L'UE défend son industrie audiovisuelle face aux droits de douane américains
À Bruxelles, l'imposition de droits de douane américains sur les films produits à l'étranger a suscité une levée de boucliers. Les ministres de la Culture des 27 entendent se mobiliser pour défendre l'industrie audiovisuelle européenne.
Selon la ministre française de la Culture Rachita Dati, la nouvelle mesure tarifaire américaine pourrait se retourner contre les États-Unis eux-mêmes.
"Finalement, ça serait le secteur de l'industrie américaine qui serait la première pénalisée. Nous, la France, on est vraiment un pays attractif pour le cinéma. On l'a vu sur les tournages. On a de plus en plus de tournage et de production étrangère qui viennent en France. On s'en réjouit" a déclaré la ministre.
" Il est très important qu'ils sachent que nous serons à leurs côtés. Nous pensons qu'elles constituent un segment très important de notre culture. Nous les défendrons, nous défendrons leur travail, leur créativité et nous défendrons nos règles", a également assuré Ernest Urtasun, ministre espagnol de la Culture.
Donald Trump a également pris pour cible la directive européenne sur l'audiovisuel. Le texte impose aux plateformes de streaming de proposer un quota d'œuvres européennes et à investir dans leur production en contrepartie de l'accès au marché audiovisuel de l'UE.
Les mesures tarifaires américaines pourraient entraîner un désengagement financier des géants du streaming, avec des conséquences graves pour la production audiovisuelle européenne et sa diversité culturelle et linguistique.
Réunis mardi à Bruxelles, les ministres de la Culture des 27 ont débattu d'une possible révision du texte.
The Trump administration wants to hear this week how NATO's European member countries and Canada plan to boost defence spending to 5% of GDP, new US envoy Matthew Whitaker has said.
Briefing reporters ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Turkey, US Ambassador Matthew Whitaker insisted that "5% is our number. We're asking our allies to invest in their defence like they mean it."
"Make no mistake, this ministerial is going to be different,' Whitaker said, adding that "5% is not just a number, it is a necessity for our security. The alliance is facing significant threats."
He did elaborate on what those threats were.
In 2023, as Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine entered its second year, NATO leaders agreed to spend at least 2% of GDP on national defence budgets.
So far, 22 of the 32 member countries have done so and leaders will set a new goal at a summit in The Hague on 25 June.
Trump, who has cast doubt over whether the US would defend allies that spend too little, insists NATO members should commit to spending at least 5%, but that would require investment at an unprecedented scale.
NATO leaders insisted at a summit last year that "Russia remains the most significant and direct threat to Allies' security," but some countries have grown uneasy about Trump's links to President Vladimir Putin.
Last week, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said that NATO's chief expects the leaders "to aim for 3.5% hard military spending by 2032," and to "1.5% related spending such as infrastructure, cybersecurity and things like that. Also achievable by 2032."
While the two figures do add up to 5%, factoring in infrastructure and cybersecurity would change the basis on which NATO traditionally calculates defence spending.
The seven-year time frame is also short by the alliance's usual standards.
Asked about his demand, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte did not deny it, but he said: "I'm not going to confirm the figures." He said that "there are many rumours floating around" as envoys discuss the new spending goal.
Whitaker appeared to confirm the "defence investment" plan, saying that it "also includes things like mobility, necessary infrastructure, cyber security. It is definitely more than just missiles, tanks and howitzers."
"But at the same time, it's got to be defence-related. It's not a grab bag for everything that you could possibly imagine," Whitaker added.
It remains difficult to see how many allies might reach even 3.5% of GDP on defence investment.
NATO's most recent estimates show that 22 allies would reach the 2% goal last year, compared to a previous forecast of 23.
Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain would not, although Spain does expect to reach the 2% goal in 2025, a year too late.
Even the United States was estimated to have spent 3.19% of GDP in 2024, down from 3.68% a decade ago, when all members vowed to increase spending after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
It's the only ally whose spending has dropped.
Whitaker also said that any European investments in "defence industry capabilities must also include the fair treatment for American defence technology firms."
He said that excluding the US and others "would undermine NATO interoperability, slow Europe's rearming, raise costs and stifle innovation."
Last month, the European Union announced a new drive to break its security dependency on the United States, with a focus on buying more defence equipment in Europe.
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Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
Israel hits Iran, killing military command and top nuclear scientists
'Ask your intelligence, what is Russia planning this summer in Belarus?' Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Lithuania on 2 June. Addressing a group of nine NATO member countries in eastern and central Europe, Ukraine's president urged them to "bring more strength together" for the possible Russian threat coming from the territory of Belarus. Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Euronews the large-scale joint military exercises between Russia and Belarus taking place in the autumn might indeed pose a threat to NATO's Eastern flank. 'Don't forget the last military drills in Belarus ended with the attack on Ukraine', she said, referring to the upcoming Zapad 2021 manoeuvres. In autumn 2021, just months before Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow and Minsk held military exercises in Belarus, training, among other things, for assault operations in densely populated areas with the use of Russian equipment. Back in 2022 Russia used Belarus as a launching pad for its attacks and full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But Moscow didn't get the people of Belarus to participate in the assault, says Tsikhanouskaya, adding that Belarusians will not go against the Baltic states. 'They might be forced, but it doesn't mean that they will fight there. I hope that people will prefer to escape or change sides, but not fight with the Lithuanians or Poles, especially knowing how much these countries are supporting us'. The Belarus opposition leader believes that this support is also for her. Since fleeing Belarus in 2020, she has been living in Lithuania, where she is now hearing the concerns and worries about whether her native country can stage an attack on the country which welcomed her when she had to leave home. 'It is a rather dire atmosphere with all the discussions over possible attacks on Lithuania, because Lithuania will be the first country on the way to the European Union', she admits, saying there are also concerns over whether NATO will stand up for Lithuania. 'There are discussions of whether NATO will come to rescue Lithuanias, will there be enough time,' Tsikhanouskaya explains. Tsikhanouskaya remains optimistic that NATO will step in despite the recent reports of European officials being concerned that Washington might even withdraw US troops from the Baltic states. 'I really do believe in NATO alliance, that with their unity and their power they will send a very clear signal to Putin 'Don't dare'.' She hopes a similar strong signal will be sent to Aliaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus as well, as the further militarisation of the country is getting worse, Tsikhanouskaya says. 'People notice how regime is militarising our society. There are many enterprises and factories now are working for Russian military. We have all the proofs how enterprises participate in this war against Ukraine.' Tsikhanouskaya told Euronews that Aliaksandr Lukashenka is also forcing the militarisation of Belarusian society. 'We see how young people are very much involved into this militarisation in schools, in universities, where the militarisation subjects are being taught," she explained. She said that this way, Lukashenka's regime was trying to show the population that there is an external enemy to unite against — a strategy also used by Moscow. 'They want to show we have external enemies, somebody wants to invade us, so they are saying they try to prepare the nation for some for some possible danger in the future," Tsikhanouskaya pointed out. But compared to the similar militarisation strategy in Russia, this won't work on the people of Belarus, Tsikhanouskaya said. And although there is a complete understanding that Belarus might be used by Russia "with the help of Lukashenka for possible future attacks on Ukraine or on the European Union," people will resist the direct involvement. 'I don't think that the same method will work with the Belarusian nation, because Belarusians really don't understand how it is to fight against our neighbor and how to kill our neighbours," Tsikhanouskaya concluded. Israel has carried out an attack on the Iranian capital of Tehran, in strikes aimed at the country's nuclear programme which also killed several top military officials as well as nuclear scientists. Iran has responded by launching at least 100 drones towards Israel. IDF spokesperson Brig. General Effie Defrin said Israel is working to intercept the drones. A state of emergency has been declared. Israel's strikes on Iran, which took place late Thursday into Friday, reportedly killed Hossein Salami, chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forced. Two top nuclear scientists were also killed, according to Iranian state media. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were a "targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival", claiming that "if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time." The Iranian government said Israel's attacks had "proven that it does not abide by any rule of international law. We affirm our right to retaliate, and we will respond to this terrorist entity firmly and decisively." Earlier, explosions were heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, as Israel claimed it was attacking the country. Iranian state media reported explosions in the northeastern parts of the city. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed early Friday that an Israeli strike hit Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. In a statement on X, the IAEA's Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said: 'The IAEA is closely monitoring the deeply concerning situation in Iran... The Agency is in contact with Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels. We are also in contact with our inspectors in the country.' Israeli leaders cast the "preemptive assault" as a fight for the nation's survival, adding that it was necessary to head off what they described as an imminent threat that Iran would pose if it developed nuclear weapons. It remains unclear how close the country is to achieving that or whether it had actually had been planning a strike. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel targeted both nuclear and military sites. 'It could be a year. It could be within a few months," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he vowed to pursue the attack for as long as necessary to 'remove this threat.' "This is a clear and present danger to Israel's very survival,' he said. The strike on Iran pushed the Israeli military to its limits, requiring the use of aging air-to-air refuelers to get its fighter jets close enough to attack. It wasn't immediately clear if Israeli jets entered Iranian airspace or just fired so-called 'standoff missiles' over another country. Fighter jets were reportedly heard flying overhead in Iraq at the time of the attack. The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear programme. The Board of Governors at the IAEA for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones. Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn't want — though official there have repeatedly warned it could. Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz announced a 'emergency situation' in the country following the attacks. He said schools would be closed nationwide on Friday, adding that an Iranian retaliation of missiles and drones are to be expected in the 'immediate future'. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took 'unilateral action against Iran' and that Israel advised Washington that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defence. 'We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,' Rubio said in a statement released by the White House. Rubio said the Trump administration took steps to protects its forces and remained in contact with its partners in the region. He also issued a warning to Iran that it should not target US interests or personnel. A US media outlet says President Donald Trump has reportedly convened his cabinet for an emergency meeting following the Israeli attack. In the days leading up to the attacks, Washington has made clear that it will not participate in any Israeli attacks on Iran. Trump had urged Israel to refrain from striking Tehran, and to seek diplomatic solutions, but acknowledged that an Israeli strike could very well happen. Trump earlier said he urged Netanyahu to hold off on any action while the administration negotiated with Iran. 'As long as I think there is a (chance for an) agreement, I don't want them going in because I think it would blow it,' Trump told reporters. The US has been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq's capital, Baghdad, and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East region. Iran halted flights Friday at Imam Khomeini International Airport outside of Tehran, the country's main airport, according to state-run media. Iran has closed its airspace in the past when launching retaliatory attacks against Israel. Egypt blocked activists planning to take part in a march to Gaza on Thursday, halting their attempt to reach the border and challenge Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid to the enclave before the march could begin. Egyptian authorities and activists both said that dozens of people planning to march across the Sinai Peninsula were deported, but organisers said they had no plans to cancel the event. To draw attention to the humanitarian crisis afflicting people in Gaza, marchers have for months planned to trek about 50 kilometres from the city of Arish to Egypt's border with Gaza on Sunday to "create international moral and media pressure" to open the crossing at Rafah and lift a blockade that has prevented aid from entering. They said they had tried to coordinate with Egyptian embassies in the various countries from which the participants came, but authorities said they had not obtained authorisation for the march. Authorities deported more than three dozen activists, mostly carrying European passports, upon their arrival at Cairo International Airport in the past two days, an Egyptian official said on Thursday. The official said the activists aimed to travel to Northern Sinai "without obtaining required authorisations." The standoff has put pressure on the activists' home countries, which are wary of seeing their citizens detained. A French diplomatic official said France is in "close contact" with Egyptian authorities about French nationals who were refused entry in Egypt or detained to ensure "consular protection." The participants risked arrest for unauthorised demonstrations in sensitive areas like the Sinai Peninsula, the official added. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the sensitive diplomatic matter. Egypt has publicly denounced the restrictions on aid entering Gaza and repeatedly called for an end to the war. It has said that the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing remains open, but access to the Strip has been blocked since Israel seized the Palestinian side of the border as part of its war with Hamas that began in October 2023. However, authorities have for years clamped down on dissidents and activists when their criticism touches on Cairo's political and economic ties with Israel, a sensitive issue in neighbouring countries where governments maintain diplomatic relations with Israel despite broad public sympathy for Palestinians. Egypt had earlier warned that only those who received authorisation would be allowed to travel the planned march route, acknowledging it had received "numerous requests and inquiries." "Egypt holds the right to take all necessary measures to preserve its national security, including the regulation of the entry and movement of individuals within its territory, especially in sensitive border areas," its foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, yesterday referred to the protestors as "jihadists" and called on Egypt to prevent them from reaching the border with Gaza. He said they "endanger the Egyptian regime and constitute a threat to all moderate Arab regimes in the region." The march was set to begin just days after a large convoy, which organisers said included thousands of activists, travelled overland across North Africa to Egypt. Activists and attorneys said airport detentions and deportations began on Wednesday with no explicit reason given by Egyptian authorities to detainees. Algerian attorney Fatima Rouibi wrote on Facebook that Algerians, including three lawyers, were detained at the airport on Wednesday before being released and ultimately deported back to Algiers on Thursday. Bilal Nieh, a Tunisian activist who lives in Germany, said he was deported along with seven others from northern Africa who also hold European passports. Organisers said in a statement that they had received reports that at least 170 participants had been delayed or detained in Cairo. They said they had followed the protocols laid out by Egyptian authorities, met with them and urged them to let march participants into the country. "We look forward to providing any additional information the Egyptian authorities require to ensure the march continues peacefully as planned to the Rafah border," they said in a statement. The Global March to Gaza is the latest civil society effort pressing for the entry of food, fuel, medical supplies and other aid into Gaza. Israel imposed a total blockade in March in an attempt to pressure Hamas to disarm and to release hostages taken in the 7 October 2023 attack that sparked the current war in Gaza. It slightly eased restrictions last month, allowing limited aid in, but experts warn the measures fall far short. Food security experts warn the Gaza Strip will likely fall into famine if Israel doesn't lift its blockade and stop its military campaign. Nearly half a million Palestinians are facing possible starvation and 1 million others can barely get enough food, according to findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a leading international authority. Israel has rejected the findings, saying the IPC's previous forecasts had proven unfounded.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Israel attack on Iran tests Trump promise not to be dragged into war
Yet Israel's massive strikes on Iran will test that promise as never before, potentially setting up a showdown with his base as Trump decides how much support the United States will offer. Trump had publicly called for Israel not to strike as he sought a negotiated solution, and his roving envoy Steve Witkoff had been scheduled to meet Iranian officials for the sixth time Sunday. Trump, who hours earlier warned that a strike would cause "massive conflict," afterward praised Israeli strikes as "excellent" and boasted that Israel had "the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the world" thanks to the United States -- and was planning more strikes unless Iran agrees on a deal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, has insisted that the United States was not involved in the strikes and warned Iran not to retaliate against the thousands of US troops stationed in nearby Arab countries. "The US has calculated that it can help Israel and that the Iranians will obviously be aware of this, but at the end of the day, at least at the public level, the US stays out," said Alex Vatanka, founding director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute in Washington. The hope is that "the Iranians will do a quick cost/benefit analysis and decide it is not worth the fight," Vatanka said. He said Iranian leaders are for now focused on staying alive, but could decide either to swallow a tough deal -- or to internationalize the conflict further by causing chaos in the oil-rich Gulf, potentially sending oil prices soaring and pressuring Trump. 'America First' impulse Most key lawmakers of Trump's Republican Party quickly rallied behind Israel, whose prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is a hero for many on the US right. But Trump's populist "America First" base has been skeptical. Tucker Carlson, the prominent media commentator who counseled Trump against a US strike on Iran in the first term, has called fears of Tehran building a nuclear bomb overblown, saying neither Iran nor Ukraine warrants US military resources. Trump has brought outspoken non-interventionists into his administration. In an unusually political video this week, Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, warned after a visit to Hiroshima that "warmongers" were putting the world at risk of nuclear catastrophe. In a speech in Riyadh last month, Trump denounced decades of US interventionism in the Middle East and said, "My greatest hope is to be a peacemaker and to be a unifier. I don't like war." How far to back Israel? Daniel Shapiro, who served as US ambassador to Israel under former president Barack Obama, said he was certain the United States would support Israel in defense against Iranian retaliation. But Trump will face a harder decision on "whether to use the United States' unique capabilities to destroy Tehran's underground nuclear facilities and prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon," said Shapiro, now at the Atlantic Council. "The decision will split his advisers and political base, amid accusations, and perhaps his own misgivings, that Netanyahu is attempting to drag him into war." Lawmakers of the rival Democratic Party widely revile Netanyahu, including over Israel's bloody offensive in Gaza. "This attack by Netanyahu is pure sabotage," said Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro. "What does 'America First' even mean if Trump allows Netanyahu to drag the country into a war Americans don't want?" he wrote on social media. Netanyahu has long insisted that Iran's ruling clerics -- who support Hamas in Gaza -- pose an existential threat to Israel. The strikes came after Iran defiantly said it would ramp up output of highly enriched uranium, playing hardball ahead of US talks. Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the progressive Center for International Policy, said that China -- identified by Trump as the top threat -- could seize the moment, perhaps by moving on Taiwan, as it sees the United States as even more distracted. "Even without direct involvement, Washington now faces the prospect of indefinite resupply, intelligence and diplomatic backing for Israel, just as the war in Ukraine intensifies and global crises multiply," Toossi said. "Wars are easy to ignite, but once unleashed, they tend to spiral beyond control, and rarely end on the terms of those who start them."
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Trump tells Iran to make deal or face 'more brutal' attacks
Trump appeared to be sitting on the fence, a day after having publicly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off striking Iran only to see the key US ally go ahead anyway. The operation killed senior figures -- among them the armed forces chief and top nuclear scientists -- and Iran has called Israel's wave of strikes a "declaration of war." "There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end," Trump said on his Truth Social platform. "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left... JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE," he said. Trump said that he "gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal." He added that Israel -- which Trump has closely aligned with since his return to the White House -- has a lot of weapons thanks to the United States and "they know how to use it." Trump was attending a National Security Council meeting Friday in the White House Situation Room. - 'It's been excellent' - But Trump later appeared to be making a political calculation about how best to respond to Israel's attack. Less than a day earlier Trump had called on Israel to hold off an attack to make room for diplomacy, only for the key US ally to hit Iran as Trump was holding a picnic at the White House for members of Congress. By Friday morning, however, Trump was calling the Israeli offensive "excellent" during a round of phone calls with US media. "I think it's been excellent," ABC News quoted him as saying. "And there's more to come. A lot more." Trump also gave mixed signals about the extent of US involvement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said Thursday that the United States was "not involved" in the strikes and warned Iran not to retaliate against any US forces in the region. Trump, however, said on Truth Social on Friday that Israel had acted because a 60-day deadline that he had set for Iran had run out, implying that the two acted in concert. His boasts about the "finest" US equipment that Israel had used -- a day before a huge parade in Washington on Trump's 79th birthday featuring US aircraft and tanks -- also muddied the waters. Trump earlier told Fox News he had been made aware of the Israeli strikes before they happened, and stressed that Tehran "cannot have a nuclear bomb." But at the same time Trump said Iran could have a second chance to negotiate. "They missed the opportunity to make a deal. Now, they may have another opportunity. We'll see," Trump told NBC. Trump also indicated that the Iranians were "calling me to speak" after the attacks to suggest they wanted to make a deal, without offering specifics. During Trump's first term, he pulled the United States out of a landmark agreement to relieve sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program. The United States and Iran have had several rounds of talks since Trump returned to the White House, but after initially striking an optimistic tone, they have foundered in recent days.
