commemorations in northern france commemorating the deed day landing. —— d—day. thousands gather to honour those who have fallen. veterans in their 90s also attended. the african union has suspended sudan's membership. health ministry disputes the figure of 100 people dying in peaceful protests. amnesty international has described the crackdown as a bloodbath. national guard tried to stop migrant trying to get through mexico to the us. it is hoping to convince the us not to impose stiff tariffs from next week.

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. after last month's european election, it is clear that political power inside the european union is no longer going to be stitched up solely between the centre—left and the centre—right. europe's green party will wield significant influence in the next round of eu deal—making, but how much are the greens prepared to compromise to get things done? my guest is dutch mep bas eickhout, the green candidate for european commission president.

bas eickhout, in brussels, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much for having me. ishould to hardtalk. thank you very much for having me. i should start with some congratulation, you guys anything green party across europe have expanded representation in the european parliament to 69 seeds but what has really changed? what does that mean for your power and influence inside the european union? i think what is also a very important development is that we have seen those two centre blocks, the christian democrats and the social democrats, who have always had a major, a majority, a grand

coalition as it has been called in brussels, they have lost their majority so they cannot deal on their own at the moment and i think thatis their own at the moment and i think that is a good development because i think those two big blocks were really sucking up the oxygen out of the european debate and that will change now so they will have to see how they can remain in power and they will have to look to other parties to come to that majority in the european parliament again and indeed they will have to look to the greens and that is giving us an additional strength. as you pointed out after the result came through, you said of your voters, the people across europe who voted for the greens, you said they want us to change the course of europe but, let us change the course of europe but, let us be honest, you do not have the capacity or the ability to change the course of europe. you are 69 meps out of 750. i am not going to say it is an easy one but we felt

this responsibility given by the voters so it is clear that the people who voted for the greens they demand climate action and we also clearly campaigned on social europe and democracy so it is clear that we feel that responsibility to really put in change. if the two big governing blogs christian social democrats, we are going to do business as usual and the greens will fill up to make the majority than they are talking to the wrong party. we will demand a change and, of course, we will be ready to compromise. we know it will not be 100% agreement programme but we will not accept business as usual where we sign up to the same old same old. it interested me that your party did very well in north—western europe but, to talk about a green wave crashing across the continent is clearly wrong because there are

many, clearly wrong because there are any clearly wrong because there are many, many large parts of the european union where your message does not reach. eastern europe, central europe and much of southern europe. why is your support so patchy? i think, we can still talk about a green wave because in germany we are the second party there. among the young voters that there. among the young voters that the biggest one. but also france, going south we are the third party and an incredible progressive opposition party to president macron so we opposition party to president macron so we do say we opposition party to president macron so we do say we are opposition party to president macron so we do say we are advancing but you are right, we would have loved to see a bigger result in the south, although we are also having a member from portugal in our parliamentarian group so in the south we are catching up. you are absolutely right that the green wave to the central and eastern europe, that we would have loved to have done better. we did well in austria and

lithuania and we have included the check pirates, we are at 7a members because the check pirates decided to become members of the green group in the european parliament so also that you see the opposition party anything czech republic decided to be part of that movement. i think our movement is expanding but you are absolutely right, for the next five years, one of our tasks are to make sure that a credible green opposition is seen in further eastern european countries. while you talk about your ability to break up you talk about your ability to break up the old duopoly of the centre left and a centre ride, you're missing out one other key fact which is major gains are also being made by the nationalist populist parties of different stripes throughout the european union. from marine le pen who topped the poll with her

national rally in france to the extraordinary result in hungary where victor dish at viktor 0rban got a lot of the votes. while you can try and change politics in europe, one could argue the nationalists populists are in a much better place to wield influence in the new parliament. well, that remains to be seen and this is exactly what the big question is what we're going to see any european policies in the future. what we're seeing across europe and you saw it strongly in the uk as well, is that the two centre parties, the tories and labour in england, are losing their strength. but you see there is then a chance of which direction of policies are we going to see. is that going to be in the direction of

the populists dash and they have a clear message, they do not want refugees, climate action and europe. 0rare we turning refugees, climate action and europe. or are we turning more to a progressive alternative where we say we wa nt progressive alternative where we say we want a stronger europe but one delivering on its social promises and climate action. that is the choice. 0ne and climate action. that is the choice. one of the first trial of strength would be the new appointment of the european chief. is it your position that you will only back for example a european people's candidate, a centre—right, if the dpp expels the hungarian party led by viktor 0rban from their grouping. is that a redline for you? i think you will understand that i am not going to discuss redlines here because that would make negotiations quite difficult but it is absolutely clear that we demand

from the dpp that they take a clear choice on what they're going to do with the rule of law and a democracy. —— eep. it is clearfrom our perspective that if the eep is not going to be clear on that and wa nt to not going to be clear on that and want to be tough on maintaining the rule of law, we are not going to support any candidate of the epp. how they deal with viktor 0rban i will leave it to them but i will warn them that if we cut them out, it is all fine. we see in more country that the rule of law is under attack and it is also in romania where we have a social democrats in power, in the czech republic where we have liberals in power. it is across all parties. when we are doing negotiations, when it liberals or social democrats are at the table, we will have a tough talk on how to make sure the rule of

law is upheld in european democracies. if you guys in the green see yourself as kingmakers, as the dealmaking goes forward inside the dealmaking goes forward inside the european institutions, which is a greater priority for you dash to confront the populists, the right wing nationalists or to get your green agenda adopted by the new people in power? which is your number one priority? a politician is inclined to say it is both but let me go further with that because you will not be satisfied with that answer. what we're to do is sit at the table to negotiate a new programme for the european commission and the best way to address the criticism of some of the populists is to show that you can do different. i am absolutely short that not all the voters voted for the populists want to get out of the

eu but they want a different eu. we also feel obliged to deliver on that message. we feel we have the mandate to negotiate on social issues, on democracy and on climate action and if they will be part of the negotiations for a new programme and, only if we feel real change is delivered, then we can subscribe to a new majority and that is our main aim. you're talking tough, the question is whether you can deliver and i'm looking at ways of yours from just a few days ago. we're going to need much more serious climate action, we're going to need a real change of attitude, a price on c02 which is realistic, properly tackling aviation, the greening of agriculture, real progress on social protection in reducing inequality across europe. these are all extraordinarily ambitious plans which are going to come, frankly,

with a real pricetag and cost for all of europe's citizens. you cannot actually deliver that, can you? i think we can. i am not so sure this isa think we can. i am not so sure this is a pricetag for citizens. there will be a real pricetag if we do not address the climate emergency, then we're talking about a pricetag for all european citizens. people have asked for more action and i want to see that. if we look at what we are asking forfor see that. if we look at what we are asking for for example on aviation. all other political parties we will talk to have said we need to do something on aviation. if during campaign time, politicians are repeating our message, i do not think it is very illogical that we are expecting that after the elections they will keep their word and that they will team up for action so that they will say, ok, we need to make sure aviation gets to pay for its pollution otherwise we

see people will be disappointed in politics again and that is a much higher price i am not willing to pgy- higher price i am not willing to pay. something more difficult, that is coal and its continued role in energy production across the continent. the truth is that 11, at least as i understand it and researcher, 11 member states have no plan to phase out cold by 2030 wish to me means it is not going to meet its emissions target. some countries like poland are bragging that they have 200 years worth of coal are still in the ground and to quote the president, it would be very hard not to use them. so that really makes your promises impossible. well, not so sure because what i promise was a carbon price. the first thing a cover prize will do is lower the

competitive attractiveness of coal. it will be the first one that will pay a price for that. then i would like to see the discussion in poland as well because, in poland, they are pretending that coal is part of the culture but, at the same time, what we see happening now is that there is an increase of coal import from russia so what we're saying is that we are going to deliver an energy system that is making you less dependent on russia. i am pretty sure that is a message that comes across in a country like poland so i am not saying we're governing all those countries because of europe and not do that, the european union, we can change the debate, the pricing and therefore make coal more expensive so they will look to alternatives and, on top of that, if we can address the geopolitical dependence was a country like russia, i think we will see a different debate on coal in poland in the very near future.

whatever you say about the prospects for persuading different european governments for changing their energy policy, you, in a governments for changing their energy poucy. you, in a previous answer, insisted to me that this wasn't about citizens across europe having to pay a price but surely it is. if you are going to level with the european public you surely have to acknowledge that your ambitious plan to decarbonise the european economy does actually mean that many, economy does actually mean that any economy does actually mean that many, many people will suffer an economic consequence, a “1. many, many people will suffer an economic consequence, a —1.|j many, many people will suffer an economic consequence, a -1. i don't think that i was saying that there would be no impact on people and people won't notice that, that's absolutely right. that's also why in our programme we are always explicitly making that with the social agenda. what we are asking for is a huge investment programme. by for is a huge investment programme. by the way, an investment programme that will also lead to newjobs. this is not something where you say we will change our economy and suddenly they will not be jobs. i

think a country like germany already shows that there are more jobs in renewable energy sector than there are in the fossil fuel sector. i think they already see that. it means a transition. a transition ta kes means a transition. a transition takes time and, indeed, there will be regions that will be hit harder than the others. but that's also why we are always making very explicit that with any change in policies there will be regions that need to be hell and adjust to transition. why do we have a european fund? we have european money which we need to use to help those regions to help them in that transition because, yes, we are asking changes from people, but i think the future is a future where you are not dependent on fossilfuels, web future where you are not dependent on fossil fuels, web you have future where you are not dependent on fossilfuels, web you have new greenjobs and on fossilfuels, web you have new green jobs and you have tackle climate action. you talk about introducing a realistic price on carbon. a sort of fundamental pillar ofa carbon. a sort of fundamental pillar of a new economy, a clean economy, how much is the price on carbon in

europe going to have to rise for it to be realistic and effective in achieving this transition because yellow i think if you look at the estimates of scientists are giving you they will say a carbon price that goes in the direction of a0 euros or 50 euros, doubling the current price, is needed to get it started. you're absolutely right. then it will increase further. but an immediate doubling of the carbon price is needed stop by the french government's independent counsel for economic analysis, you will know, recently reported, and i'm quoting them, that "the left behind to lose them, that "the left behind to lose the most from higher carbon costs. them, that "the left behind to lose the most from higher carbon costsi energy needs take up more of the poohs energy needs take up more of the poor‘s budget, they live in places that are more dependent on cars, they are less well—placed to invest in energy saving vehicle and in energy saving heat sources." the bottom line of your proposal is that you insist you will try to impose

upon europe are going to hit the poorest europeans the hardest. well, thatisif poorest europeans the hardest. well, that is if you don't change other policies. so that is where a different policy agenda comes in and thatis different policy agenda comes in and that is on taxation. because the big question is, who is going to pay for that? if we are increasing the c02 price who is going to pay for that? what we are saying is that that should be paid by the polluters. that's the industry. so they will start investing in alternative technologies. those alternative technologies. those alternative technologies will deliver product that are cleaner, that are cheaper than the products that are heavily polluting. the choice is therefore every citizen. you're absolutely right that there are citizens who have less purchasing power. but that of course is if we don't address the issue of tax avoidance, where we are seeing now, all over europe, is companies are paying less and less, the big companies company multinationals, paying less and less

taxation. the result is that a lot of governments, certainly in crisis times, have increased taxation on people, on labour, which is economically dumb, but also increasing this inequality. and that is exactly why we are saying that europe should be so much tougher on tackling the tax avoidance and the lower tax rate for companies... tackling the tax avoidance and the lower tax rate for companies. . ij tackling the tax avoidance and the lower tax rate for companies... i am not sure that tackling tax avoidance will square the circle. you make it sound so straightforward that you are going to have a social policy in tandem with your environment policy and that will help people who are hurt by your green transformation. but, again, look at what governments are saying. the uk chancellor of the exchequer of the treasury have just released a report suggesting that if the government were to reduce emissions to a net zero by 2050 it would cost the uk economy 1—trillionth, £1 trillion. they have suggested that key industries from

steel to, frankly, farming as we know it, would become economically uncompetitive. the reality, therefore, is that europeans see what the price would be and they won't want to pay it. again, this is if you look at policies in isolation. and i'm not saying that the policies are easy. but when i'm talking straightforward it is because we have an idea on how we regulate this. and this is why i'm pretty straightforward, because there is an idea behind it. on your example of steel, this is exactly where we of course are thinking of that. if you are raising the carbon price for still production it would be absolutely mad not to make sure that steel that is being imported from outside the eu is not paying that same carbon price. that is allowed. because the wto, the world trade organisation, allows you to ta ke trade organisation, allows you to take environmental measures at the border. and that is what we are proposing. we are proposing an

increase of the c02 price, yes, in order to stimulate innovation, new ways of producing steel within europe, which can be a competitive advance that we are going to have compared to other regions in the world. but then, the same time, you need to protect the european borders, so that means, for chinese steel will have to pay the same c02 price so that you have equal competition again. so we also need to be less naive in our trade relations with china. that's part of the deal, of course. here is a danger icy for you guys the greens right now. you havejust danger icy for you guys the greens right now. you have just had a good result, you are about to go into negotiations with the big centre right and centre left blocks in the eu to try to influence them into your way of thinking, politics is a messy business. you will have to make lots of compromises. and you've just been supported by particularly young people across europe, your particular strength was in the 18—2a year old voters, who in france and

germany voted green in huge numbers. they will be very disappointed when you make the compromises and do the dirty political deals that always happen. they are going to feel let down, once they? there is the danger. but i do think, you know, how we see it evidently, and you are challenging me on that and that is absolutely good to do, is what we feel is that too often the centre parties, they are starting already from a very unclear vision and then start compromising. then you lose the voters. if you have a clear vision and you tell that to the people, people realise that, in the end, you need to come up with a compromise, but let's at least start from a clear position. another is what we're doing. that's where you challenge me on, rightfully so, but i think it is a clear vision. crosstalk. maybe european politics is the best way of furthering the green movement right now. i'm thinking of greta ten

broeck and the fact that she has undertaken this mass movement based on school strikes which now attracts millions of young people across the world. we have the so—called extinction rebellion movements in the uk which blocks roads in london and tries to take the message about the urgency of climate action out onto the streets. do you think mysteries, in the end, going to be more effective than the corridors of power in brussels? well, i think in the end we really need both. we need the end we really need both. we need the emergency coming from the streets, because that is also keeping the other politicians awake. because when we are doing this compromises, and i do think really that people understand that in politics you need a majority, you will need to do compromises, but therefore we need the pressure from therefore we need the pressure from the streets. because during the campaign we really saw a change in attitude from the social democrats,

labour party, they talked about climate change, suddenly, same for the liberals, and even slowly the christian democrats even started talking about climate policy. so you see that the politics, the debate, the narrative is changing because of the narrative is changing because of the pressure from the streets. and now it's up to us to kind of, you know, use that new momentum to draft new compromises that would not have been possible without the pressure from the street, but the street also realises that they need a green force in the parliament in order to make sure that the compromises going in the right direction. and that's the play that we are forcing for the future and i think that there europe can do better and will have to do better and they will leave it to the judgement of the voters, in the end, if we sign up to a compromise, whether we did enough and whether we did a good job. but i think by now already, even before starting negotiations in saying we're not going to achieve that, think it's a too early. give us that moment and give us the chance to come to this

compromises and i think we can pull them further than people thought of a year ago. bas eickhout, thank you very much indeed forjoining me from brussels. hello. whilst rain has been plentiful across some parts of the uk, recently, others have seen very little. that's all about to change through friday, this deep area of low pressure pushing its way northwards out of iberia and france will bring some notable rainfall, across a large swathe of the uk, in particular, southern and eastern counties of england, areas which haven't had very much rain recently. and the rain stays with us as we go into saturday, pulling its way northwards. and all the while we'll see some

quite windy conditions. a tricky rush hour through friday morning across southern counties of england and south wales as this rain works its way northwards. a fine start across scotland, northern ireland and northern england, some rain arriving into northern england, the east of northern ireland and southern scotland through the afternoon. and behind the rain, some thunderstorms developing. winds, as i mentioned, very much a feature of this forecast, becoming particularly gusty across southern counties of england and for the channel coast. temperatures in the mid to high teens, it's going to feel cooler than these values suggest, given the strength of the wind and the rain. let's take a closer look at southern counties of england and wales and the channel islands through friday afternoon, because we've got thunderstorms to deal with and also some gusty winds, gusts quite widely, a5—50 miles an hour. so another tricky rush hour through friday evening. and this area of low pressure continues to work its way northwards through friday night and into saturday. notice the squeeze in the isobars, some strong winds through friday night and into saturday. and more heavy rain continuing to work its way northwards,

so by the time we get through the early hours of saturday morning, it will be closer to the central belt and still working its way a little bit further westwards into northern ireland. still see some thunderstorms as well across parts of england and wales, but all of this is going to keep temperatures up into double figures, 10 or 11 celsius the overnight low. for saturday, it's a blustery day, more spells of heavy rain, by this stage starting to get into the north midlands, north wales, northwards. and behind this we'll see some spells of sunshine across central, southern england and wales, but also further blustery showers. it's another windy day, these are average speeds, but the gusts will be even higher. and temperatures on saturday for most in the mid—teens, and again, given the strength of the wind and the rain, it's still going to be feeling on the cool side. so we go into sunday, our area of low pressure does start to pull away northwards, notice how the isobars start to open up so the winds will start to fall lighter as we go into sunday.

there will still be some showers around, particularly the further north and west you are, but looking drier further south and east. bye— bye.

this is the briefing. i'm victoria fritz. our top story: the united arab emirates blames a state actor for last month's attacks on four oil tankers in the gulf. the us, which has sent warships to the region, says its clear iran was responsible. we're aboard the uss abraham lincoln. the eighth women's world cup begins in france later. the host nation will face south korea in the opening game in paris this evening. and cock—a—doodle do, or cock—a—doodle don't? a court case for maurice the noisy cockerel. coming up in busines: deal, no deal, or no brexit? businesses brace for more uncertainty as theresa may prepares