- 5 weeks ago
Europe Today: Islandia odrzuca rozmowy z UE, Hoekstra ostrzega ws. pożarów i Chin
Islandia mówi „nie” wznowieniu rozmów akcesyjnych z UE, odkładając członkostwo na lata. W programie „Europe Today” reakcje rolników, zwolenników UE i relacja z afery szpiegowskiej w NATO.
CZYTAJ WIĘCEJ : http://pl.euronews.com/2026/08/31/europe-today-islandia-przeciw-rozmowom-z-ue-ostrzezenia-hoekstry-o-pozarach-i-chinach
Zasubskrybuj nasz kanał.Euronews jest dostępny na Dailymotion w 12 językach
Islandia mówi „nie” wznowieniu rozmów akcesyjnych z UE, odkładając członkostwo na lata. W programie „Europe Today” reakcje rolników, zwolenników UE i relacja z afery szpiegowskiej w NATO.
CZYTAJ WIĘCEJ : http://pl.euronews.com/2026/08/31/europe-today-islandia-przeciw-rozmowom-z-ue-ostrzezenia-hoekstry-o-pozarach-i-chinach
Zasubskrybuj nasz kanał.Euronews jest dostępny na Dailymotion w 12 językach
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Wszystkie prawa zastrzeżone.
00:49Wszystkie prawa zastrzeżone.
01:05Wszystkie prawa zastrzeżone.
01:31Wszystkie prawa zastrzeżone.
01:35To manage the fallout, Spain has now turned to the EU's border agency Frontex for help.
01:41But first, to our top story.
01:42Brussels is disappointed this morning as voters in Iceland have said no to a government proposal to restart a session
01:49talks with the European Union.
01:51The turnout was high and the final result saw 52.8% of voters vote no compared with 47.2
01:59% who said yes.
02:00For more, we can turn straight to our politics reporter, Jorge Liberadero.
02:04This is a big blow for Brussels.
02:07What have the reactions been, Jorge?
02:08I think it's fair to say, Maeve, that today Brussels is putting on a brave face.
02:14Why?
02:14Because Iceland would have been the perfect candidate, a five-star candidate.
02:19This is a wealthy country.
02:21It's green.
02:22It has some of the world's highest democratic standards.
02:26So this would have been the immediate frontrunner in the race.
02:29It won't be the case.
02:30Iceland said no.
02:31And the disappointment is very tangible here in Brussels.
02:35For instance, the European Commission reacted extremely briefly yesterday.
02:40We can see now the statement on the screen.
02:42I'm going to read it.
02:43The European Commission takes note of the outcome of the Iceland referendum.
02:48The Commission respects the choice of the Icelandic people.
02:51Iceland remains a close partner of the European Union.
02:55Very brief.
02:56We also know that Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council,
03:00exchanged messages with the Icelandic prime minister yesterday,
03:03and they expressed a desire to continue deepening this partnership.
03:08And that's it.
03:08That's the reaction.
03:09So you can feel really how big of a setback this is.
03:12A very muted reaction there.
03:15Of course, they really, really wanted a good news story here, Brussels.
03:18But look, does this now kill the momentum of EU enlargement
03:21that seems to have made a comeback in the last couple of years?
03:23It remains to be seen, I would say,
03:25because the Icelandic referendum needs to be seen in this momentum of enlargement
03:30that you just mentioned.
03:31Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
03:33the policy has gone straight to the top of the political agenda.
03:37We've seen progress with candidates.
03:39And there was already a speculation of coupling Iceland
03:42with Montenegro, the current frontrunner,
03:44to make things easier for Montenegro.
03:46This won't be the case, so the accession race will remain as it is.
03:50However, I want to say something.
03:52Iceland was approaching this referendum from a position of privilege.
03:56Iceland already has access to the single market,
03:59the Schengen era, and multiple EU programmes.
04:03So they have a pretty good deal.
04:05The other candidates do not have this position of privilege.
04:09They see the European Union as a geopolitical and economic necessity,
04:14a path towards prosperity.
04:16Iceland, let's be fair, already has plenty of prosperity.
04:20So I think voters look at the status quo and said,
04:23so far, so good.
04:25OK, Jorge Lebreu.
04:26Thank you so much for your analysis of the view there from Brussels.
04:29But what about Iceland?
04:30As promised, now we can head straight over to the island
04:33and get the view from Margaret Augusta,
04:35a representative of the Icelandic farmers who voted, of course, no and won.
04:39Good morning, Margaret.
04:40Thank you so much for joining us this morning on Europe Today.
04:43Just tell our viewers why you said no to Brussels.
04:48Why?
04:49The main difference, of course, is that Iceland's agricultural policy
04:53is designed specially for Iceland,
04:56while the common agriculture policy is designed for 27 countries
05:01and around 450 million people.
05:05So Iceland designs its own agricultural policies,
05:09support, measures and priorities.
05:12And the Icelandic system is largely built around maintaining
05:15and increasing domestic food production
05:18under difficult North Atlantic conditions.
05:21So while the significant part of the cap
05:25support is area-based and linked to land management
05:29within a common European framework,
05:32Iceland can adapt its policy directly to Icelandic circumstances.
05:37So a small population, a short-growing season,
05:41harsh weather and food security considerations.
05:45So farmers were concerned that the common framework
05:48designed for a much larger and a very different market
05:51would provide less flexibility.
05:54But this vote was held in light of the threats
05:56from the US President Donald Trump
05:57to take control of Greenland.
05:59Do they not concern you?
06:01No.
06:03I think it's not about fair.
06:08No.
06:08The simple answer is no.
06:10So the simple answer was fishing and farming
06:12that decided the result.
06:13Yeah.
06:15And it's also that you want to,
06:20about the future and regarding this Greenland,
06:25it's of course easiest way to dismiss a referendum
06:30result is to claim that someone else made a decision.
06:34The reality is that the Icelandic people made the decision
06:38and they did not reject Europe.
06:41Iceland rejected full EU membership.
06:44So why?
06:45Because they voted to keep decisions about Iceland in Iceland.
06:50Okay.
06:50Margaret Augusta,
06:51thank you so much for joining us this morning live on Europe Today.
06:55And of course,
06:55the next question is,
06:56how are the Yes Camp feeling this Monday morning?
06:58Where did it go wrong for them?
07:01For more analysis on that angle of the story,
07:04the other side of the coin,
07:05if you like,
07:05we can bring in Dagor Eggersson.
07:08He's an Icelandic politician
07:09and the former mayor of Reykjavík,
07:11who voted in favour
07:12and of course lost that referendum
07:14that took place on Saturday
07:15and that's been very closely watched here in Brussels.
07:18Dagor,
07:19thank you so much for joining us.
07:20How are you feeling today?
07:22And do you feel the Yes campaign
07:23just wasn't convincing enough?
07:29I'm very disappointed
07:31about the results,
07:32to be perfectly honest.
07:35And I think that Iceland has both a lot to offer for you
07:45and many opportunities would have led from this.
07:51But we have had a very harsh campaign,
07:56and a lot of money
07:59and kind of you could almost hear the echoes of Brexit
08:05and the whole Brexit playbook was part of it.
08:10So that's what I'm reflecting on this morning.
08:11Was it a mistake to call this referendum?
08:14Should the government perhaps have read the room a little bit better,
08:16taking the temperature of the country?
08:19Well, actually for more than 10 years,
08:23more or less all parties have promised
08:28that the kind of next step
08:30towards closer integration with EU
08:34would be decided in a referendum.
08:38This has been said since the earlier accession talks halted in 2013.
08:48So the urgency now was for geopolitical reasons,
08:53but also because the Yes side acknowledged
09:00and said that Iceland could make an agreement
09:04from strength economically.
09:09But we didn't win.
09:13The support in Reykjavik was huge,
09:17but in the countryside, it was a big no.
09:21So indeed, as you said, you mentioned Brexit similar perhaps,
09:24because of course the country now remains deeply divided
09:27as it was very close to the final outcome.
09:31Yes, but on the other hand,
09:35I think that issues like the geopolitical situation,
09:40issues on kind of economic benefits of closer integration
09:45have now gotten kind of a deeper and broader resonance.
09:52It was a very tight result.
09:57So I think that we will see that discussion continue
10:04and we certainly want to partner very closely with Europe
10:09and actually from the no camp, we hear that as well.
10:13So I agree with Margaret when she said it's not no to Europe,
10:17but I won't hide away from my own disappointment.
10:22Okay.
10:23Yeah, you can certainly see that disappointment in your face.
10:25Dagger B. Eggerson, thank you so much for joining us.
10:28But now, moving on, after a summer of dramatic wildfires
10:32and an intense heatwave across the continent,
10:34the EU Climate Chief, Wubke Hoekstra,
10:36is calling for more investment in climate prevention.
10:39He says it's better to pay up front than fix the damage later.
10:43Speaking exclusively to Euronews' Europe editor,
10:46Maria Tadeo, he started by addressing that question
10:48of whether Brussels is taking climate change seriously enough.
10:51Take a look.
10:52What we have been crystal clear about as a commission
10:55is that there is no easy way out
10:58and that there is no alternative for continuing with our climate ambition.
11:04What we have added to that is that it is imperative
11:06that we marry, bridge climate action with competitiveness and with independence.
11:12What do I mean by that?
11:13You know, fully continue with climate action,
11:16making sure that we also enhance the competitiveness in Europe.
11:21We see that, for example, in Finland, Denmark and Sweden,
11:24that is working very well.
11:26And we marry this to independence
11:28because we don't want to outsource this transition to the Chinese.
11:32There's a big debate, of course, going into that October deadline
11:35from the European Commission and China.
11:38We've heard from the head of the commission being unusually tough,
11:42saying the daily deficit cannot continue like this
11:44and the commission needs to work to get a better deal by October.
11:48Are you confident she can get a deal?
11:49And she is fully right.
11:51And this is something that we regret.
11:57This is not something that we have sought.
11:59But it has been China that has been flooding Europe
12:03for years with heavily state subsidized projects.
12:06It has been China that has been using critical role materials as choking points.
12:12It has been China that has not been playing by the rules of international trade.
12:18So we have no alternative to make sure that we level these things out
12:23and we do respond.
12:25But do you have the tools and at the same time the political courage?
12:28Because, and I have to be fair, it's not so much the commission on this,
12:31but yes, the capitals, we've seen it repeatedly,
12:33they are too scared to put China on a summit conclusion.
12:37The harsh reality is that we should have faced this five to ten years ago.
12:42So now it will come with more disruption, with more friction, with more costs
12:46to basically make sure that we change course.
12:50But it will be much, much cheaper and much, much more to our advantage to do it now
12:56than be wishy-washy and wait another five to ten years.
12:59Even if it means in October there is a risk, that there is no understanding
13:03and therefore the European Union will have to respond or look weak?
13:06Look, this is not the moment to go into all sorts of hypotheticals about what happens if it's...
13:13But you say the rebalancing is absolutely needed this year.
13:16And this will not be just one cliff-edge moment.
13:20This will stay with us for years to come
13:22because the dependencies in many domains have simply become too large.
13:26And that is already dangerous and uncomfortable with the most benevolent of counterparts.
13:34And the reality is, and it's something I regret,
13:37that China has not acted in the way it should have.
13:41Meaning?
13:41In these...
13:42It has flooded the marketplace with heavily state-subsidized products.
13:47The solar industry in Europe has been wiped out.
13:50And that's just one example.
13:52Killswitches are being included in windmills.
13:56Spionage happens at a very high degree on the European soil.
14:01Intellectual property theft in our most advanced companies happens on a weekly basis.
14:06And on and on and on and on.
14:08And that is something no government and also the Union simply can allow.
14:12When you head into the fall and the winter,
14:14have you lost hope that we're going to get any normality around the Strait of Hormuz?
14:18The reality is that if you are 80% dependent on your gas imports
14:22and 95% dependent on your oil imports,
14:24you just have a very bad hands.
14:27And the only way out of this nightmare is make sure that we produce more clean,
14:33dirt cheap European energy here.
14:36And that means more nuclear, more solar, more electrification, more wind,
14:41all of that on European soil.
14:43That's the only way out.
14:44And that is what we need to do and where we put our money on.
14:47And just as a final point, I ask you about the Strait of Hormuz,
14:49because at the G7 right before the summer,
14:51there was an expectation or a hope that President Trump had a deal
14:55and that we would see the cargo ships moving.
14:57That is not what we're seeing on the ground at all.
14:59How does that factor into a European winter?
15:02Well, first on that, on the assessment.
15:05I think we've seen that movie some six, seven, eight, nine times
15:08that we got statements that it was over or almost over.
15:14And then it wasn't.
15:16So I would be cautious to make any prediction about the very near future.
15:24Again, in the long term and in the immediate term,
15:26by far our best bet, by far our best bet is making sure
15:30we move to a completely different energy system.
15:34And that is where the money should be going.
15:35In the short run, indeed, we do have the obligation
15:38and we do need to do as much as we can to make sure we fill the storages.
15:43We can do that.
15:44Our gas comes primarily from the US and from Norway.
15:48That makes it slightly easier.
15:49But of course, it is a global market.
15:51So there is a fight for this gas potentially coming to us as well.
15:58That was the EU Climate Boss there speaking to our Maria Tadeo.
16:02And now moving on to this next story
16:04that takes us to the NATO headquarters in months here in Belgium,
16:07where a Canadian national of Chinese origin is accused of spying
16:11while interning there.
16:12Now, details of the case remain tightly guarded,
16:15but serious questions are being raised over how an alleged spy
16:19gained access to one of the world's most important military alliances
16:22and who she was allegedly working for.
16:25For more, we can head straight over two months
16:27where our EU correspondent, Angela Scugins, is standing by
16:30as this case is set to move forward today.
16:32Good morning, Angela.
16:33Just tell us, what is the latest on this case?
16:38Good morning, Maeve.
16:39So, yes, I'm out the front of the Belgian indictments chamber
16:42in the city of Mons.
16:44We're expecting the next chapter in this spy scandal
16:48that has rocked the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organisation
16:51to take place today.
16:53Now, the chamber here is expected to decide
16:56on whether it should uphold an appeal lodged by the legal team
17:00of a woman, a Canadian woman of Chinese origin,
17:04that was arrested in July while interning at SHAPE.
17:07This is NATO's strategic command here.
17:10It executes all of the political decisions made in Belgium
17:14for an alleged third party.
17:16We don't know which third party this is.
17:18We don't know what information this individual got their hands on.
17:22But the fact that she was denied bail,
17:25told to remain in pre-trial detention,
17:28really underscores the veracity of the charges at hand.
17:32And as you say, this spy scandal has rocked NATO to its core.
17:35What are the implications for NATO,
17:37and of course for European security here, Angela?
17:41Yes, so it really exposes some vulnerabilities at NATO
17:45regarding what this individual ascertained,
17:49as well as how she got the necessary security clearance
17:52to intern at SHAPE.
17:54My understanding is that any individual that interns
17:57must be cleared by the host country.
18:00This, of course, should have been Canada.
18:02They should have vetted this individual appropriately.
18:05I sent questions to Ottawa asking how this occurred.
18:09I didn't get a response, but individuals there,
18:11politicians have stated that they want to get to the bottom
18:14of how this happened.
18:17I also received a statement from a spokesperson at SHAPE.
18:21They stated that there is no indication
18:23that the political or military machinery of NATO
18:27has been impacted by the scandal.
18:30But we don't know yet how far this case truly goes.
18:34There has been quite a bit of media reporting
18:37regarding this individual, who she potentially is,
18:40as well as the fact that she may have been abetted
18:43while in pre-trial detention.
18:45As I mentioned earlier, what is going on today
18:48is suppressed from the media.
18:50This is a closed-door hearing.
18:52But hopefully we will get some answers
18:54regarding the name of this person,
18:57who she was working for,
18:58and what information she got her hands on, Maeve.
19:01OK. Andra Scugins, thank you so much
19:03for bringing us all the details this morning
19:05from Mons here in Belgium.
19:07And you can read more about that spy scandal
19:09on euronews.com throughout the day.
19:11But now, that brings this edition of Europe Today to an end.
19:15Thank you so much for starting your Monday morning with us.
19:18Any comments for us,
19:19you can always drop us a line at
19:20europetoday at euronews.com.
19:22We love hearing from you.
19:24But for now, take care and see you tomorrow,
19:26same time, same place.
19:29We'll be right back.
19:57We'll be right back.
20:00We'll be right back.