centre in texas. but as her husband orders government agencies to start reuniting families separated under his controversial border policy, us congress postpones a key vote on immigration. police have detained the captain of an indonesian ferry after a disaster that left nearly 200 people missing. the captain is one ofjust 18 people who were found alive. and these pictures are trending online. it's a jacket melania trump wore on the way to that detention centre, with the words "i really don't care, do you?" on the back. her spokesperson said "there was no hidden message", but her husband says she was referring to the media that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm at stephen

sackur. one issue, more than any other, is polarising european politics and dividing the european union — migration. in germany it threatens‘s angela merkel‘s grip on power. from italy and austria, to hungary and poland, it is driving policies and threatened to smash continental consensus. my guest karin kneissl is in the government. are europeans finding their authentic voice or is a dangerous brand of populism poisoning politics? karin kneissl, welcome to hardtalk.

thank you for the invitation. thank you forjoining us from vienna. i think we have to begin with migration. opinion surveys across europe show it is the european public‘s number one concern. they appear to be apprehensive, they appear to be apprehensive, they appear to be frightened about immigration. and, yes, the numbers of immigrants coming into europe year on year, right now, are actually going down. so how can you explain the rising apprehension? well, we have seen the year 2015, andi well, we have seen the year 2015, and i think one of the main reasons why british voters voted to say yes to break that was because there was

a sensation of loss of control and that was exactly what happened in 2015- 2016, it was that was exactly what happened in 2015— 2016, it was only two years ago and we should not forget that is about 4 million refugees in turkey, that we have about 60 million young people in north africa, the middle east, who won't find employment, so we have a demographic we have a geopolitical reasoning to be aware that migration is not something that will continue. let me just recall the dialogue of the world economic forum, it said in 2008, number one, imminent threat to global security is the income gap, is the wealth problem. sure. nobody denies, on a

global scale, nobody denies that the movement of people, the migration factor is an immensely challenging phenomenon. but i am looking at the figures. the figures are extraordinary. frontex, the eu's border agency says that 43,000 individuals have entered from outside of europe, january until may, 2018, that is about half, half the figure from 2017, and yet i come back to this point that the fear of immigration is rising and the un refugee chief says that is precisely because european politicians are indulging in what he calls "despicable scaremongering". and i think it would include your government in that. well, we don't consider ourselves as people who wa nt to consider ourselves as people who want to create panic, but who want, simply, to bear in mind that we are speaking of an increase, for

instance, it is about plus a 140%, when we compared to last you's figures. when you speak about bosnia—herzegovina, we speak of a multiplication of hundreds of presents, so we shouldn't simply look at the incoming figures on a day to day basis, but of what we are a member was the case in spring 2015, the then minister of the interior of austria warned against the rising migration and her warnings were not taken serious and then things became more serious by then things became more serious by the end of august 20 15. well, you keep coming back to 2015. the basic fa ct keep coming back to 2015. the basic fact is that the basic numbers are much lower this year than they were last year. what we have are instance is increasingly of european nations abandoning any collective approach to dealing with the migration challenge and operating in what they

see as their own national interest, the most recent example of this would be the new italian government's refusal to accept the landing of the refugee boat, the aquarius, with 629 men, women, and children on board. in austria, do you see this now as a type your government to pursue its own national interest, rather than europe's collective interest? no. let me recall our common efforts, and we worked here in tandem with partners such as denmark or the netherlands, it is not only italy. there are a number of european union member states with whom we work in tandem and we had this morning, for instance, a visit in vienna by european parliamentarians and there is an awareness, i would say, that goes across all critical segments that migration is something that will remain with us. you personally described angela merkel as taking an

action which amounted to share negligence, back in 2015, when she opened the border and allowed hundreds of thousands of refugees to come into germany. he described it as negligence. the party nominated due to be foreign minister. the leader of that party described angela merkel as the most dangerous woman in europe. is that still your position, negligence, and his position, negligence, and his position that she is a danger to europe? well, i have said, back in 2015, when the decision was taken to not any more send back according to the agreements people from syria, iraq, and afghanistan, that was the decision taken on friday fourth of december 20 15. i sat down in a discussion that mackay been in news

discussion that mackay been in news discussion that mackay been in news discussion that this will cause problems, because it was a fairly unilateral decision. there was no consultation taken among other european partners. and when you ask me now about eight collective european approach, i just me now about eight collective european approach, ijust imagined that not only on a governmental level we are working together, the austrian authorities, as of january 2016, had started to co—operate with their executive colleagues, whether it was police forces, army, or others, both in serbia, hungary, and in particular macedonia, because there were several european governments who decided not to have nasty pictures in their backyards. so the nasty pictures were pushed to the macedonian greek border and nasty pictures had to happen somewhere else. so our approach is to pre—empt a replay of what we have seen before. if i may to pre—empt a replay of what we have seen before. ifi may say to pre—empt a replay of what we have seen before. if i may say so, to pre—empt a replay of what we have seen before. ifi may say so, your approach appears to be based on the building of walls, ever hire more

protective walls around austria... no it's not. excuse me, so, i'm you hear, no austrian politician has ever spoken of building a wall. can you please give me the quote?” ever spoken of building a wall. can you please give me the quote? i am not talking about woakes. it you have spent a lot of money fortifying your board is tutt quotes. that is what you have been doing for two or three years. it is not about our borders. it is about the schengen space border. in contrast to the united kingdom, austria is part of the schengen space. dashing and mean? it means liberty of movement, but you can only cross from one border to the other. we now have border to the other. we now have border control on the german— austrian border going from software to bavaria. it is the german authorities that control the borders that. it is on the same level that we are working together our partners from hungry, serbia, slovenia, croatia, and elsewhere to embark on

this comment... interesting, interesting, you tell me it is all about protecting the freedom of movement principle, you know full well that in germany right now there isa well that in germany right now there is a major debate, a huge problem for angela merkel, because owned interior minister, the leader of the christian social union in bavaria was the right to take people who have arrived in germany but were previously registered somewhere else in european union, he was to force them out of germany to become to be first registered in. this principle of freedom of movement across the schengen area is being challenged. you, in your government, appear to be backing the interior minister and other countries, such as the so—called visegrad countries in eastern europe, who simply do not believe in burden sharing. so the austrian government clearly isn't adopting a collective approach at all. it is becoming a much more nationalistic approach. excuse me.

no, excuse me. austria, according to per capita immigration, we have taken, after sweden, the highest number of migrants over the last yea rs. number of migrants over the last years. so please don't tell us that we are not participating in burden sharing. i'm telling you the truth, which is right now you appear to be backing the visegrad countries, that is, of course, the czech republic, so is, of course, the czech republic, so bhatia, hungary, poland, who refuse burden sharing, the european commission says they are violating the norms of the european union, and you appear to be backing them. the norms of the european union, and you appear to be backing themm the norms of the european union, and you appear to be backing them. if i am me elaborate here a little further, because it is what we have said and what has been pointed out, when you want to tackle the issue of illegal migration, and i want to highlight illegal, because you are simply speaking about migration. we have various ways of legal migration coming to austria. we have taken up a high number of political asylum

seekers, not only over the last yea rs, seekers, not only over the last years, but it is a tradition in austria ever since 1956, we do it in 1968 during the prides quinn, except, but we are saying we do not believe that a simple distribution of people who have come from which ever pass can be redistributed according to way quota system and this is the magic bullet, the silver bullet solution, that, we say... -- prague spring. just look at is aware that austria is going to assume the presidency of the european council. he has suggested that we need to fundamentally shift our approach, the eu's approach to the migration challenge. some, including the interior minister, have talked about their paradigms shift, a copernican revolution, so what is off‘s big idea for getting europe out of this

migration mess —— austria's idea? the system we still work with was created in a pre— globalised world. we now have a completely different form of communication ability on a global level. what we have to do with update to adapt instruments which are at our disposal, whether it is the so—called dublin three agreement, which you just mentioned, when it comes to people who have been registered in one eu country for their cases to be delpierre —— dealt there. when we talk about are keeping a schengen space, what we mean not only a protection of our external borders, and we are not speaking about the austrian borders, we are speaking about the external borders of the european union, and we are speaking also about... so it is the donald trump approach. you basically built higher and higher walls around the european union, is

that? no, not at all. if he had let me finish the phrase. what we want to prevent its people, for what ever their human smugglers promised them, get on a boat, and think that they have, that there is, whoever is the fittest to cross the mediterranean will arrive in europe, that we want to pre—empt and change. when the minister of interior or the chancellor says we need a different system, it is a system of consulting people in the countries of origin and to have resettlement done together with the international organisation of migration together with the un agency or other un agencies and to consult people, make authorities to their countries of origin and not have daily drowning of people by having them come to see the authorities, whether it is in germany or elsewhere. that is our approach. please don't come up with

your repeating words. it is not a question of what i think, but a question of what i think, but a question of what people in your own country thing. the leader of the opposition said recently that the chancellor and the government, of which you are a part, is itself part ofa which you are a part, is itself part of a dangerous nationalist populist movement in europe, uk mean people like viktor orban, chancellor kurtz, tayo salvini in italy, the leader of the league, which says it wants to register all roma in italy and deport those who do not have... he is about to take a holiday from political life. he was in politics for about five years. he was also repeating in the last few months, warning against civil war in europe because of the asylum crisis. this gentleman you have quoted is talking about that. i want you to address his point there is, right now, a

dangerous nationalist populist movement sweeping europe with elements inside your own government with connections to the far right, the extreme right, members of the freedom party... it is distasteful to mention what you are coming up with. it is just a statement without concrete examples. can you give me a concrete examples. can you give me a concrete examples. can you give me a concrete example of ministers of the freedom party, iam not concrete example of ministers of the freedom party, i am not a concrete example of ministers of the freedom party, iam not a member of it, but ministers, including the vice chancellor, when you cannot illustrate what you have been accusing them of. please give me an example. i did not say it was ministers, i said example. i did not say it was ministers, isaid people example. i did not say it was ministers, i said people inside the freedom party. you know it is the case. it has asked sympathetic historians in the country to conduct a commission of enquiry to look into links of nazi fraternities, nazi associations... like any

political... going back to the 19505. if you want to talk about specifics, the leader of the party, you only have to look at his record, things he has said over the years, including, for example, in 2012, posting an anti—semitic cartoon on his own facebook aged showing a banker with a large hook nose. that is what they still have. banker with a large hook nose. that is what they still havelj banker with a large hook nose. that is what they still have. i can only say that, when it comes to the ministers i work with in this current government, i have not observed over the last two years, ever since i have been in touch with the freedom party, any anti—semitic statement. that that is my personal observation. right, but... and i myself... you are not denying the initial press premise, people are

looking in austria seeing the freedom party winning 26% of the vote, balding key ministries, including defence and interior, and nominating you, independent, but nominating you, independent, but nominating you, independent, but nominating you to the foreign ministry. —— holding,. people in europe worry about that. yes. you mentioned that this party has now nominated a historian. every party party in the last 10— 15 years has done the same. they have had ministerial archives opened in order to get in touch with the past. the same was undertaken by the socialist party and the conservative party. so maybe it is, umm... i... umm... i know from history classes also how high was the enthusiasm in the 19305 going up to the highest rank in... umm... circles in the uk, in

particular, in aristocratic circles, how enthusiastic they were for national socialism. so we can always go back, but at least let us stay in the present times, because we can continue accusing each other of our past here and there. i have assumed this office. i spent about two two yea rs this office. i spent about two two years in israel writing my ph.d. there. i speak arabic and hebrew. so if you can get hold of a single anti—semitic quote of myself i would like to see it. minister, ifi wa nted like to see it. minister, ifi wanted to put a charge to you personally i would have done it. it is not about you adore and i am not suggesting for a moment it is. it is about the freedom party. but as a spokesperson, yeah, i can only repeat myself. if you want to bore the audience... 0k, repeat myself. if you want to bore the audience... ok, let's move on. let's talk about russia before

closing this interview. . 0k. russia is an important part of collective foreign policy—making in europe as well. it doesn't strike me as a little difficult for you that again the party that nominated you, that holds some of the key positions in the government, signed a pact with vladimir putin's party, united russia, some years ago, still in place, as far as i understand, so senior members of your government have a friendship pact with vladimir putin's party at a time europe sees russia as a fundamental security threat. is that a problem? this is again something i cannot answer because i am not a member of the party. what i can explain to you is the following... the defence minister is! yes, but, i am sorry, i did not get your question on that.

huh. whatl did not get your question on that. huh. what i would like to highlight is we had president putin and a number of ministers from foreign affairs, like sergey lavrov, my counterpart, here a few weeks ago. what you mentioned was not at all on the agenda. we have other topics to talk about because we would like to see cooperation, as a minister of foreign affairs, with russia, where there is a need to work together. it is about the middle east, it is about north africa. it is perhaps even about migration. a host of european nationsjoined even about migration. a host of european nations joined britain even about migration. a host of european nationsjoined britain in expelling diplomats, russian so—called diplomats, i would call them spies, after the poisoning of a former russian agent in the uk, sergey skripal, in the uk is sure it was russia. why did austria choose not tojoin others

was russia. why did austria choose not to join others in expelling diplomats and sending a clear signal to moscow? we have ten countries in the eu but decided not to expel diplomats. and in my case, as minister of foreign affairs, i took the decision not to expel any diplomat for the simple reason that we are opposed to a series of international organisations. the building you can see behind me, every thursday, within the framework of the organisation, the security and co—operation of europe, 54 participating states meet each other. among them, the russian federation and the us. and in times of rising confrontation, there is a tremendous need to remain in. i understand diplomacy is notjust about presenting policy briefing notes to each other, but remaining in direct contact. that can be done in the permanent council at the building behind me. in an interview

behind you use said communications have not worked with sanctions and we need to stop sanctions and normalise the relationship with russia. austria is not on the same page as london, berlin, paris, on this key strategic challenge facing europe. excuse me, we are on the same page completely. that is because we are all, as you members, a lwa ys because we are all, as you members, always reiterating that it is about the minsk agreement and ukraine. —— eu members. long ago you described brexit as a disaster, clearly regretted. when you look at the position of your government in europe, i wonder whether you feel, if things do not go the way you hope they go in europe in the coming yea rs, they go in europe in the coming years, not they go in europe in the coming yea rs, not least they go in europe in the coming years, not least on migration policy, but a host of other things

as well, austria, one day, you think, consider leaving the european union? interestingly enough, the pressure that is now a rising around the uk's ago she nations with the eu, that has changed public opinion. —— negotiations. people are seeing the pressure and the uncertainty. so, i would say, overall with austria, you will find very few people who are in favour of quitting the eu. that was a different case backin the eu. that was a different case back in the year 2000 when austria was sanctioned because of the then government, for instance. of the remaining 27, there is a desire to have a cohesion, but only among politicians, but also among citizens, about what it means to be

european. —— not only among. citizens, about what it means to be european. -- not only among. we have the end it there. thank you very much forjoining me on hardtalk. —— to end it there. hello. our weather's warming up. i know that's not music to everyone's ears, but it is on its way. 21.3 celsius was thursday's top temperature, in hampshire, but for a time next week the hot spots will be getting closer to 30 celsius. now, not everyone is getting that hot, but temperatures will widely be in the low to mid—205, with plenty of dry, sunny weather, with high pressure in control. we've cooled things down a little bit in recent days, with this flow of air from the north—west. but we're about to lose that as high pressure moves right in across the uk, allowing the warmer weather into the sunshine.

and those temperatures will build, day on day. but there will be a chill in the air first thing friday morning for early risers, as temperatures overnight dip down into single figures quite widely, but those temperatures are heading up as the day goes on. light winds, a noticeable breeze across northern scotland, with some cloud around in the far north of scotland and the northern isles. patchy light rain and drizzle spreading east. a bit of high cloud may be turning things hazy for parts of wales, south—west england, but for most, it's sunshine on the way. breezy winds, breeziest for northern scotland. very high uv and pollen levels, particularly in the england and wales, adding a degree or so to the temperature compared to recent days. some get into the low 20s — 21, 22 degrees under clear skies on friday night and into saturday morning, while maybe a bit of patchy cloud across parts of scotland, but largely clear skies. fairly rapid wind and the temperatures dip again, into single figures for some of us. but i don't think quite as chilly on saturday morning, compared with friday morning. so that sets the scene for the weekend, what's going on. we're talking about high pressure moving across the uk, and here it is, although at the start of the weekend, eagle eyes will notice this weather system moving on through northern scotland. so of course, that's going to bring more breeze, more cloud here, and the further

north you are into the northern isles, some outbreaks of rain on saturday. and there'll be some high cloud elsewhere, not necessarily clear blue sky. the sun will be hazy at times. nevertheless, temperatures will have risen a little bit more, particularly in parts of england and wales. and then for part two of the weekend, on sunday, early rain clears away from shetland, and then it's largely sunny all the way. dry, very light winds, and widely on sunday, temperatures will be into the low 20s. and again into next week, with high pressure sticking around, along with the sunshine, the temperatures are edging up a bit further, more into the mid—205. but yes, some as the heat builds will see that temperature reaching into the upper 20s, to near 30 celsius. and that's your latest forecast.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: mrs trump visits migrant children as her husband orders his administration to reunite 2,000 more separated from their parents by his policies. relatives wait for news of their loved ones as the captain of a ferry which sank is detained in indonesia. 200 people are still missing. i'm lebo diseko in london. also in the programme: it's anguish for argentina, as they suffer a 3—0 defeat at the hands of croatia in the world cup. and the first baby. new zealand's prime minister gives birth — and it's a girl.