Europe Today: France braces for fresh protests as EU leaders seek Hungary reset

Good morning, it is Friday the 23rd 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, France is bracing for yet another weekend of protests. In an attempt to defuse tensions, the French Prime Minister held talks with all political groups to try to prevent the peaceful demonstrations from turning violent. We'll take you to Paris to hear why student unions are adamant to take to the streets again. Meanwhile, in Serbia, thousands of students rallied across the country ahead of Sunday's snap parliamentary election. The vote marks a major test for the ruling party, which has been in power since 2012, and for the strongman Alexander Vučić, who's trying to cling onto power. Plus, Russia has fired 21 missiles towards Kyiv, including three ballistic missiles that carried cluster munition warheads. That means instead of exploding in one part, they spread all over. The Bank of Kiev was hit in the attack that came just hours after Vladimir Putin had promised to sit down and talk about peace. And the International Criminal Court that President Donald Trump has threatened to dismantle, quote, brick by brick, has been awarded the European Union's prestigious Sakharov Human Rights Prize in Strasbourg. The abstention of the far-right political group Patriots for Europe was key in breaking the deadlock over the final choice. But first, to Budapest, where European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the European Council President Antonio Costa will join Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to mark the 70th anniversary of Hungary's 1956 uprising against Soviet rule. For more, I'm joined here on set by our Hungarian correspondent, Csander Zierot. Just tell us, why is today so important? Good morning. So, yes, indeed, the Hungarian Revolution, which happened 70 years ago, is a key turn in Hungary's fight for independence and sovereignty. Indeed, it was crushed by the Soviet Red Army, but it's a very symbolic date. And the presence of Antonio Costa and von der Leyen is very significant because, you know, this is the first main international event organized by Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who took power in April after the elections. and you know i would say that this is a key international event for Magyar but not a huge success indeed because we don't have a lot of international leaders besides of von der Leyen and besides of Antonio Costa Emmanuel Macron refused the invitation after the riots in France Volodymyr Zelensky was invited but he didn't come and also we don't have Friedrich Merz we don't have uh andy burnham for example we will have indeed Maya Sandu and the Georgian Prime Minister but the main guests are definitely uh von der Leyen and Antonio Costa and that's already symbolic right that they are showing up yes indeed this shows a lot of political support for Hungary and for Péter Magyar after the years of tensions under the government of Viktor Orbán You remember very well that, you know, von der Leyen was portrayed as a sort of public enemy by Orbán. They put her on billboards, saying that she's endangering Hungary's sovereignty. Now von der Leyen will speak from the same Hungarian parliament where Orbán delivered his very critical anti-EU messages for his deputies. And, you know, we expect a very strong speech from von der Leyen, a very emotional one. She will probably compare to the Hungarian revolution, to the Hungarian parliamentary elections this year. She will talk about freedom. Maybe she will send also a strong message against Russia's war in Ukraine. And she will explicitly deliver a supporting message for Magyar's government that is, you know, coming back to the European mainstream. Well, that's one thing that's clear, isn't it? Those ties are back on track. Shandra Zeros, thank you so much for your reporting. And now to France where the government has rolled out major security provisions ahead of mass protests planned for Saturday. It comes after peaceful demonstrations last weekend were overshadowed by violence and over 3,000 shops were looted. For more we can head over now to Paris where our correspondent Estelle Nielsen-Julien is standing by for us in the cold wet rain. Good morning Estelle just tell us what security measures are in place for this weekend. Good morning, Maeve. Well, as you say, a mass security apparatus is in place and protesters will depart from the Place de la Bastille just behind me on Saturday for a major march scheduled in Paris. However, the military has been deployed in France to guard strategic sites such as the Élysée, possibly, Matignon, in order to free up police forces so that they can prevent any possible violence and scenes of looting that we saw last weekend. So the idea is that they will be static in these strategic sites. The Interior Ministry has also warned that there is a possibility that hard-left groups and activists, agitators, could cause trouble and so they are deploying helicopters, armoured vehicles and the like. The Louvre Museum and the Quai d'Orsay have also been closed, and will be closed, I mean, Saturday, as part of these preventative measures. And what are the protests actually saying ahead of Saturday? Well, lots of people are angry at bans on demonstrations, so only major trade unions will be able to organise protests. Only official organisations are allowed to march. So there's been criticism from lawyers who say that this is not within the government's remit to implement these kinds of bans. So there is anger. Many protesters say that they still want to take to the streets peacefully and exercise their right to protest. And this comes as many trade unions have condemned the violence which occurred last weekend. Some fear that the police will also use disproportionate brutality as they have been given clear instructions to prevent any looting or outbreaks of violence. And just finally, Estelle, how are local businesses coping? Yes, so I've spoken to many businesses on the ground and it's fair to say that they are all very worried. They told me that they don't quite know what to do Saturday, tomorrow. They don't know if they should stay in their businesses and sort of guard their shops or whether they should shut. Some told me that they were going to board their businesses with wooden planks tonight. but they also told me that there is a strong sense of community that they've been communicating via WhatsApp groups and that they will be in constant contact to ensure that they have each other should the police not be able to help them and should they be left alone as they were last weekend. Okay, Estelle, Nils and Julian then on how Paris is bracing for that weekend. Thank you so much for your live broadcast there. And now for the view from the country's biggest student union we can join we're joined now by Alice de Preto she's the vice president of UNEF good morning thank you so much for joining us here on Europe today, just tell us why are you taking to the streets again this weekend um well we are taking on the streets again because um we didn't have any answer from the government um we had the the the president uh that gave a speech in the beginning of the week um he spoke about the riots he spoke about the police officers and he didn't have a word for everyone that was out on the streets for four weeks now um and we haven't been received by the prime minister as promised um so we just didn't have any answer this week about why we have been going out on the streets and what is the government going to do and that's the thing the violence has really overshadowed your movement just tell our viewers what is it like being a student today in France how bad is it well um the first thing is um when you finish high school um you have to go to Parcoursup um and in this platform we tell you um you can't go to to university because we don't have any space for you and you're not good enough um which is really violent um and we have over the classrooms we don't have um classes are adapted to climate change so it's really hot in the summer and really cold in the winters um we sometimes don't have any teachers um in the majority of time actually we don't have any teachers uh we lack medical staff um and we have um globally the student poverty in France that is really increasing that has been increasing for years and we have so many young people and so many students that just can't pay the rent or eat at the end of the month or take care of themselves that shows really all the things and the life conditions and the study conditions are just really, really poor. And of course, elections are coming next April. How are you feeling about those and does any political party give you hope for your future and someone who can address all those issues that you've just mentioned well um no because i'm i'm a union um member so obviously i'm not voting for any party um i'm just uh we are saying that if we either case in either cases we are going out in the streets because if it's someone that's um saying that they are going to do something well we are going to be out on the streets to be to ensure that they are going to what they promised and if it's someone that is not in our values or rights, to be honest, we are going to be out on the street protesting against their programs and their values. Okay, Alisa Prito, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your views with us here on Europe Today. The riots in France have reignited a highly politicized debate over migration and exposed deep divisions between EU leaders. Emmanuel Macron hit back at many of those leaders for commenting on the unrest and blaming migrants for it. The topic sparked a heated exchange between Poland's Donald Tusk and Spain's Pedro Sanchez at last week's EU summit here in Brussels, with Warsaw pushing for tougher EU migration rules. To discuss this more, I'm joined now by Minister Maciej Dudzik, Polish Deputy Interior Minister responsible for migration policy. Good morning, Minister. Lovely to have you with us here on the show. Thank you. So Macron has been accusing leaders of making, quote, stupid comments about France's riots. Is migration being exploited here for political gain? Good morning from Warsaw and thank you very much for this very kind invitation. Of course, this is over the Europe. This is one of the most politicised issues now. But of course, we are trying to find a proper solution how we should respond to the current challenges because these migration challenges are changing now very fast. Especially, we started the discussion about new solutions after the Ceuta, but we had in Poland in 2021 a very similar situation, very close to the Polish border, crossing Belarus and Kuznica, but also we have the unstable situation, for example, of the border between Greece and Turkey. That's why I think also the Polish position is we should start a new discussion about how we should react on the migration challenges. And on that, Donald Tusk says Poland will not be paying for other countries' mistakes. Which mistakes is he referring to? What does he mean there? You know, for example, if we see Of course, this is the disturbing photos and videos, for example, of the Ceuta when hundreds of people, thousands of people tried to cross illegally the border with Spain and Ceuta. But also, you know, the riots in the French cities, but also in Italy. It is disturbing, but also the picture of migrants and migration. That's why it is not maybe the mistake of the migration policy. This is the problem of integration, of course, of the second generation. Because also, for example, yesterday I had the conversation with the Polish parliament to try to also to a little bit explain the situation. And all of the people, for example, also to destroy the Paris streets, I think so 99% of them had the French citizenship. They are French. That's why, you know, this is the problem of integration policy. But, of course, we learned a lot from the different mistakes, but also from what such countries did properly. That's why I think it is quite strong words, but our position is, yes, we should start again the discussion about how we can properly respond to the current migration challenges. And is Poland expecting to be exempt from the solidarity clause in the EU migration pact? You know, of course, we are waiting now for the report from the Commission. We sent all of the data to the European Commission, And I know that this report will be accepted by the College of Commissioners on the 4th of November. But yesterday, as we got in Polish media, it was deeply discussed, this issue. And, you know, this is the question about the methodology, of course. And I know quite well that after our also the strong negotiations with the member states and the Commission last year, into the methodology, how we can, you know, provide the different roles of the different positions of different countries, We included, after the decision of all member states, also the presence of Ukrainians in member states. I would like to also remind you that we have still one million of war refugees from Ukraine, the territory of Poland, but also the pressure, this hybrid warfare against the European Union orchestrated by Belarus and Russia. We protect our border. We deployed more than 11,000 soldiers to protect the European Union borders. That's why we are also absolutely more than happy that all these two very important indicators have been implemented to methodology, that we are, to be honest, calm. We are waiting very peacefully to the European Commission, but still, I would like to stress that we are waiting for the last decision from the European Commission. Minister of Massachusetts thank you so much for joining us here this morning and we can move on now to Serbia where grassroots student-led movements could actually shake up Serbia's political landscape after two years of protest the students are running under the student list in this weekend's snap parliamentary elections with the aim of putting an end to 14 years of Aleksandar Vučić for analysis I'm joined here on set now by Berta Lopez-Dominic from the European Policy Centre good morning so tell us what's at stake in these elections that are being very closely watched by Brussels Good morning. Thank you for having me. And these elections have been framed as a referendum for the future of Serbia and for the future of the existing regime of the Serbian Progressive Party, which has been in power since 2012. On the one hand, we have the SNS, which is running with Vucic, who was the president recently, and he resigned in order to be able to run for the parliamentary election. And on the other hand, we have the student list, which is the result of this movement that has been created in these two years of protests. They've managed to gather huge support across the country with a very simple programme, which is basically restoring democratic institutions and then, on the other hand, tackling specific material demands such as housing, health, labour, etc. And we saw the pictures last night from Belgrade. I mean, astonishing how many people they've managed to bring together. But the question, of course, we're all asking, could they actually topple and oust a leader who's been in power for over 14 years? Indeed, like in these past two years, we've seen the biggest, the largest protests in Serbia since like in this century. Of course, whether they will manage to topple Vučić or not, we will not know until next week when we have the results. But what is true is that it's the first time in 14 years that an alternative to Vučić has real options. For now, all opinion polls predict very tight results. Like there are some that give a slight margin of victory for the students. There are some that give a slight margin of victory for SNS, but all of them are very tight. And participation is expected to be very high. And what ticket are they running on the students? What issues are they putting out there? So as I was mentioning, basically, they have issued an 11 points program, which is based on restoring democratic institutions. So they talk about public procurement and also the judiciary, independence of the police. And then on the other hand, they also address issues that are important for the entire, like the entirety of the, that can appeal to the general population, such as housing, access to health, access to education, better labour conditions and so on. And meanwhile, Berta, just one final question. Serbia's path towards the European Union is slightly on hold for now. Yeah, Serbia's EU path has been on hold since 2021. Since then, there has been no progress in Serbia's EU path. And this has been mainly due to the lack of progress in the fundamentals in Cluster 1, which is related to democratic institutions, rule of law, public procurement, public administration. And in fact, Serbia, despite meeting some of the technical conditions for making progress, since there's no progress and there has even been backsliding in these fundamental issues, Serbia's EU path has been kept on hold. And the students, despite they have not declared themselves explicitly as pro-EU, and in fact they put the Serbia's EU future as something to be decided in the future, their demands and what they are advocating for, they align with what the EU has been demanding of Serbia. Okay, EU enlargement. A fascinating topic that we'll dive into at our EU Enlargement Summit taking place on the 3rd of November. Bertha, thank you so much for joining us. And that does bring this edition of Europe Today to an end. It will be a busy weekend though of elections in Bulgaria, Serbia and also hugely consequential elections in Brazil. So do visit euronews.com to follow them. But that brings this Friday's edition of Europe Today to an end. Before signing off, just a personal note. Today marks my last day hosting Europe Today. A huge word of thanks to all those behind the scenes here at Euronews. All the incredible colleagues from all the corners of Europe and beyond. It has been an honour to work side by side with you all and a huge thanks to you for watching. Thank you so much for your trust, your loyalty and for always tuning in. Take care, see you soon and bye from Brussels.