Politics

When: Friday 4 October at 11.00

Where: Anna Politkovskaya press room in Brussels and via Interactio

Key topics next week include:

• Escalating violence in the Middle East and the situation in Lebanon: debate with Josep Borrell;

• Debate on the anniversary of the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel;

• Debates on the implications of the reintroduction of border controls for the travel-free Schengen area and on the management of Europe’s external borders;

• Debate with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on the programme for Hungary’s six-month Council Presidency;

• Parliament’s priorities for the 17 – 18 October European Council;

• Debates on the crisis in the EU’s automotive industry and on how to ensure affordable and decent housing;

• Georgia: debate and vote on the state of Georgia’s declining democracy, with EU foreign policy chief Borrell;

• Moldova: debate and vote on Russian attempts to interfere in Moldova’s presidential elections, with EU foreign policy chief Borrell.

Interpretation of the press briefing will be available in English and French.

Journalists wishing to actively participate and ask questions, please connect via Interactio using this link: https://ep.interactio.eu/uw5m-71vf-mi2k

You can follow it live from 11.00 on Friday in Parliament’s Anna Politkovskaya press room room or via Parliament’s webstreaming and EbS.

Information for the media – Use Interactio to ask questions

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Journalists who have never used Interactio before are asked to connect 30 minutes before the start of the press conference to perform a connection test. IT assistance can be provided if necessary.

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Washington — Melania Trump posted a video on social media on Thursday seeming to confirm a report that she voiced support for abortion rights in her new memoir, putting her odds with her husband who has taken credit for the Supreme Court’s decision that ended the constitutional right to abortion. 

“Individual freedom is a principle that I safeguard,” Melania Trump says in the video posted on X. “Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth. Individual freedom — what does my body, my choice really mean?” 

Melania Trump’s memoir, “Melania,” is set to be released in the U.S. on Tuesday, Oct. 8, by Skyhorse.

According to a Guardian report published Wednesday, the former first lady, who has been mostly absent from the campaign trail, writes in her book that “it is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government.” 

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes,” she writes, according to the Guardian, which obtained a copy of her book. “Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”

The revelation comes a month before the November election, and as former President Donald Trump has failed to find a consistent message on abortion rights. Earlier this week, Trump said he would veto a national abortion ban, something that he had previously shied away from voicing an opinion. 

The former president’s shifting views throughout the campaign has frustrated his supporters who are pushing for a nationwide ban. His appointment of three Supreme Court justices led to the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and paved the way for 22 states to limit access to abortion. 

Trump has insisted that states having the right to determine abortion laws is “where everybody wnated it from a legal standpoint.” 

The issue has become a political liability for Republicans. Polling has shown that most Americans favor abortion being legal in all or most cases. 

According to the Guardian, Melania Trump writes in her book that there are “legitimate reasons for a woman to choose to have an abortion,” including rape or incest, the mother’s life being at risk, congenital birth defects and severe medical conditions. 

“Many women opt for abortions due to personal medical concerns,” she writes. “These situations with significant moral implications weigh heavily on the woman and her family and deserve our empathy. Consider, for example, the complexity inherent in the decision of whether the mother should risk her own life to give birth.”

She also contends that the ability to have a late-term abortion should be protected, noting they are rare.  

“It is important to note that historically, most abortions conducted during the later stages of pregnancy were the result of severe fetal abnormalities that probably would have led to the death or stillbirth of the child,” she writes. “Perhaps even the death of the mother. These cases were extremely rare and typically occurred after several consultations between the woman and her doctor. As a community, we should embrace these common-sense standards. Again, timing matters.”

Though Roe v. Wade allowed states to restrict abortion after the point of fetal viability, or roughly 24 weeks into pregnancy, the overwhelming number of abortions happen earlier. A 2021 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 93% of abortions in the U.S. occurred in the first trimester, before the 13th week. Fewer than 1% were performed after 21 weeks. 

The former first lady said she supports some restrictions, saying she supports a requirement for minors to obtain parental consent before having an abortion. 

“I realize this may not always be possible,” she writes. “Our next generation must be provided with knowledge, security, safety, and solace, and the cultural stigma associated with abortion must be lifted.” 

When the New York Jets arrive in London for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings — one of three NFL matchups this year being played across the pond — it’ll be a homecoming of sorts for the team’s owner.

Robert Wood Johnson IV, known as “Woody,” was ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Trump administration. But if Johnson thought he was leaving football behind when he secured the post of top diplomat to a crucial ally, records show his status as a former (and future) NFL executive followed him. He and his staff repeatedly looped in State Department ethics personnel as wealthy people from both sides of the Atlantic sought favors.

For instance, on April 9, 2018, Johnson received a request from Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, according to documents obtained from the State Department through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“Mr. Khan is going to be in Paris in May for a CEO conference. He would like to bring a group of the CEOs and their spouses to the Embassy in Paris for a tour,” wrote a staffer for Johnson seeking guidance. “With that said, the Ambassador has asked us to check with [redacted] to see if this is something that he can help with.”

The names of many of the senders and recipients of emails obtained by CBS News were redacted by the State Department, citing privacy guidelines. The agency also redacted much of the advice given to Johnson and his staff, citing deliberative privilege.

Khan’s request was “a bit out of the norm for what a (sic) Embassy would do,” wrote one staffer in an email.

Johnson’s requests for guidance came on both personal and professional matters. He asked for advice when Ukrainian-born oligarch Len Blavatnik, a British and American citizen, invited him to an Arsenal soccer “match in his private box.” The advice in response is redacted.

“Let’s discuss with ethics,” Johnson wrote in an email after being asked to sit for an interview with a person writing a biography of Dan Snyder, then the owner of the team that is now the Washington Commanders.

And Johnson’s ties to the Jets occasionally surfaced in requests, as when a man named Robert Lloyd Griffith — then a representative of an organization called the Cardiff Business Club — said in a letter to Johnson that he’d be in New York the day “that the Jets would be playing the Giants and how it would be special for he and his friends to attend the game.”

Ambassadors are appointed by presidents and confirmed by the Senate. While most are career diplomats, many are political appointees awarded the prestigious jobs for their support of the president, according to former Ambassador Dennis Jett, a Penn State University professor. Johnson donated more than $1 million to Trump’s first campaign, inaugural committee and a joint fundraising committee bridging the Republican National Committee and Trump’s first reelection campaign.

Jett in 2016 published research that found a correlation between donations and “the quality of diplomatic posting granted by the candidate,” showing countries with strong economies and popular tourism destinations were often rewarded to high-end donors.

But once those donors become ambassadors, they often face requests that career diplomats in lower-profile posts might not field, Jett said.

“It’s probably a good thing that he sent these to an ethics person, though I don’t know what the ethics person would say. It’s not something that involves his official duties,” said Jett, a critic of Johnson who noted a 2020 State Department inspector general report that alleged Johnson made “inappropriate or insensitive comments on topics … such as religion, sex, or color” to employees.

Johnson denied doing so, and said in response to the report, “if I have unintentionally offended anyone in the execution of my duties, I deeply regret that.” In January 2021, the State Department’s Office of Civil Rights concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated.

A spokesperson for the Jets declined comment after CBS News sent questions for Johnson.

Citing the allegations, Jett said he was “surprised that Johnson has ethical standards high enough” to have sought regular ethics advice.

Johnson even did so when planning his own personal travels. In August 2019, he sought permission to watch a Jets pre-season game in-person, while on personal leave.

“Ambasador – Good news! You can attend the Jets pre-season game. Per the instructions from the State Department Ethics Lawyer, don’t invite anyone with a UK connection to attend the game with you, and no tweets about it. But otherwise, good to go,” wrote then-Deputy Chief of Mission Yael Lempert, a career diplomat.

An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed seven Hezbollah-affiliated civilian first responders. Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of the capital.

There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an apartment in central Beirut not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed.

The Lebanese Red Cross, meanwhile, said an Israeli strike wounded four of its paramedics and killed a Lebanese army soldier as they were evacuating wounded people from the south. It said the convoy near the village of Taybeh, which was accompanied by Lebanese troops, was targeted Thursday despite coordinating its movements with U.N. peacekeepers.

In a separate development, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of villages and towns in southern Lebanon that are north of a United Nations-declared buffer zone established after the 2006 war. The warnings issued Thursday signaled a possible broadening of Israel’s incursion into southern Lebanon, which until now has been confined to areas close to the border.

At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week. The region was meanwhile bracing for Israeli retaliation following an Iranian ballistic missile attack.

2:05
Montrealers with family in Lebanon concerned about Israel-Hezbollah conflict

Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following strike in Beirut, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using phosphorous bombs, without providing evidence. Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Hezbollah has an armed wing with tens of thousands of fighters but it also has a political movement and a network of charities staffed by civilians.

In a separate development, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they had launched two drones at Tel Aviv overnight. The military said it identified two drones off the coast of the bustling metropolitan area, shooting one of them down while the other fell in the Mediterranean Sea.

The escalating violence in Lebanon has opened a second front in the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed militants that began nearly a year ago with Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip around three months ago. It said that a strike on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas. Mushtaha was a close associate of Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack. Sinwar is believed to be alive and in hiding inside Gaza.

2:04
UN holds emergency meeting on Israel, Lebanon

In recent weeks, Israelis strikes in Lebanon have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of his top commanders. Hundreds more airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon since mid-September have killed at least 1,276 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The Israeli military said Thursday that it had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts. It said the strikes killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters. There was no independent confirmation.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, as Israel has warned people to evacuate from around 50 villages and towns in the south, telling them to relocate to areas that are around 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border and considerably farther north than a U.N.-declared buffer zone.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah after nearly a year of rocket attacks that began on Oct. 8 and have displaced some 60,000 Israelis from communities in the north. Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes over the past year that have displaced tens of thousands on the Lebanese side.

The vast majority of recent strikes have been in areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence, including the southern suburbs of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh. But Israel has also carried out strikes in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and a strike in central Beirut earlier this week killed three Palestinian militants.

1:53
Canadians struggling to leave Lebanon

Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are part of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance, which also includes armed groups in Syria and Iraq. They have launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians, drawing retaliation in a cycle that has repeatedly threatened to set off a wider conflict.

The region once again appears on the brink of such a conflict after Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday, which it said was a response to the killing of Nasrallah, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general who was with him, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July that was widely blamed on Israel.

Both Israel and the United States have said there will be severe consequences for the missile attack, which lightly wounded two people and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. The United States has rushed military assets to the region in support of Israel.

Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press staff writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Zeina Karam in London contributed to this report.

&copy 2024 The Canadian Press

Washington — Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz faced off this week in the sole vice presidential debate of the cycle, where the two sparred over policy — while remaining notably cordial. 

Voters overwhelmingly characterized the debate as positive in tone, according to a CBS News poll conducted immediately following the match up. 

The debate, which came after last-minute changes to the Democratic ticket that upended the race, is also expected to be the final one of the cycle, after President Trump declined to participate in a second matchup against Vice President Kamala Harris before Election Day on Nov. 5. 

How many people watched the 2024 VP debate?

An estimated 43.15 million viewers tuned in to the CBS News vice presidential debate this year, according to Nielsen, a media analytics company.

The debate was held at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City, and aired across more than a dozen stations.

How many people watched the 2020 VP debate?

The 2020 vice presidential debate garnered an estimated 57.9 million, according to Nielsen. The debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former Vice President Mike Pence was hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

How do ratings compare to previous VP debate viewership?

While the 2024 debate was shy of the viewership garnered in 2020, it was up from 2016. That year, the vice presidential debate between Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s running mate, had 37 million viewers. And in 2012, the debate between President Biden, then President Barack Obama’s vice president, and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Sen. Mitt Romney’s running mate, garnered 51.4 million viewers. 

Both years are down from the 2008 debate between Mr. Biden and then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, when nearly 70 million people watched the matchup, which was more viewers than any presidential debate dating back to 1992. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is headed to France on Thursday to attend the Francophonie summit, where the shadow of a wider war in the Middle East will likely loom large over the meeting of French-speaking countries.

The summit, which happens every two years, will be held Thursday and Friday in Villers-Cotterêts and Paris.

France is taking over the presidency of the Francophonie from Tunisia and says the summit’s theme will be to “create, innovate and do business in French.”

Leaders are expected to discuss ways to promote the French language, address geopolitical challenges, ensure the digital space reflects their linguistic and cultural diversity and increase economic ties between countries.

A senior government official speaking on background said Canada will be focused on strengthening ties with French-speaking African countries. The federal government plans to announce funding for scientific research as well as French content and platforms.

Ongoing crises in two of the Francophonie’s member countries — Lebanon and Haiti — are also expected to weigh on leaders at the summit.

0:34
Trudeau on Iran missile attack: ‘We must do everything we can to avoid wider war’

Canada is trying to arrange a conversation with representatives for Lebanon at the summit.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday the international community must do everything it can to help avoid a bigger regional war but recent developments have many fearing that is already happening.

Exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon erupted into broader violence in the last week, with Israel expanding its missile campaign targeting Hezbollah and launching a ground operation across Lebanon’s southern border. On Tuesday, Iran fired an estimated 200 ballistic missiles at Israel and Israel has promised repercussions.

A statement on Sept. 27 from Francophonie secretary-general Louise Mushikiwabo, expressed the solidarity of the francophone family with the Lebanese people and called for all parties to seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

In Haiti, a new report released Sept. 30 said nearly half the country’s population of more than 11 million people is experiencing crisis levels of hunger or worse as gang violence smothers life in the capital of Port-au-Prince and beyond.

1:48
Trudeau calls for ‘global effort’ to support Haiti’s humanitarian needs

Last week at the United Nations General Assembly, Trudeau urged global leaders to come together to build a serious and immediate plan to meet the humanitarian needs of Haitians.

Canada will also have representation at the summit from Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec.

Francophonie leaders are expected to make a decision on applications to join the international Francophonie body, including Nova Scotia’s application for observer status.

This is the fourth time Trudeau has attended the summit since he was first elected in 2015.

— With files from The Associated Press.

&copy 2024 The Canadian Press

Rising prices and the cost of living (42%) and the economic situation (41%) were the main topics that motivated European citizens to vote in the last European elections in June this year. A third of voters (34%) say that the international situation was a topic that encouraged them to vote, while a similar proportion mentions defending democracy and the rule of law (32%). Those who did not vote also say the cost of living (46%) and the economic situation (36%) could have motivated them to participate in the elections.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, commenting on the results of the survey, says: “Last June, people across Europe made their voice count as we saw the highest turnout in the European Parliament elections in 30 years. They gave us a mandate to act, to provide answers and solutions and to make a positive difference in their daily lives. We will deliver. Over the coming weeks, the European Parliament is scrutinising the new European Commission to ensure it will address the issues that are a priority for people: the cost of living, the state of our economy, democracy, rule of law, migration and security. The European Parliament will continue to work to make people’s voice count in the EU.”

Support for EU and trust in parliamentary democracy high

Support for the EU remains high, despite economic woes. The results of the survey indicate that citizens are optimistic about the future of the EU (65%) and that they continue to hold a positive impression of the EU (48% with only 16% stating they have a negative image). EU membership is viewed in a favourable light, too. Seven in ten (70%) Europeans think that their country has benefited from being a member of the EU, a figure that has been stable in recent years. In the EU overall, there are four main rationales for why membership is considered beneficial: increased co-operation between Member States (36%), protecting peace and strengthening security (32%), the EU’s contribution to economic growth (28%), and the creation of new work opportunities (24%).

Trust in European parliamentary democracy is particularly high at the onset of the tenth EP parliamentary term: 42% of citizens have a positive image of the European Parliament – the highest ever recorded result for this indicator.

Europeans confirmed their support for EU democracy in the European elections last June. The turnout was 50,74%, the highest in 30 years and similar to that in 2019. It increased in 16 out of 27 countries compared to the 2019 European elections. That voting matters, is also confirmed by 56% of citizens who agree that their voice counts in the EU – an increase of 8 percentage points compared to February/March 2024 (48%).

Analysis of this post-electoral survey further suggests that voting in European elections becomes a habit for many citizens. When asked why they voted, 46% of voters say they always do, while 42% say it is their duty as citizens, and 20% say they want to support the political party they feel close to. The decision on whom to vote for in the European elections 2024 was mainly based on how close the proposals of the parties were to the ideas and values of the voters. Proposals of a given party on European issues were the most frequent reason to be selected at the ballot, given by 47% (+4 pp since 2019) of the voters.

Full results can be found here.

Background   

The European Parliament’s post-electoral Eurobarometer survey was carried out by Verian (previously Kantar Public) research agency between 13 June and 8 July 2024 in all 27 EU Member States. The survey was conducted face-to-face, with video interviews (CAVI) used additionally in Czechia, Denmark, Finland and Malta. 26.349 interviews were conducted in total. EU results were weighted according to the size of the population in each country. In addition to the weighting procedure based on socio-demographic variables (post-stratification weights on gender and age, region and urbanisation), the results for all questions related to the European elections in this post-election survey were weighted according to the actual national turnout.

A joint federal intelligence bulletin obtained by CBS News warns of potential violent extremism and hate crimes committed in response to the one-year mark of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas and the resulting conflict in Gaza.

The bulletin, authored by FBI, Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center, was first disseminated by federal law enforcement to local law enforcement partners late Wednesday. 

The agencies found that the one-year mark of the attack “as well as any further significant escalations” in the Israel-Hamas war “may be a motivating factor for violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators to engage in violence or threaten public safety,” the bulletin read.

The bulletin provided several recent examples of such threats, including the Sept. 6 arrest of a Pakistani national by Canadian authorities who was accused of planning a mass shooting at a Jewish center in New York City.

The bulletin also comes as tensions have continued to ramp up in the Middle East. Following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last week which killed longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Iran on Tuesday responded with a missile salvo on Israel, launching nearly 200 ballistic missiles, most of which were intercepted by Israel’s missile defense systems. Hamas and Hezbollah are both proxies of Iran. 

Israel also began limited ground operations in southern Lebanon this week.  

Following Iran’s missile attack, a senior DHS official told CBS News during a briefing Wednesday, “I don’t know that we’ve got a crystal clear assessment on that at this point. We are literally in the earliest days of trying to understand what exactly Iranian intentions might be. We do, though, assess that Iran has a global capacity and a global capability, that it can draw, that it can target U.S. interests around the world – that it certainly has the reach and capacity to do, to carry out, to engage with individuals here inside the United States in ways that present potential threat to the United States, here in the homeland.”

The official added that this is an area of “near daily engagement” between DHS, FBI and other law enforcement partners.

Iran has been involved in “a variety of other efforts in the aftermath of Oct. 7,” the official noted, including “putting out fabricated material to try to increase people’s anger about the post-Oct. 7 situation.” 

The bulletin cautioned that “the expansion of the conflict further into the region could serve as motivation for violence against Jewish, Israeli, or American targets in retaliation for civilian deaths, and we cannot preclude the possibility that threat actors in the United States will react with violence to the death” of Nasrallah.

Intelligence analysts revealed in the bulletin that the Oct. 7 attack and Israel-Hamas war “have been cited as sociopolitical grievances influencing some individuals mobilization to violence in the United States,” adding that “hate crimes surged shortly following the attacks and have decreased over the past several months to levels consistent with reporting prior to the conflict, a trend that mirrors hate crimes following previous international conflicts or events.”

In the immediate months after Oct. 7, reports of antisemitic incidents surged in the U.S. The Anti-Defamation League said it recorded 2,031 antisemitic incidents nationwide between Oct. 7 and Dec. 7 of 2023, a 337% increase compared with the same period in 2022.

“Over the past year, we have observed violent extremist activity and hate crimes in the United States linked to the conflict,” the bulletin read. “Jewish, Muslim, or Arab institutions, including synagogues, mosques, and community centers, and large public gatherings, such as memorials, vigils, or other demonstrations, present attractive targets for violent attacks or for hoax threats by a variety of threat actors, including homegrown violent extremists, domestic violent extremists, and hate crime perpetrators who may view the anniversary as an opportunity to conduct an attack or other high-profile, illegal activity.”

The bulletin also warns that foreign terrorist organizations have created media that compares the Oct. 7 and 9/11 attacks and encourages “lone attackers to use simple tactics like firearms, knives, Molotov cocktails, and vehicle ramming against Western targets in retaliation for deaths in Gaza. Individuals inspired by this online messaging could act alone to commit an attack with little to no warning.”