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EU Parliament leaders recall term's highs and lows at last sitting

Published

2 years ago

April 25, 2024

EU Parliament leaders recall term's highs and lows at last sitting

As Members of the European Parliament gathered in Strasbourg for the last plenary session before June’s elections, Euronews asked the presidents of major political groups to reflect on the highs and lows of the past five-year mandate.

Manfred Weber – European People’s Party (EPP)

Asked to recall the mandate’s biggest success, the chairman of the centre-right EPP group harked back to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The biggest achievement for sure was to restart the European economic engine after the corona crisis. The Recovery Resilience Fund was for sure the most important decision in this mandate,” he explained, recalling the EU’s record-smashing €723.8 billion temporary recovery instrument.

Weber also named measures taken to curb climate change among his biggest highlights, despite his EPP party coming under fire for a recent backlash against the Green Deal, the bloc’s landmark set of laws to curb rising global temperatures.

Unsurprisingly, the Parliament’s biggest failure according to Weber was its decision not to uphold the so-called Spitzenkandidaten process, whereby each party fields a lead candidate to bid for the Commission presidency. Weber himself was pushed aside by EU leaders in his bid to preside over the EU’s powerful executive arm back in 2019, which led to Ursula von der Leyen being parachuted into the role despite not officially running.

“We (the parliament) did a big mistake not supporting the Spitzenkandidaten idea, the idea to have a democratic Europe where people know before they go to the elections who the candidate will be,” he explained, censuring his coalition partners for not backing the idea.

Iratxe García Pérez – Socialists and Democrats (S&D)

For the socialists’ president, the term is too full of successes to select one: “It’s been a very intense, exceptional and extraordinary legislature,” she said, listing Brexit, the post-pandemic recovery and the EU response to the war in Ukraine as major achievements.

“We’ve been able to answer all those challenges while maintaining (focus on) Europe’s priorities: spurring on the green agenda, the rule of law and all the policies needed to maintain the European social pillar.”

She also hailed the first EU law to combat violence against women, approved on Wednesday, as a momentous achievement, despite its failure to include any provisions on rape after pushback from member states.

When asked about the mandate’s low points, García Pérez denounced the bloc’s failure to conclude the embattled Nature Restoration Law, the EU’s plan to reverse biodiversity loss in at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea by the end of the decade. The bill is currently on the brink of collapse as member states withdraw support.

Philippe Lamberts – The Greens

The Greens group’s co-president, who bid an emotional farewell to the hemicycle on Wednesday after 15 years as an MEP, told Euronews he was most proud of the parliament’s achievements in shaping the Green Deal, which he said were “the first steps only in the transition of the EU in trying to meet (…) our share in meeting the planetary boundaries.”

“It’s far from complete, despite what many say,” he added, in a clear nod to the right-leaning groups in the parliament.

The first of two failures from Lamberts’ point of view were the new fiscal rules, designed to return to tighter fiscal controls following laxer rules post-pandemic, which were rubber-stamped this week. He described the new norms as a “fiscal straitjacket” that will make the Green Deal and supporting Ukraine “financially impossible.”

He also spurned the asylum and migration pact, the sweeping overhaul of the EU’s migration and asylum policy, which he believes “will not solve anything” and is “just making a joke of the European values.”

Nicola Procaccini – European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)

The co-president of the right-wing conservative ECR group hailed the parliament’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as one of the mandate’s biggest successes.

“At that moment, the European Union understood the danger,” he explained, hailing the 13 package of sanctions against Russia and the bloc’s unprecedented donations of economic and military aid.

He added that had the EU not unwaveringly backed the people of Ukraine, the bloc would have risked triggering a chain of events that could have “set fire to the whole of Europe.”

For Procaccini, developing the Green Deal “without interacting with the people” it impacts was the parliament’s greatest error. In their manifesto agreed Tuesday, his ECR group vowed to turn the Green Deal “on its head.”

Marco Zanni – Identity and Democracy (ID)

For the parliament’s far-right group, the biggest win of the mandate was having brought its priorities to the agenda of the parliament, despite being a “minority group,” its president told Euronews.

Zanni named immigration, the “protection” of farmers and a more “pragmatic approach” to the Green Deal as some of the issues it had brought to the table.

“In short, we have managed to modify the agenda of the parliament,” he claimed.

He said that there were “many issues and failures” in the parliament’s work, but named the chamber’s long-standing “cordon sanitaire,” the firewall designed to ward off the far-right from wielding much influence, as its biggest downfall.

“It is a pity that there are still some here who believe that some (parties) should be excluded just because they have different ideas,” Zanni said.

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World

Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

Published

1 hour ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

From being just a fringe risk, conflict in the Middle East has become a top worry for investors unsettled by the prospect of a power struggle in Iran and a protracted regional war, with ramifications for everything from global trade to inflation.

World

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

Published

2 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

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The past 48 hours in Tel Aviv have been unlike anything seen before, a leading security analyst has said, as sirens blared amid missile threats following Operation Epic Fury and U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.

“We are facing a biblical event — nothing less,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital, speaking from his shelter in the city.

Like many Israelis, Michael said he had spent hours in reinforced rooms during the ongoing barrage, adding that he was “very experienced in this.”

“But this all requires time and determination, and I do hope that Trump will also have them both,” he said, speaking shortly after the president released a video message stating that the military operation would continue “until all of our objectives are achieved.”

Explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system over Tel Aviv. (JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)

“Trump is the only one who can make the change — and that change will impact the entire region and the international order for years to come,” Michael added.

As of Sunday, Tel Aviv remained under a state of emergency following Iranian missile attacks that caused casualties and widespread damage.

According to The Associated Press, Iranian missile and drone strikes have killed approximately 11 Israeli civilians and wounded dozens more in retaliation for the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

Shrapnel from missile impacts damaged at least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv, and authorities reported at least one death in the area from falling debris.

The Philippine Embassy in Israel confirmed the death of a Filipino national after a missile strike hit Tel Aviv on Saturday.

TOMAHAWKS, B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS AND ATTACK DRONES POUND OVER 1,000 IRANIAN TARGETS IN 24-HOUR BLITZ

People take shelter as Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel following the US-Israeli attacks. ( Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“We enter our shelter once the siren is heard and stay there until the Home Front Command announces that we can leave,” Michael said.

“Usually, it is about 20 to 30 minutes — unless there are further sirens during our stay. Since yesterday morning, it has happened around 30 times.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also visited an impact site in Tel Aviv Sunday, delivering a message of resilience.

“The people of Israel and the people of Iran can live in peace. The region can live in peace. But what undermines peace time and again is terror instigated by this Iranian regime,” Herzog said.

EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE SAYS US STRIKES MARK ‘BEGINNING OF THE VERY END’ FOR REGIME

Israeli emergency service officer walks past building debris at the scene of a Iranian missile attack. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP via Getty Images)

Following the reported killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian officials, Iran formed a provisional leadership council.

Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i to lead roles.

“The Supreme Leader did not complete the necessary groundwork regarding his own succession,” Michael added.

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“Pezeshkian will face very troubling challenges due to their heavy losses, severe disruptions to control and command systems, and the massive bombing and attacks across Iran, including Tehran,” he said.

“Even if this regime doesn’t collapse, it will never be able to reconstitute itself, recover or return to its previous position,” Michael added.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

World

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Published

3 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Israeli minister Gideon Sa’ar said Europe “does not have unified position” on what role it should play in Iran as European ministers sought to establish a joint approach Sunday.

As Israel and the United States conducted a joint military strike on Iran, leading to the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Europe was kept on the sidelines.

EU member states did not participate in the operation and, in some cases, they were not informed prior as it is customary among strategic allies.

Asked whether Israel sought to keep Europe on the margins, Sa’ar said internal divisions within EU member states had kept them out of critical exchanges of operational details, unlike the United States, which the minister described as his country’s greatest ally.

“In Europe, you have all kinds of approaches,” he told Euronews. “You have countries like the Czech Republic which is strongly supporting this operation and then you have Spain, which is standing with all the tyrants of the world.”

On Saturday, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez was among the most critical voices in Europe, suggesting the US-Israeli strikes on Iran risk plunging the region into total war.

“We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order,” Sánchez said Saturday. The Spanish PM reiterated that message on Sunday.

“We urge for de-escalation and call to respect international law in all conflicts,” Sánchez added. “You can be against a heinous regime, like the Iranian regime, while also rejecting a military intervention that is unjustified, dangerous and outside of international law.”

Sa’aar said Israel considers the operation “fully justified” citing the right to self-defense from a regime that “has called for the destruction of Israel” and lashed at the Spanish prime minister for sending an “anti-Israeli, anti-American message.”

“Read the statement, they are standing with Iran!” he added.

When asked if any of his European counterparts had manifested an interest in joining the military operation or provide support on the ground, Sa’ar said he held multiple exchanges with European ministers over the weekend and suggested that “if others want to join, they will know have to convey the message.”

On Sunday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared to back regime change in Iran in line with Israel and the US, saying that the “risk of further escalation is real. This is why a credible transition in Iran is urgently needed” in comments on Sunday.

Sa’ar told Euronews said the strategic strikes and the elimination of Khamenei alongside top regime commanders could “create the conditions to weaken the regime enough to allow the Iranians to take their future into their own hands”.

“The future leadership of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people through free elections. Our only requirement is that whoever comes to power in Iran must not pursue the destruction of Israel,” he said.

Watch the full interview on Euronews from 8pm CET