Summary of the day
Brussels admonished France over its budget deficit, as the country prepares for a high-stakes election later this month.
Seven European countries, including France, do not fulfil the EU’s deficit criteria, the European Commission said.
The French far-right National Rally’s Jordan Bardella said he wants “Ukraine to have at disposal the ammunition and equipment it needs to hold the front” but also said that “I don’t plan to send, especially, long-range missiles or other weapons that will allow Ukraine to strike the Russian territory.”
Politicians across the political spectrum in France spoke out against anti-Semitism after authorities charged two 13-year-old boys with the gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl.
Police in New Caledonia arrested protest leader Christian Tein at the headquarters of the biggest pro-independence political party, the Caledonian Union, the party said.
Manfred Weber, a German politician and influential political figure in Brussels, was re-elected as leader of the European parliament’s biggest group, the centre-right European People’s party (EPP).
The Greens group in the European parliament elected Bas Eickhout and Terry Reintke as co-presidents.
The EPP group nominated Roberta Metsola for another term as president of the parliament.
Centre-right group nominates Metsola for second term as European parliament president
The European People’s party group in the European parliament has nominated Roberta Metsola, a Maltese politician, for another term as president of the parliament.
❗ The EPP Group has just nominated Roberta Metsola as the candidate for the office of President of the European Parliament.#EUelections2024 @RobertaMetsola pic.twitter.com/nxZQH6vkoB
— EPP Group (@EPPGroup) June 19, 2024
