could mean for us relations within europe. hello. i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. in a week where world leaders gathered to remember the sacrificies of those who fought in the second world war, us presidentjoe biden spoke about how the lessons of the past apply to today. in a passionate speech at normandy, in northern france, he delivered a defence of democracy. he spoke at the pointe du hoc where, on d—day, us army rangers scaled 100—foot cliffs to storm a nazi stronghold. it's the same place where us president ronald reagan delivered an address in 1984, capturing his nation's attention, and helping him secure a second term. in a dig atjoe biden�*s

presidential rival, donald trump, mr biden flatly rejected isolationism. he said the rangers who fought in normandy 80 years ago would undoubtedly want the us to stand up to vladimir putin's aggression in europe. well, i'm here to tell you that with them gone, the wind we hear coming off this ocean will not fade — it will grow louder. as we gather here today, it's notjust to honour those who showed such remarkable bravery on that day, june 6, 1944, it's to listen to the echoes of their voices, to hear them, because they are summoning us, and they're summoning us now. they ask us what will we do? they're not asking us to scale these cliffs, but they're asking us to stay true to what america stands for. they're not asking us to give or risk our lives, but they are asking us to care for others and our country more than ourselves.

they're not asking us to do theirjob. they're asking us to do our job, to protect freedom in our time, to defend democracy, to stand up to aggression abroad and at home, to be part of something bigger than ourselves. president biden was speaking soon after meeting ukrainian president voldymyr zelensky. mr biden assured him that america would never waver in its support for ukraine. it was the first time the two met since december. president biden apologised to president zelensky for his country's long delay in approving a new military aid package to kyiv. president biden also said he's approved a further $200 million in assistance to reconstruct ukraine's electricity grid, which is the target of constant russian bombardment. french president emmanual macron also pledged extra help for ukraine in the form of ammunition following talks with his ukrainain counterpart in paris on friday. president macron reiterated his promise

to provide kyiv with fighter jets, and to train thousands of ukrainian soldiers. russia has warned against the move, but macron insisted the west wouldn't be intimated by such threats. the french president said he'll use next month's nato summit to give ukraine added support. translation: france continues to su ort translation: france continues to support ukraine _ translation: france continues to support ukraine in _ translation: france continues to support ukraine in all- to support ukraine in all areas, including on the european level, by seeking to have the effective launch of membership negotiations by the end of the month, or at nato, the summit from july 9—11, where i will commit again to ukraine's path to our alliance. world leaders have spent most of the week in france to mark the 80th anniversary of the d—day landings in normandy, when tens of thousands of soldiers arrived on the beaches in northern france — in an invasion that was a key

moment that led the eventual defeat of nazi germany and the liberation of europe. the war in ukraine loomed over d—day commemorations on thursday, where president zelensky and western leaders paid tribute to world war ii veterans. ukraine's president shared an emotional moment with one of those veterans. take a listen. (laughter) you are the saviour of the people. i have got tears in my eyes. as d—day commemorations wrap up, i spoke tojovita neliupsiene, the european union's ambassador to the united states. we are remembering these past few days, d—day, the strong transatlantic alliance, the ending of world war ii. in those commemorations, are we seeing an effort to reaffirm the transatlantic relationship? of course. we listen to the speeches of president macron, president biden and president zelensky, as well, and we see that our commitment to each other�*s security

and transatlantic commitment to our common values — like freedom and rule of law — in general, a rule—based order. i think it is more important right now then a few years ago and we see that we take democracy and peace for granted and we have to notjust stand by, but actually we have to fight for that and ukrainians are doing that right now and it is extremely important right now if we do not want those that make if we want those values to prevail. we heard from the us president, joe biden, and from the top eu official the same sentiment that of russian aggression against ukraine is not checked that it could spread across the continent. how serious a threat is that? it is an existential threat for all europeans, and if we look, you know,

at the russians, if they are not stopped, and this should probably be the premises for our decisions. first of all we saw what happened in 2008 in georgia and in the crimea when crimea was occupied. now two years ago and the war�*s still going, so i think we should put all our efforts not only towards supporting ukraine and providing defence capabilities as well as humanitarian and financial support for the country, but also to be serious on how we implement our own sanctions, how we talk with all of our partners across the globe to make sure that there is an understanding — that, you know, there are different theatres of what is happening around the globe but they are actually related and some of the actors, russia in the defence industry is enhanced by chinese components provided for them.

you know, drones produced by iran are flying in ukraine. we have to be serious. because those actors are not waiting for an invitation, they're getting their act together. as a community we should cherish its freedom and way of life and we have two act together. do you think the us eu alliances strengthening or is it the same? is there any change? i believe that our alliance is stronger than it was before. we actually not only cooperated in what is related with war and security in europe but as well as economic and technological cooperation is growing. i think that there are a lot of things we can do together in the field

and as well the effort to do that. trade talks have stalled and there has not been any activity towards an agreement for many years, now, on that. the trade and technology council achieved results. first of all on technology, we got an agreement and a memorandum of understanding — be it quantum, be it semiconductors or be it ai. we even have an institutional cooperation with the ai office in europe and the ai safety office here. so many things are happening. issues like technology, it is a competitive field but on the other hand it has many challenges, for personal data, for how we will approach and how our jobs will be changed and those challenges are beyond the borders. one country cannot really deal with those issues alone so cooperation is important and we are moving in

the right direction. would you like to see, though, a more formalised deal that goes through congress and is agreed there? it is a choice of every jurisdiction of how to do the deal, but i think what is important is that we remain committed to have an informant like the trade and technology council, we have not only ministerial—level meetings and summits, but meetings that should go to the details. it would be nice to have it expanded more to the digital area to see if we can do something on mutual recognition so that we work on critical minerals so there are many areas where we can work together, and really do a good job so our businesses could thrive and compete globally. to what extent does the relationship ebb and flow depending on who was in power

in the states and was in power in the oval office, here? for examples, will there be changes to the alliance in november whether it is a second term of biden or a second term of trump? well, i think that, first of all, we are europeans and you will be interested in working with whoever is in the administration in the us, because as we start this conversation, on our plate are topics that are extremely important for the security and safety of people, the global world order. so i think that it really resonates with all—american people and i believe that we will continue on the same way. voters across the 27 european union countries are going to the polls to choose members of the european parliament — meps. the eu—wide election is the world's second biggest democratic exercise, after india, and right—wing and far—right parties are expected to make big gains. final results will be released late on sunday evening, after every country has voted.

let's take a look at the numbers. about 373 million people are eligible to vote — that's about 5 times the uk population. people will cast ballots from finland in the north to cyprus in the south, ireland in the west to bulgaria in the east. the next european parliament will have 720 members, with each country having seats proportionate to the size of their population. germany is guaranteed 96 seats, france 81 and italy 76, while the netherlands has 31. dutch voters were the first to cast ballots, with exit polls suggesting a tight race between a left—green alliance and the party of anti—islam populist geert wilders. ireland and the czech republic voted on friday. while voting in most eu countries happens over a single day the czechs get two days to vote. people in other eu member countries will vote over the weekend, with far—right parties eyeing victory in france, belgium, austria and italy.

across europe, nearly two million more teenagers can vote for the first time, after some eu countries changed the law to allow 16— and i7—year—olds to take part. these belgian teenagers explain why the eu elections matter to them. it's a very big opportunity for us. and i really like it, because it gives us a voice that we never had before. europe needs to be stronger because we can't always trust nato. the tension is really getting - real and my history teacher now is really saying that it wouldn't surprise me| if something would . happen in the future. so that really scares me. opinion polls suggest younger voters have helped the far—right make significant gains. these young farmers now say the eu isn't listening to them and that immigration continues to be a problem. the reason why we vote for the right is that we have a status quo that we want them to do away with. we have global issues that we don't know how we can take control of. we can actually solve the issues that the left tried to solve but failed to do so.

there is a big issue when it comes to security and when it comes to keeping track of all the people that come in. i think that europe doesn't have the capacity to receive that many people. for more on this, i spoke to lucinda creighton, ireland's former minister for european affairs, and senior fellow at the centre for european policy analysis. for our viewers around the world, lucinda, put into context for how important the eu parliament elections are. over 370 million people are eligible to vote. what sort of significance or power do meps have? quite a lot, actually. in the early days of the european parliament, it wasn't a powerful legislature, but over various treaty changes and constitutional change in europe, over the decades, it has become extremely powerful. it is basically the co—decision—maker now for almost all aspects of legislation.

so it's a very powerful and important body and obviously it's very significant that literally hundreds of millions of europeans are going to the polls at the one—time this weekend to elect a new parliament of 720 members. so a big election and, of course it is notjust the election of the parliament itself but then the parliament will have to confirm the executive, the european commission which will be nominated over the course of the summer. it has huge political consequences for europe and so it is obviously important the people go and vote this weekend. different countries vote in different ways the popular party is a states, general elections are not always the winning candidates in european elections. what do you expect to see in terms of parties of user policies that might do well this weekend?

earlier this year, there was a lot of talk about a huge lurch, a dramatic lurch to the right in europe and we have seen trends in some member states over the last number of years where politics has become more polarised in the far—right and far—left have become a little more extreme. in practice, i think, the shift will not be that dramatic at all, actually. we will certainly see an increase in conservatives and right wing members elected in these elections. i think that's clear. we're going to see a decline in the number of meps elected from the socialist and green political groups in europe but it is not going to be quite as dramatic as some have predicted. i think actually the influence of the far right will be reasonably limited. there will be more of them but i don't think it will be dramatic and i don't think it is going to hugely shift the dynamic in the european parliament.

there is certainly a movement to the centre—right and the right and i suppose that is perhaps as a response to a fairly left and green agenda over the last five years and i think it is certainly a challenge for the citizens of europe to solve the policies that are being pursued at european level. even though the green party did so well last time five years ago. the european parliament had two flagship for the past few years. the first was the green deal, dramatically reducing carbon emissions and greening europe and the other was around digitalisation and regulation and i think the rhetoric we have heard in recent months in particular through the moderate parties of the centre particularly renew which is the liberal party of french president emmanuel macron and from the ep p the centre—right group

which was once associated with angela merkel who is not a big personality there at the moment. they are the biggest block, the centre right christian democrats and conservatives. and they have definitely become a little more sceptical around the big drive regulation and the talk of focusing for the next mandate on implementation of legislation rather than new legislation and certainly we have seen indications that there will be a loosening around the green agenda as well. it will not be abandoned

but some of the more challenging legislation that was promised is likely to either not happen or be watered down to some extent. i think that's a direct response to business — to small business in particular, and especially to very angry farmers of the european union. the next major gathering of world leaders takes place in less than a week's time, when heads of state will convene for the g7 summit. it will be hosted by italy in the region of puglia. the group of seven includes the us, britain, canada, france, germany, italy, japan and the european union. but this year, the guest list will include saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman as concerns grow over the situation in the middle east, as well as ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky, as his nation looks for solutions against russia's invasion. diplomats at the summit are expected to discuss ways they can use profits generated by frozen russian assets to help ukraine.

well, to discuss all things us—eu relations and much more, i spoke tojeremy shapiro, director of research at the european council on foreign relations, and former senior adviser on european affairs at the us state department. if we look, firstly, at what we saw the us president joe biden doing this week — a lot of muscle flexing, a lot of showing of strength of the various alliances — what is your assessment of where the us—eu relationship is now? in a certain way it is in very good shape. there is nothing as good for a relationship as finding an enemy and they have found an enemy in russia and vladimir putin and that has definitively bought them together. and these summits are, in some sense, a lot showier and a lot easier with a lot grander language than they used to be. but there is a difficulty

at the core of it which is that increasingly, in part because of what is happening with russia, europeans have come to depend ever more on the united states and yet at the same time the united states is less and less certain to be there for them after the next election or even regardless of how that comes out into the distant future. so there is sort of weirdness that as the relationship gets closer it becomes fragile. we saw while ukraine was waiting on us congress to agree to extra funding that europe did step into the breach there. it did provide funding to ukraine. there is no question that europe is an important part of the effort in ukraine. at the same time, it really is the united states that provides the back bone of it, which in some sense provides the strategy which makes most of the major decisions even if a lot of money and weapons are coming from europe. so i think more importantly,

maybe, and this is something we don't think about often it is the united states that holds europe together on the question, so without the united states there it is really not the case that the europeans would be able to fill that void in the void that you are talking, the gap you are talking about over the last six months, europeans were able to partially fill that but there was a gap of money and weapons in what biden was doing throughout those six months was providing the leadership that europe cannot provide. so you're saying the common enemy has strengthened the relationship. nato members would say the same. so how do those two relationships play then? the relationship between? the nato, the us, eu, and the us and nato? they relate a lot more closely than they used to. in some ways, it is a strange question, because they have something like 23 members in common so when a certain sense they are the same thing — the main difference is the united states. and there is an increasing awareness on both sides

of the atlantic that the economic relationship and strategic relationship and not really inseparable. so in the previous segment you had with the eu ambassador, she was emphasising all of the important work they are doing in the trade and technology council, which, in some sense, is about security — it is about china and about russia. so it is not as if the relationships are that distinct, but i think what you end up having in all cases is you end up having a europe which is becoming, a relationship that is becoming less and less balanced and in which the united states is exercising an ever more dominant role, and that creates a lot of risks, and i think that is the risk from a european perspective there that they are seen quite clearly because of the election here in november. and on that, the eu ambassador said earlier that it did not matter if it was going to be a second term of trump

or a second term of biden — that the eu would work with whoever in the relationship would exist. do you agree with that, no matter who is sitting behind the resolute desk? i am sure if i was the ambassador i would say the same thing but i think it is pretty clear to everybody that the relationship will not be the same. of course, the eu will continue to relate to whatever us is there but from my experience in europe the vast majority of european policymakers are very worried about a trump administration, very worried about his policies towards things like ukraine and trade, and they understand that joe biden is perhaps an anomalous us president in a certain way because he is so transatlantisist to his core. there is a recognition that there will probably never be another who is that transatlantisist but also that donald trump would be a very, very abrupt break from the biden administration.

if we look at the parliamentary elections under way in the eu. meps will be elected and with the rise of the far—right you expect to see a shift in policy after these elections and how do you think that will impact everything? at my think tank, we have done some analysis on this and tried to predict some of the outcomes of the european elections and we agree with a of the analysis out there which does see a shift to the right, but not a massive one, and it continues a trend that has been going for a few years and eventually we will get somewhere in terms of changes in policy but our best guess is that after this election there will not be massive changes in policy that come from the gathering strength of the far—right, because they still will won't be able to ta ke any of the big positions in the european commission or in the european council. they will won't have a majority in the parliament. the centrist parties

will still be able to cobble together a majority. they will be a lesser majority, with greater problems, and they will have to pay more attention to the far—right, but i don't think we will see major changes. you can keep on top of all of the news of the day on our website. thank you for watching. stay tuned to bbc news. hello. a real mix of weather coming up this weekend. some rain, some sunshine, but one thing there won't be much of in the mix is warm weather. now, the warmest weather on friday was found in the east and the south—east of england. 21 degrees is actually about right for this time of year — 12 in the north of scotland. that is a little below par. and we will keep, generally speaking, below average temperatures for most parts of the uk, not only through the weekend, but actually into the start of next week. a feed of cool air from the north.

now on saturday morning, we start off with a fair amount of cloud across england and wales. some splashes of rain. but much of that clearing southwards skies brightening sunny spells and just the odd shower into the afternoon. similar story for northern ireland. for scotland, there will be a few more showers, some heavy ones, still some wintry ones over the very highest mountains. temperatures in northern scotland, ten or 11 degrees, perhaps 18 or 19, in south wales and southern england. so yes, below average temperatures for most now through saturday night. we'll see cloud and showery rain pushing into scotland, perhaps into northern ireland, much of england and wales holding onto clear skies. and it is going to be a rather chilly night, five degrees there in the centre of cardiff, for example. some spots in the countryside will see temperatures fairly close to freezing, i suspect, for sunday morning. now, on sunday, this little frontal system in the north bringing some showers.

this next weather front just easing its way in towards northern ireland. that could well bring a spell of more persistent rain as it pushes across south west scotland into northern england as well. to the north of that it is sunny spells and showers to the south of that wales, the midlands down towards the south of england, a decent amount of dry weather, some sunshine, perhaps highs of 19 degrees, whereas further north, just 1a, for example, there in glasgow now through sunday nights and into monday, this little frontal system here is expected to ease its way southwards at east with some uncertainty aboutjust how much rain it will bring and how long that will linger across central and eastern parts of england. if rain does linger for any length of time on monday, it really will feel very disappointing indeed. even if you get some sunshine with a scattering of showers, temperatures at best 10 to 17 degrees. and we stick with those rather cool conditions for much of the coming week. and there will be further

outbreaks of rain at times.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to a sweltering delhi, capital of the world's most populous country in just days after election that took everyone by surprise. let us take a look at what we have in the programme. narendra modi keeps hisjob as prime minister for an historic third term. not prime minister but a loss that feels like a win. rahul

gandhi's party makes a comeback. major blocks in the selection, women and young people. selection, women and young --eole. ., selection, women and young neale, ., ., , people. india has contradictions . people. india has contradictions in | people. india has- contradictions in itself. the people of india want to change. the biggest problem in our country— the biggest problem in our country 's _ the biggest problem in our country 's unemployment. i welcome to this is india. i am a sinner of the same. and i arunoday mukharji. these elections have been massive. whatever happens here will have global ramifications. were surprising. narendra modi will stay prime minister but the intractable leader let's take a look. the world's largest

democratic exercise.