State of the Union: War economy and humanitarian aid

euronews (in English)

The economic impact of war and new sources of investment for defence were at the heart of the EU summit this week in Brussels.

Transcript

00:00 Welcome to the State of the Union from Brussels.

00:09 The costs of war, a war economy, the economic impact of war.

00:15 In addition to the impact of human suffering, which can never be counted, war is in fact

00:20 also a question of financial capacity.

00:23 Since the Russian invasion two years ago, the EU and its member states have supported

00:28 Ukraine with almost 88 billion euros, according to figures from last January.

00:34 But the European Union has also decided to invest more in its own defence capacity.

00:40 Some propose issuing common debt, others advocate using windfall profits from immobilised Russian

00:47 assets.

00:48 The Leaders' Summit in Brussels this week revolved a lot about how to get the necessary

00:54 resources.

00:55 "There's a strong support to use at the moment being the windfall profits or proceeds of

01:03 the immobilised assets for military purposes for Ukraine.

01:08 And I told the leaders that if we are swift now in concluding the proposal, we could disperse

01:17 the first billion on the 1st of July already."

01:21 Support for the far right is likely to rise in the next European Parliament, but pro-European

01:26 parties will still hold 63% of the seats, according to a poll carried out by Ipsos for

01:33 Euronews.

01:34 The exclusive survey was revealed this week during Euronews On Air special live event

01:41 that launched the channel's in-depth coverage of the campaign for the European elections.

01:46 Nearly 26,000 people in countries representing 96% of the EU population shared their intentions

01:54 for the vote that will elect 720 representatives for the European Parliament in June.

02:01 The ability to form coalitions to pass more controversial legislation could be the biggest

02:07 test for the centre's traditional forces.

02:10 "We tried to see what would happen if the EPP, the EU group and the ECR group tried

02:20 to form a coalition and actually they don't have a coalition.

02:24 It only makes for 46% of the MEPs, so it would be not enough to have a strong and stable

02:32 coalition and it's exactly the same if we try to have a right-wing coalition formed

02:38 by the EPP, the ECR and the ID group, they would have just 45% of the MEPs."

02:45 For the third year, the European Humanitarian Forum took place in Brussels with the goal

02:50 of getting more funding for global needs that reached unprecedented levels.

02:56 The European Union member states, together with the European Commission, announced pledges

03:01 over 7 billion euros.

03:04 Projections indicate that nearly 300 million people around the world need humanitarian

03:10 assistance.

03:11 Several United Nations agencies sent their representatives and I spoke with Natalia Kanem,

03:18 Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund.

03:22 Dr. Natalia Kanem, thank you very much for your presence in our programme.

03:28 One of the themes of the European Humanitarian Forum is funding gap and prioritisation.

03:34 Which areas this gap is widening and what can be done in order to have more resources?

03:41 The issue is women and children are always the ones who bear the worst of any crisis,

03:49 humanitarian conflict and climate disaster being the most common reasons.

03:55 When you're looking for the 46 billion dollars just in this one year that's needed, we see

04:02 that typically humanitarian appeals go underfunded and the private sector very often can contribute

04:09 medicines, they can contribute materials.

04:13 There is a general consensus that women and children are particularly vulnerable in humanitarian

04:19 crisis.

04:20 We are seeing that very clearly in the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

04:25 What could be done to protect them?

04:28 You can imagine having delivered under the stress of the circumstances of a woman who

04:33 is in that part of Gaza right now, how are you going to breastfeed if you don't have

04:38 the adequate supplies to be able to feed yourself and the water and everything else that it

04:44 takes to make the newborn survival from breast milk possible.

04:51 So UNFPA and the entire UN system has joined in the call for a humanitarian ceasefire so

04:58 that we can attend to people who are at their last stretch.

05:04 Using sexual violence as a war weapon is unfortunately still very common but also maybe sometimes

05:14 undervalued.

05:16 So what does the agency do in that term?

05:20 Crimes against someone's body are some of the worst things that can happen to a woman

05:26 or a girl.

05:27 This is going to haunt them for the rest of their lives.

05:31 So UNFPA is on the scene with the responsibility first and foremost to prevent, to help women

05:38 for example with lighting if they have to go to the latrine at night in a camp for example.

05:45 Sadly, unfortunately, we're seeing increasing incidents and more viciousness of these types

05:51 of sexual assaults during conflict.

05:55 And in that instance UNFPA is there to provide the counseling, to provide the medical care

06:03 that may be required.

06:04 Dr. Natalik, thank you very much for your contribution to the program.

06:09 Thank you very much.

06:11 War, humanitarian crisis, divisive politics.

06:15 For many in Europe and around the world the present day and prospects for the future are

06:20 bleak if not dark.

06:22 But it is necessary to cultivate the light of hope and appreciate whenever possible the

06:28 beauty of colors.

06:29 It is the case in Zagreb, capital of Croatia, that displays its most visually striking festival

06:36 of the year until Sunday.

06:39 With 29 installations and projections throughout the city it might be daunting to try and find

06:45 the time to catch them all.

06:47 And beware that they will be shut off for 15 minutes at 8.30pm on March 23 to mark Earth

06:54 Hour.

06:55 With this we close our edition.

06:57 Thank you for watching.

06:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended