Latest news bulletin | December 19th, 2025 – Midday
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00:00EU leaders failed to agree to utilize frozen Russian state assets as part of a reparations loan for Ukraine.
00:10The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Poland's Constitutional Tribunal was not independent and impartial because of politicized appointments.
00:21The suspect in the mass shooting at Brown University as well as the killing of an MIT professor was found dead in a storage unit.
00:30EU leaders failed to agree to utilize frozen Russian state assets as part of a reparations loan for Ukraine.
00:37At an EU summit in Brussels, 24 member states agreed to common borrowing of up to 90 billion euros to ensure Ukraine is funded through next year and 2027.
00:47The vast majority of the Russian state assets are held in Euroclear financial repository in Belgium.
00:53The Belgian Prime Minister, Bart de Wever, insisted on unlimited guarantees in case of any successful legal action by Russia, something EU leaders could not agree to.
01:04As reported exclusively by Euronews, three countries, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, refused to participate in the support for Ukraine.
01:14Danish Prime Minister, Mehta Fredriksson, said there are forces in the EU as well as outside the EU that are trying to divide Europe.
01:21Ensuring another country 90 billion euros for the next two years, I don't think it has ever been seen before in our history.
01:29So it's quite something to achieve.
01:33And as you know, I mean, there are a lot of people outside the European Union and unfortunately also inside the European Union who tries to divide us.
01:42The EU insists it succeeded by permanently immobilizing 210 billion euros of Russian state assets.
01:50Meanwhile, a much anticipated vote of the Mercosur-Latin American trade deal was also delayed at the summit.
01:56Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Malone said she needed three more weeks to communicate new safeguard mechanisms designed to protect the agricultural sector.
02:05EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the deal will be done eventually.
02:09I'm confident that we have the sufficient majority.
02:14There is still, as I said, work to do with member states.
02:17Therefore, we needed a slight postponement.
02:21But I mean, my friend Antonio Costa has said it already.
02:24After 26 years of negotiations, a delay of three weeks, I think, is tolerable.
02:30It's amazing that we are moving towards the conclusion of this so important trade agreement.
02:39And I'm very confident that we'll bring it home.
02:42In a week where Europe declared it would take matters into its own hands when it came to forcing Russia to pay for the war it's waging in Ukraine,
02:50the EU balked at the last minute.
02:53EU leaders can at least point to the fact that Ukraine will be funded for the next two years.
02:57But at what cost to Europe's credibility?
03:00Shona Murray, Euronews, Brussels.
03:06Responding to a question from Euronews at the European Council's summit in Brussels,
03:10Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Europe's commitment to assist Ukraine in case of a future Russian attack
03:17cannot replace U.S. security guarantees.
03:21Zelensky made the comment after European leaders vowed to protect Ukraine from Russia in the future,
03:26including by military means, at a meeting in Berlin on Monday.
03:30Mr. President, the question is a follow-up also on the Berlin meeting.
03:35I would like to know how would you assess the progress in the diplomatic side of trying to find a settlement to end Russia's war in Ukraine,
03:43and if you also plan anytime soon the meeting with Donald Trump,
03:49and whether you think that the commitments that were voiced by the European leaders could actually replace Article 5 and NATO accession?
03:56We don't believe that Europe should replace the United States of America.
04:00And, of course, we also put the guarantee of security of the United States of America,
04:06that there will be Article 5 like, and we don't need European support.
04:10These are different things.
04:12And as Russia would not be the signals that we would have given them,
04:15we understand that they would want to stop the presence of European people.
04:19It is not possible to do this.
04:21It is different things.
04:23It does not mean that Europe, if there is a aggression again in Russia,
04:27that Europe can fight with its presence.
04:33Nobody does not say about it.
04:35The presence of Europe reduces the chances of the aggression of the Russian Federation.
04:42Thousands of farmers have traveled to Brussels on Thursday to protest against the EU-Mercosur Agreement,
04:53a contentious trade pact with South America.
04:57While EU leaders gathered for a major summit nearby,
05:00farmers blocked roads with tractors, threw potatoes, and set off fireworks.
05:06Supporters of the deal say it would unlock new markets vital to the EU economy,
05:10but critics fear it would weaken environmental regulations and damage the agricultural sector.
05:16What we demand is to live from our work, and especially to be against the Mercosur,
05:21because if we import the food from foreign countries that they don't respect the same rules as us,
05:28it's not normal.
05:30And we have a lot of rules to respect, but they don't have them.
05:33And we still import the food from foreign countries that don't respect the rules.
05:37Under the accord, tariffs on nearly all goods traded between the EU and the Mercosur nations
05:44would be eliminated over a 15-year period.
05:47At the summit, the leaders of 27 EU member states are set to decide
05:51whether to endorse or postpone the trade deal for further amendments.
05:56French President Emmanuel Macron maintains his opposition
06:00and called for more negotiations in January.
06:03Macron said he had discussed delaying the agreement with counterparts from Italy,
06:07Poland, Belgium, Austrian, Ireland.
06:11On Wednesday, the EU Council and Parliament agreed on a set of safeguard measures
06:15to protect the farmers.
06:17The agreement now needs the backing of member states,
06:20but some countries like France think this is too premature
06:22and have asked to delay the vote.
06:25Brazil has now issued an ultimatum
06:27and has given EU leaders until Saturday to sign the agreement.
06:32Evelyn Domm, in Brussels, for your news.
06:37The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on Thursday
06:41that Poland's constitutional tribunal was not independent and impartial
06:46because of politicized appointments made under the previous conservative government.
06:51Talking to the media on the sidelines of the European Council's summit in Brussels,
06:55Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk said the ruling finally gives a green light
06:59to repair the tribunal.
07:01From the point of view, he can't work, he doesn't work.
07:04He doesn't work, he doesn't work.
07:05And the verdict of the tribunal of the European Union
07:11confirms what we knew and what we were talking about.
07:16But it also has an important point of view.
07:19It seems that from this moment we will be able to try to
07:22fix the constitutional tribunal through the systematic system.
07:26Between 2025 and 2023, Poland's former ruling Law and Justice Party
07:33drastically transformed the justice system,
07:36including establishing political control over top courts.
07:39In theory, such a ruling by the top EU court should trigger national reforms
07:43to restore the independence of the Polish constitutional tribunal,
07:46a requirement for the country to be in the EU.
07:49The European Central Bank kept its key deposit rate unchanged at 2% on Thursday
07:58for a fourth straight meeting, with the Eurozone thus far managing to handle U.S. tariffs
08:03more effectively than expected.
08:06The ECB also held its main refinancing rate at 2.15%
08:10and its marginal lending facility at 2.40%.
08:13The bank upgraded its growth outlook again, forecasting Eurozone output at 1.4% in 2025 up from 1.2%.
08:24It now expects 1.2% growth in 2026, 1.4% in 2027 and 1.4% in 2028.
08:34ECB was 2.1% in November and is forecast to average 2.1% in 2025 before easing to 1.9% in 2026.
08:44ECB President Christian Lagarde said the Eurozone is close to potential but needs stronger productivity.
08:51Some analysts are now discussing a possible rate hike in 2026,
08:56after ECB Executive Board Member Isabel Schoenigel warned that inflation risks may be rising.
09:04The man suspected in a mass shooting at Brown University as well as the killing of an MIT professor
09:14has been found dead, officials said.
09:16The suspect was found in a storage facility in New Hampshire where he rented a unit.
09:21He had a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
09:24Investigators believe the suspect acted alone.
09:27The community stepped up.
09:30It was all about groundwork, public assistance, interviews of individuals, and good old-fashioned policing.
09:38We looked at financial records, we looked at video footages,
09:43and in the specific incident, it was actually a video that provided us with a description of a vehicle.
09:50Two people were killed and nine were wounded in a mass shooting last week
09:55during final exams at Brown University in Rhode Island.
09:58Police briefly detained a person of interest who was then released due to lack of evidence.
10:04The investigation then took a turn when authorities said they were looking for a connection
10:08between the shooting and the fatal attack on an MIT professor near Boston.
10:12The U.S. military said four people were killed after it attacked another boat
10:21accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
10:25Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to combat drug trafficking
10:30and asserted the U.S. is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels.
10:35Tensions have risen with Venezuela as Trump expressed willingness to conduct strikes on land
10:40and ordered a blockade this week on sanctioned oil vessels coming into and out of Venezuela.
10:46Trump vowed to continue the military build-up until the country gave the U.S. oil, land, and assets,
10:52though it was not clear why he felt the U.S. had a claim.
10:55Getting land, oil rights, whatever we had, they took it away because we had a president
11:01that maybe wasn't watching, but they're not going to do that. We want it back.
11:07They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there.
11:10As you know, they threw our companies out, and we want it back.
11:13The Trump administration is facing increasing scrutiny from congressional Democrats
11:17over the boat strike campaign.
11:20House Republicans rejected Democratic-backed resolutions on Wednesday
11:23that would have forced the government to seek authorization from Congress
11:27before continuing its attacks.
11:30Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth
11:34defended the campaign as a successful counter-narcotic effort,
11:38but did not inform Congress about its ultimate goals when it comes to Venezuela.
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