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Euronews
16 hours ago
- Euronews
Bulgarian MEPs delay vote on North Macedonia's EU accession report
The European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday delayed voting on a report evaluating North Macedonia's progress towards accession to the EU. The report was set to be voted on alongside files for other countries vying for EU membership. While the reports for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and Georgia were adopted, North Macedonia's was blocked due to a last-minute disagreement among political groups. The MEP responsible for writing the report, Austrian Thomas Waitz from the Greens/EFA group, announced the decision to delay the vote following a request from the European People's Party (EPP), the largest group in the Parliament. The EPP withdrew its support the day before the scheduled vote, after initially agreeing to its content, sources from the Parliament told Euronews. This left the report without the required majority for approval and left Waitz with no option but to request a postponement. The EPP's change of mind was pushed by its Bulgarian members, who managed to rally the entire group. 'The report mentions the 'recognition of Macedonian identity and language', which could lead to misunderstanding and wrong interpretation. We want more clarity on this point,' EPP MEP Andrey Kovatchev told Euronews. Kovatchev's party, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, is at odds with recent remarks made by North Macedonia's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski about the report. ' He stated that this report refers to 'centuries-old Macedonian identity and the unique Macedonian language', which we dispute. Although this is not written in the report, we need more clarity on this point.' The identity dispute between North Macedonia and Bulgaria has long been an obstacle on Skopje's path to joining the EU. Essentially, the Bulgarian government believes that North Macedonia's language shares common roots with Bulgarian, a claim North Macedonians reject. In 2022, the EU included Bulgaria's demands in the conclusions related to North Macedonia's accession, to overcome Sofia's veto on the talks. To move forward with negotiations, North Macedonia was required to amend its constitution to include the Bulgarian minority—something that has yet to be finalised. While North Macedonia now has 'an excellent and ambitious reform agenda' and 'demonstrates commitment to EU integration and alignment with EU policies', according to the draft report, identity and language remain contentious issues in bilateral relations with Bulgaria. 'Some Bulgarian MEPs have taken this accession progress report hostage for their domestic nationalistic agenda,' Waitz said in a statement to Euronews. Waitz also denounced intimidation and threatening messages in the days leading up to the planned vote, which he considers part of 'a smear campaign designed to slow down North Macedonia's EU accession process.' 'The relentless attacks against me by parts of the Bulgarian far-right are completely unacceptable,' he told Euronews. Waitz's office provided Euronews with evidence that his phone number was leaked on social networks, along with several aggressive messages he received about the report. These messages accuse him of being influenced or corrupted by North Macedonia's government in drafting the report. 'I worked tirelessly for a well-balanced and impartial report on the democratic progress of this country. All political groups in the European Parliament were actively involved in the negotiations,' he said, denying the accusations. The vote on the report is now expected to be rescheduled for 24 June.
Euronews
21 hours ago
- Euronews
How Kyiv worked out the list of children it asked Russia to return now
During the second round of direct talks in Istanbul on Monday, Ukraine handed over to Russia a list of its forcefully deported children. Kyiv wants Moscow to return them to Ukraine, reiterating its commitment to bring the forcefully deported children back as one of the key aspects of a possible ceasefire and a peace deal in the long term. The head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov said, 'If Russia is genuinely committed to a peace process, the return of at least half the children on this list is positive'. The Russian delegation chief Vladimir Medinsky showed the list, which contains the names of 339 abducted Ukrainian children. The Kremlin representative accused Ukraine of "staging a show on the topic of lost children aimed at kind-hearted Europeans." In his words, Kyiv is trying to "squeeze out a tear by raising this issue." According to Medinsky, each name on the list will be 'worked out'. 'Whether there are children with similar surnames and first names somewhere in our institutions, further applications from parents or legal relatives should be attached to this,' he added. "It's not that they are in our facilities. It means that (the whereabouts) of these children is unknown. Maybe (they are) in Ukraine, maybe somewhere else, maybe in Norway,' Medinsky said. Euronews sources familiar with this aspect of the negotiations say Moscow knows exactly where every child on that list is. Kyiv and Moscow have never raised the issue of Ukrainian children forcefully deported by Russia in a direct format. Ukraine has been able to verify Russia's deportation of over 19,500 children to date. These are the children for whom detailed information has been collected — their place of residence in Ukraine and their territorial location in Russia are known. Only 1,350 have been returned, and each return is mediated by a third-party state, notably by Qatar, South Africa and the Vatican. The Russian delegation was therefore surprised, as it didn't expect to get the list of names from Kyiv during the direct talks in Istanbul on Monday. Euronews sources familiar with the matter said Moscow said it was ready to return 10 children, but that Kyiv has a "different position and expectations" when it comes to "demonstrating good faith in proceeding with the peace process". When asked why Kyiv didn't present a more extensive list, given that 339 names are less than 2% of the total number of forcefully taken children, Euronews sources explained it was a decision based on previous experience. 'There is a risk that Moscow would try to buy time claiming it takes longer to check the names, while trying to change the identities of Ukrainian children further, making it impossible to track,' the source said. Russia is deliberately erasing the identity of the illegally deported children, according to Ukraine's deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa. The names and IDs are being changed, especially when it comes to younger kids, who have been forced into adoption in Russia. The US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank (ISW) stated that stealing the children was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's priorities, referring to the revelations of Ukrainian human rights activists. The ISW uncovered Kremlin documents dated 18 February 2022, which laid out plans to remove Ukrainian children from orphanages in occupied Luhansk and Donetsk regions and bring them to Russia under the guise of 'humanitarian evacuations'. Euronews sources familiar with this aspect of negotiations said that Kyiv's list also contains the names of the children who have not yet been moved to Russia and remain on the temporarily occupied territories. 'These are not only children who have been physically moved to the territory of Russia, but also those who are now trapped under Russian occupation and control while remaining on Ukrainian territories, temporarily occupied by Russia,' they said. When Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul for the first time on 16 May, they agreed on the prisoners of war exchange, which took place within 10 days after the talks. Another POW swap was agreed upon at the second round of talks on Monday, when Ukraine passed on the list of the deported children to Russia. Kyiv now hopes Moscow will return the abducted kids as soon as possible, without further delays. Without much progress on the military side of the negotiations, this is an opportunity for Moscow to demonstrate its "goodwill" on the humanitarian aspect. "If they want to show it, they will find the way to demonstrate their good faith without further delays and prove it quickly," Euronews sources said, reiterating that Moscow knows where these children are. Russia also can do it with the mediation of Qatar, South Africa or the Vatican, the countries which have assisted Kyiv in the past with the return of the Ukrainian children. In its "peace memorandum" proposal, Moscow has not toned down any of its maximalist demands regarding battlefield and territorial concessions, and still demands that Ukraine cede its territories, including those it has never controlled. With pressure from the US and new, tougher sanctions looming, Moscow must decide whether to proceed on the humanitarian track with Kyiv, given that this is the only aspect of the direct talks that has yielded tangible results since the negotiations resumed. The next, third round of negotiations is expected to take place at the end of June. The owner of Pornhub, RedTube and YouTube has blocked access to the adult platforms in France, in protest against a law requiring porn sites to verify the age of their users. Parent company Aylo said it would stop operating in France as of Wednesday, having criticised the French government's measures to shield children from inappropriate content by making porn platforms take extra steps to ensure that users are 18 or older. "I can confirm that Aylo has made the difficult decision to suspend access to its user-uploaded platforms (Pornhub, YouPorn, RedTube) in France. We will be using our platforms to directly address the French public,' a Pornhub spokesperson said on Tuesday. Under France's so-called SREN law, which was passed in 2023, adult content platforms have until Saturday to implement age verification measures. French media regulator Arcom can request that porn sites are blocked and issue fines if it finds their checks are lacking. Solomon Friedman, a partner at Ethical Capital Partners, which owns Aylo, told reporters in a briefing call on Tuesday that the law was "ineffective", "dangerous", and "potentially privacy-infringing". "It's a matter of putting our values first, and that means communicating directly with the French people to tell them what their government is refusing to tell them," he said, in reference to a message that Aylo's platforms will display to French users on Wednesday. Aurore Bergé, French minister for gender equality, wrote "au revoir" in a post on X in response to Aylo's statement. "There will be less violent, degrading and humiliating content accessible to minors in France," she wrote. Clara Chappaz, France's junior minister for artificial intelligence and digital technology, said on X: "If Aylo would rather leave France than apply our laws, they are free to do so." European Union regulators announced last week that they were investigating four major porn websites over suspected breaches of the bloc's online content rules, which include provisions for protecting children from pornographic material. These include risks that age verification measures deployed by the sites are ineffective. The European Commission said it has opened formal proceedings against Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos under the 27-nation bloc's Digital Safety Act. Aylo said last week that it was aware of the investigation and was "fully committed" to ensuring online safety of children. XNXX, Stripchat and XVideos did not comment.
Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
Euronews targeted by anti-Moldova disinformation campaign
More false videos alleging criminality and health issues in Moldova and attributed to Euronews are circulating online, with some even being posted by accounts posing as Euronews staff. One video claims that Moldova ranks first in the number of STD carriers in Europe, while others talk of waves of illegal immigration flowing from Moldova into the European Union, particularly Italy. Rome has seen a rise in the number of criminal gangs making false documents for immigrants from Moldova, according to one of the fake videos. All of them use Euronews' graphics and branding and many have been shared by accounts on TikTok and X purporting to be current or former Euronews journalists, including one which claims to be the channel's former CEO. They've received thousands of views and likes as of the time of writing, but Euronews did not produce these videos. Our graphics and format were copied and used without our consent and our teams are working to ensure the video is removed from all social platforms. The accounts posing as Euronews staff feature profile pictures that appear to be AI-generated. One supposedly belongs to a man called Brandon Goyce, who claims to be Euronews' former CEO. However, no such person has ever served as the channel's CEO and online searches yield no trace of anyone who bears that name and works in the media. Other profiles contain similar uncanny avatars and the same bio: #Euronews or #Euronews rep. They have also all only posted a single video each, all related to the same subject matter about Moldova and follow no other accounts. The false videos and accounts appear to be part of the Matryoshka campaign, a coordinated pro-Russian operation known among fact-checkers for spreading false news reports stylised as material from international media outlets, academic institutions and government agencies. The campaign often targets EU and NATO countries, as well as Ukraine, seemingly in an effort to weaken alliances and discredit Western democracies. EuroVerify has already debunked other false videos attributed to Euronews as part of the disinformation campaign. A fake video posted on Russian Telegram channels claimed that corruption had pushed Moldova to become one of the biggest black markets for arms sales. It also attributed a false quote to a Romanian minister. Another alleged that Romania cautioned French authorities over interference in the Romanian presidential election runoff. In both instances, Euronews and national authorities in France and Romania fully denounced the videos and their contents.
