an end to corruption. They want their prime minister to resign. But Edi Rama, currently serving his fourth term, says he is not going anywhere, warning that the demonstrators threaten Albania's path to EU membership. But first, to France, where curfews seem to be bringing calm back to the streets after days of violence and vandalism. Christophe Ruyon, the mayor of Coulaines, told Euronews that the measures are working, but there's also a big responsibility on parents. Yes, I think it was very important to prevent the events that we have seen in France, especially in my city, with the fire folks and some young people burned mattresses on the road. There is a big emotion now in France. Despite this, the French government is planning on deploying the army ahead of more strikes this weekend. And the riots in France are up for debate in Strasbourg this week with the far-right and far-left MEPs clashing over their contrasting framing of the riots. The right draws links to migration and the left say the real cause is the deepening cost of living crisis. For more on these political tensions, we can go now straight to Strasbourg and speak to the Patriots for Europe MEP Fabrice Legere. Good morning Fabrice, thank you so much for joining us here on Europe Today. So the army will be deployed now to the streets of France and Italy. Do you support this measure? Good morning and well thank you very much for inviting me. First of all I would like to stress that in the case of France of course there were legitimate protests and that was because of the schooling condition, because there are difficulties also in everyday life for many French people So my political party, Rassemblement National, of course, wants to improve everyday life of people in France. But we want to improve the life of honest people. But what we have witnessed over the past weekend is something different, because there were many people coming from suburbs to loot shops, to destroy private property, is even to destroy or to loot private houses and apartments. So this is something completely different that requires a firm response from the government. And so far, the French government and President Emmanuel Macron have not really addressed the problem. And do we have proof, Fabrice Leggeri, of who is responsible for the violence and vandalism? There's talk of foreign interference. Is there proof yet of this? Sorry, can you say it again? I don't hear very well. Do we have any proof of who is responsible for the violence and the vandalism? Is there any proof of foreign interference here? Well, there are footages and there are videos showing the profile of looters. There are ongoing investigations. When we see foreign flags, you know, unfortunately many people got used to seeing Palestinian flags, Algerian flags. So this is, of course, the symbol of foreign, I don't know if this is foreign interference, but at least it means that some of the people gathered during this violent riots, they don't like France, they hate France, they hate the country where most of them were born. So have integration policies failed in France? Of course, it has failed. But what has failed is also the, well, there was not a controlled migration policy. So we need to draw the conclusions. I mean, the government needs to draw the conclusions from that failure. Of course, Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, we have a proposal to French voters. We want to take back control over migration. But unfortunately, the failures of the past have consequences now, today. And this requires as well a firm response from the French judiciary. We also want to improve legislation in France. We want to have minimum sanctions, criminal sanctions. So there is a maximum in the criminal code, but there should be also a minimum. OK, of course, Fabrice Leggeri. And the reality in France is we see over 25 percent of under 30s at risk, of course, of poverty or social exclusion. So really root issues there. But Fabrice Leggeri, thank you so much for speaking to us there. From Strasbourg and now from France to Athens, where teachers, along with university and high school students, are planning a series of actions today in Greece's main cities to protest against the cost of living crisis, the lack of housing and low wages. For more, let's go straight to Athens and bring in our correspondent, Apostolos Stikas. So, Apostolos, have these protests been inspired by the French? And what are the main concerns for the Greeks? Good morning from Athens, Maeve. I was here yesterday afternoon and there were 50 to 60 tents. But during the night, the police removed all of them because the government says that Athens won't become Paris. Now, today we expect more than 50 demonstrations across the country. And about the imitation thing, well, the Greek students, they are certainly inspired by what is happening in Italy, France of course, Albania, but they do not really imitate because we have, you know, considerable experience in demonstrating in Greece and unfortunately on violent clashes as well. Now, what do they want? I mean, if you have to pay around 500 euros for an old house in Athens in order to study, and if you make around 1,000 euros, you cannot live in the city. You cannot expect to pay your bills, your rent, and then to make a living. This is the main argument. And, of course, there are other issues, such as corruption. We don't have the same problem like in Albania or the same demand, the resignation of the government. But yet, the cost of living is the first issue, but there is another, a broader agenda, let's say. As for the riots, allow me to remind you that in 2008, Athens was on fire for two weeks because a teenager was murdered by a police officer. One year later, we had the economic crisis, the debt crisis, and huge crowds were demonstrating in Athens against the IMF, the European Union, and the austerity programs. So, the images that we receive from France, they are striking, but not really shocking for the Greek audience. So, cost of living and better quality of studies, that is the thing that we need to keep from the students' demo here in Athens. And this is the main message for today's demos as well. Okay, Apostolos Stykas. And it's worth pointing out to our viewers that elections will be taking place, of course, as well, very soon in Greece, just like over in France. But moving on to Brussels blues. The EU wants to spend more on defence, competitiveness and energy security. But there's just one problem. The money is not there. After last week's EU summit, the battle over the bloc's next term long term budget is just getting tougher and EU member states are divided. Germany, as the EU's biggest contributor, will be at the centre of that fight. For more, EuroNews' Stefan Kober sat down with Germany's ambassador to the European Union, that's Thomas Hans Orosowski, and started by asking him whether the European Union is actually trying to build a budget that they cannot afford. The EU is building a budget which we need for the 21st century. But obviously the Commission proposal was far too high. And so Germany expects that this budget is being cut by at least several hundreds of billions of euros. Now, the Irish presidency put a new proposal on the table, a nego box, which was already cut by 140 billion. So I would say we are not there yet. But we are now on the way to kind of try to find an agreement, but more cuts will be definitely necessary. How much money is Germany prepared to put on the table? What we need is a budget which is sustainable in financial terms and also sustainable in terms of content. So we need a modernized budget, a budget which focuses on competitiveness, on innovation, on research, on defense and security, on Ukraine, of course. And of course, we have these traditional expenditures like agriculture and cohesion. So now basically we have to build upon this new structure, but it is still the overall amounts which are contested. And as I said, Germany needs and we are not alone. We have a few partners, you know, the so-called modernizers, to cut it down. Frugals. Modernizers. Modernizers, okay. If the member states refuse to increase their contributions, would Germany be prepared to accept new common borrowing? No, definitely not new common borrowing. Because we believe if we go down this path, we lose our sovereignty. What we need to do is to build upon what is affordable. We are not ready into looking into taxing European companies now at the European level because we believe this is adding insult to injury. We want to keep European companies here in the internal market and not discourage them and to invest them somewhere else. On top of the 90 billion loan that is already earmarked for Ukraine, the country would need several billion additional billion euros for the war effort does that mean that european farmers and and and families and other beneficiaries will have to get less so that ukraine can get more no this doesn't mean that because anyhow the money which we provide for ukraine particular the 90 billion which were made available this year are outside of the regular european budget this is something it's a loan which we organized with the help of the headroom the so-called headroom of the multi-annual financial framework so it's outside of the budget but one thing is very clear the leaders also reaffirmed their continued support to ukraine so we will continue to support ukraine to exercise its right of self-defense against the war of aggression by russia let me repeat that so Germany is prepared to keep Ukraine afloat financially, come what may. Germany stands with Ukraine and the European Union stands with Ukraine. But of course, we also expect from our international partners, the G7, also to stand with Ukraine. And about the details of the support, leaders will have to discuss now. Now moving on to Oslo, where U.S. Special Envoy Steve Woodcuff held talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and a selection of European leaders today who'll be moving on to Russia for further talks with Moscow officials aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The meeting comes amid efforts to mend a deepening rift between Kyiv and Washington following a sharp deterioration in relations over US support for Ukraine and the Trump administration's approach to Moscow. For more, we're joined here on set by our Ukraine correspondent, Sasha Bakalina. Good morning. Tell us, did anything come out of Oslo and is there any sign of a breakthrough? well it's actually a very good sign that these talks did take place in oslo because this is the continuation of of some sort of diplomacy i mean this of course diplomatic tensions between washington and kiev these days and there were quite quite a few substantial messages now first of all of course is the fact that Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the united states restored crucial early warning intel sharing specifically when it comes to incoming russian ballistic missiles this is very important for the people because very often they have less than one minute on that warning to trying to seek shelter to save their lives and the lives of their loved ones and the second one also was when Zelensky said that Washington confirmed its commitment to providing security guarantees to Ukraine but that of course is once Russia's war against Ukraine is over let's take a listen to what Volodymyr Zelensky had to say we really discussed security guarantees and I'm thankful to American side that they underlined again that it will be strong yes and we have different propositions and we spoke about you know that nato and article 5 and article 5 like there are different kinds of security guarantees which are in the paper yes in the document and which steve will share with russians we are thankful that intelligence works now i'm speaking about early warning what is very important for our people for children adults civilians because we can hear when ballistic is coming so we are thankful to american side now it works and has this diplomatic damage control in Oslo managed to ease tensions between kiev and washington somehow yes because we have to say that you know after everything that's been happening in all these statements fiery statements coming from both sides over the past week or so now i think we can be rather certain to say that the immediate diplomatic crisis has somehow eased up and that is of course also interesting to see how it happened because the host of the meeting norway and Finland. And Alex Stubb was one of the, probably the most optimistic voice. Stubb is often referred to here in Europe as one of Trump's whispers. So he certainly put an effort into trying to sort this out and to find the diplomatic solution. Although not so, everything is not so rosy and peachy there, maybe, because Stoltenberg did not stay for that joint presser. So we could only see the three leaders there. He did not stay. He did not participate. He did not want to get those questions and answers. And he went straight to Moscow to actually bring whatever was discussed in Oslo to the Russian authorities, where he is expected also to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But let's take a listen to what Alexander Stubb had to say about these negotiations and the results of them. I think the top priority of the U.S. administration, President Trump, is to find a peaceful solution to Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine. And as I said earlier, I think on a substantive and technical level, we've actually made a lot of progress under the radar in the past week or so and now I feel that the process is back on track and we'll continue to work on it together with our European friends. Alexander Stubb there and before that our Sasha Vakulina. Now moving on to the Arctic which has become the new magnet for major world powers as melting ice opens up new shipping routes and to keep afloat here amidst the US, China and Russian interest the EU Commission has just presented their very own EU Arctic proposal. For more, our Mary Gwynne spoke to the EU's head of international partnerships, Joseph Sikela, and started by asking, why now? We basically try to reflect the new Arctic reality and the Arctic is changing very fast. This is about the new attention to security and defense aspects, including the protection of the civil infrastructure. Of course, the changes are also affecting the new economic opportunities but everything what we do and this is basically the first main part of the strategy we want to do together with the people who call Arctic its home so with the indigenous people and the local communities i want to ask you about what the strategy says about oil and gas drilling because it maintains the EU's position that it wants a ban on any drilling in the Arctic region. Yet the message from other parts of the world is very different. The message from the White House is very clear, drill, baby, drill. Can the EU maintain this position when basically the rest of the world is taking a completely different stance, and especially given the rising price of energy right now? The sustainability, the climate protection and the environmental protection is staying the overarching principle of our Arctic strategy. And when it comes to basically the plans of drilling, for example, in Greenland, I'm very much aware about the content of the agreements. And we follow the principle that nothing can happen without the local people. And there is no preferential treatment for US companies when it comes to the territory of Greenland. So nothing changed on our side. We believe that basically the fossil fuels, the coal, the gas, the oil should stay in the ground. You've pushed back against efforts to cut international funding as part of the EU's next long-term budget. What do you fear the consequences would be if this part, this part called Global Europe, would be cut in the negotiations now amongst member states? Well, I think the consequences will be not only dramatic, but I tend to say in certain areas they might become even dystopic. Look, Europe is the EU and the member states are basically the biggest supporter of the development agenda worldwide. But the step back by some of the other countries basically is meanwhile costing lives. And there is a huge window of opportunity for Europe, not only in Arctic, but also in Africa and other continents. There is a huge demand for Europe. This demand for Europe will not remain open forever. so if we miss this window of opportunity which can help us to reduce the dependencies then it will be in my eyes a big failure well that brings Wednesday's edition of Europe Today to an end thanks for tuning in see you soon