use very top job what are germany's social democrats making of that we've already heard that in parliament in the e.u. parliament there's a lot of consternation but germany social democrats what do they make of it. well they are concerned protested against this they have said that enough on the line is not somebody that any vote in europe voted for that is the whole idea of the top kind of the model that the voters that actually go to the polls and we have to remember that in the past european polls participation of voters was much higher than and then in previous times so there's a voting model seems to be fairly successful navotas went to the polls they gave their votes to certain kind of votes that have been proposed and none of those kind of this is now getting the top job that is what the social democrats here in germany and in the european parliament are protesting against and the protest is so intense that in fact germany withheld its vote when the commission in fact to decide i went when the council decided on who to propose on all of the law from the line in other words the german

may have the support sumi of european leaders but she doesn't have the support of the social democrats here in germany the social democrats as you know the coalition partner of angela merkel's conservatives they have issued a statement saying that they don't believe on the lion is the correct candidate that there were other candidates funds to months who had actually been candidates who had stood up for election unlike fonda ally in the social democrats defending the streets and condy dalton princip principle and saying that they the reason why they don't support the line in that position so although she does have the support of the european leaders as we just saw they could also be some controversy here in germany as to that possible position for those of us on the line here thomas i saw a note from a martin shultz who used to be the head of the social democrats you're also president the european parliament we should say saying that she's the the weakest member of chancellor merkel's cabinet definitely against that choice but what would it mean for germany if funded one is indeed confirmed as the e.u

as an act of retaliation the viability of a security coalition is being tested in berlin germany social democrats are against engaging militarily but the center right christian democratic union has offered a mixed response this 50 feet there's a danger of miscalculation and miscommunication and we don't want europe to be dragged into a war against iran on the side of the us it's all male that's is and this is a maritime corridor with considerable economic importance and it's crucial for a well being we have to defend our interests as well as the law and our allies. the german left party says intervention isn't justified. securing access to resources by force no that's not a reason to deploy the german military. as the standoff in the gulf becomes more tense the remaining signatories of the nuclear accord meet with iran and vienna e.u. partners are still hoping to save the deal with the goal of denuclearization. but if tensions continue to mount at sea a solution could drift out of reach. our political correspondent emmanuel shows has been following the story and joins us now in the studio good to

things got germany social democrats the junior partner in chancellor angela merkel's governing coalition have circulated a paper to the european political group saying as you have on the land is unsuitable for the role of european commission presidents the german defense minister and merkel ally was nominated for the position by the european council last week blocks parliament is due to vote next tuesday on whether she will succeed . the paper calls her an in adequate and inappropriate cancerous european council president all to criticize russia's decision to ban flights to georgia as unjustified and disproportionate already tense relations between to police in moscow have deteriorated further since the business of a russian politician to the georgian parliament 3 weeks ago or just was speaking at a conference on the e.u. and eastern europe in the georgian city of but to me from where andrew symonds reports. it's the annual gathering of east european states the e.u. russia is always irritated by such familiar images of. what's led the kremlin to direct flights to georgia the unfamiliar i

a long day ahead indeed and max we really see it very clearly there are germany's social democrats in the european parliament pushing a very hard line. yeah you can see that they're having a tough time explaining why they're doing that especially if you keep in mind that they are governing together with the party of was enough on the line back in berlin and i think belinda said it earlier they've backed themselves into a corner that is the feeling that many here have as well it's going to be hard for them to get out of that corner but like i said earlier this is a secret ballot so we're never going to vote never going to know entirely who voted against it for it was enough on the day and at the end of the day to her doesn't really matter all she wants is a majority are there voices though max i mean especially given that this is a secret ballot because see some votes flipped here are there voices within the social democrats who disapprove of their party's opposition to underlines domination. we haven't heard that from the germans the germans have 16 seats and i think the total of the

got germany social democrats the junior partner in chancellor angela merkel's governing coalition have circulated a paper to the european political group saying you have on the land is unsuitable for the role of european commission presidents the german defense minister and merkel ally was nominated for the position by the european council last week the blocks parliament is due to vote next tuesday on whether she will succeed john claude younker paper calls her and in adequate and in appropriate countess. european council president criticized russia's decision to ban flights to georgia as unjustified and disproportionate already tense relations between to place and moscow have deteriorated further since the business of a russian politician to the georgian parliament 3 weeks ago or just was speaking at a conference on the e.u. and eastern europe in the georgian city but to me from where andrew symonds reports . it's the annual gathering of east european states and the e.u. russia is always irritated by such familiar images of. what's led the kremlin to direct flights to georgia the unfa

that process better after you say it's not all about germany but you actually blamed the germany social democrats for the untransparent horse trading that took place you said that by not supporting the original candidate from the european people's party mantra very that they'd open the door for the council not consider any of the other so-called lead candidates but that's a pretty cheap political. point isn't it the idea that the council of europe took its lead from the attitude of germany's s.p.d. is ludicrous isn't it no i try to be very very honest and very clear about it it was obvious from the very 1st moment that on monday after the election the council wanted to make the 1st meeting to overturn in a certain way the parliament's moment this wasn't that easy as some in the council have sought but it was many i missed your macro and others and there are going to accept and others not only him so not only s.p.d. and others but if he in the parliament and that was the point i was referring to in that interview that you are citing if the very strong enough in the parliament to say at the very 1s

and we have to remember that in germany i'm going to market is governing together in a coalition with the social democrats and the social democrats here in germany have been vehemently opposed to the nomination of also left on the line so germany abstained formally because i'm going to not go did not want to endanger the atmosphere endanger the coalition in germany here so it's basically out of respect for the social democrats at the same time we have to say that there is a little bit of a cloud hanging over the left on the lens hood in the sense that in her defense ministry there's an inquiry a parliamentary inquiry going on about about spending in that ministry and it's not clear whether or the left on the line will survive as it were politically survive this inquiry. if the european parliament does approve underlines nomination to head the european commission what will this mean for germany well germany will certainly feel proud because as i said it's been 50 more than 50 years that there has been such a tough german politician leading the european commission leading the european union so germany's inf

social democrats but they might come around in the end. press and stressed very good to talk to you as always. that was enough an alliance nomination as proved controversial here in germany as well of the junior partner and coalition the social democrats say they do not support her being named as president of the european commission author say her point shows that your european democracy is not working properly. a friendly welcome for the laugh on the line at the meeting after german cabinet in berlin the defense minister and conservative politician could become the next head of the e.u. commission a success we'll have party colleague chancellor angela merkel but fundal line is facing resistance from within germany's governing coalition the social democrats are not backing her. the. democrats want to strengthen the european parliament and democracy as part of the european political groupings chose lead candidates for the post of commission president those candidates were ignored so our goal of strengthening democracy was not to fulfill this moment in the. fund our line was not one of the lead candidates at the european elections in my back home she's facing a parliamenta

colleague chancellor angela merkel but fundal line is facing resistance from within germany's governing coalition the social democrats are not backing her. the. democrats want to strengthen the european parliament and democracy and as part of the european political groupings chose lead candidates for the post of commission president those candidates were ignored so our goal of strengthening democracy was not fulfilled this is a moment in the stuff to fund our line was not one of the lead candidates at the european elections in my back home she's facing a parliamentary inquiry looking into irregularities at a defense ministry that's one reason why the business friendly f.c.p. party has treated her nomination with skepticism and yet. all of a sudden. microgram that she has only been involved in european politics as a german minister. comes as quite a surprise. as in germany's political parties reactions on the streets of berlin were mixed as if i think she's capable of doing that. actually for the older generation the way european democracies transit is somehow disappointing. she hasn't done a good job. as defense mini

the way there is something that has been backed by important political parties here in germany like the social democrats they have rejected outright was enough on the lines nomination with those arguments that i have just mentioned there's also and it's also important to stress another side of the story those who believe that the heads of government heads of state do have the rights and do have the responsibility to present those nominations after all they are themselves elected leaders and they also have responsibility such an although the european elections are european they do also have a very important national component so it's important to see what both sides of the story reveal in this particular case but this is certainly one of the reasons why people are not very convinced about was enough on the lines nomination. thomas perry thanks so much. the u.s. is tightening sanctions against cuba by hitting its state run oil shipping firm washington says it's imposing new penalties on havana because of its role in propping up venice whalers president nicolas maduro and president trump once removed from

social democrats of one political nervous breakdown after another the epitome of this is actually those 16 delegates members of the european parliament who are in government the social democrats right now in germany not voting for the 1st german. and the 1st woman to lead the commission in decades so a lot of internal political pressure here regional elections coming up that could actually become a breaking point i dare say actually i wouldn't put my money on it for now that that's a full house or where any of us should put our money these troubled times for now though. g.w. chief political editor thank you. now let's take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world a strong earthquake has hit greece just north of the capital athens the 5 point one magnitude tremor sent people running into the streets and disable phone and wireless connections a 2nd tremor was felt 40 minutes later. kosovo's prime minister moshe how to deny he has resigned he stepped down after being called for questioning by a court in the hague investigating crimes against ethnic serbs during the country's 99899 with serbia mr howe to deny said he had agreed to be interviewed at the court next week and didn

social democrats of have one political nervous breakdown after another the epitome of this is actually those 16 delegates members of the european parliament who are in government the social democrats right now in germany not voting for the 1st german. and the 1st woman to lead the commission in decades so a lot of internal political pressure here which in all actions coming out that could actually become a breaking point i daresay actually i wouldn't put my money on it for now that's for sure i wasn't aware of any of us who put our money these troubled times from our. g.w. chief political editor thank you. but let's take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world kosovo's prime minister ramos horta deny has resigned he stepped down after being called for questioning by a court in the hague investigating crimes against ethnic serbs are in the country's 998299 war with mr how do you know i said he had agreed to be interviewed at the court next week and didn't want to do it as prime minister. the top court in the navajos house apparelled wrote in that found the state party liable for the deaths of 350 bosnian muslims in the 1995 srebrenica massacre member executed by bosnian serb fo

find a consensus on replacing the commission president sean told you france and germany had agreed on dutch social democrat funds to murmansk but czech prime minister andrei bad bush said that his country along with poland hungary and slovakia could not vote for this and i know listen in them we have to find a solution and we spent 21 hours yesterday saying that mr to my moms is. not the right mind to liaise between the e.u. commission and our countries. so let's go to brussels and get the latest from our barbara faisal welcome if from. out who is likely to be. here the interesting you name that is being floated here is also a fun dollar in the german defense minister she's a conservative she has been a minister in germany since 2005 she is counted as an ally of chancellor angela merkel she was born in brussels even and she speaks french which might be a factor that sort of the agreement to this sort of deal from the french president in modern up front so all these good points for her what is not to like she could be the ideal candidate at the moment because everybody said now since 3 days we don't have en

commission president eastern european nations are vehemently opposed to the dutch social democratic candidate has been backed by germany and france. china has condemned what it's calling gross interference by outside countries in hong kong's affairs following the storming of the parliament building the beijing condemned statements made by the us britain and the e.u. in support of the pro-democracy protesters who are opposing an extradition bill. dozens of people have been killed in the indian city of mumbai after terentia monsoon downpours caused the wall to collapse. the rains also course travel chaos flooding roads and motor logging train tracks weather agencies say the area was hit by at least $35.00 centimeters of rain. britain france and germany say they won't for now move to reimpose tank sions on iran after tehran announced it had a mass more enriched uranium than was permitted the un's nuclear watchdog has confirmed iran has broken the limits set by the 2015 nuclear deal this is terrans 1st major departure from the accord. an excerpt from the logbook of captain james cook. wednesday september the 60 we're in th

france and germany had agreed on dutch social democrat candidate to months but czech prime minister said his country plus poland hungary and slovakia oppose temperaments candidates. and i know we have to find a solution we spent 21 hours yesterday saying that mr timmins is not the right man to liaise between the e.u. commission and our countries. well for more on the go she ations let's bring in my ex-husband who is in brussels max why are countries like the czech republic blocking funds to the point that. because plans to was the vice president of the current e.u. commission and in charge for enforcing for example the rule of law procedure on poland he was a very sharp critic of poland not very well liked there because of that and so he has become a symbol for those countries over there for a lot of things that are wrong in the eyes of those countries so the vision for for example with the european union that's why it's so hard to get their approval for this man and italy it seems is being rather. stick in this case 1st of all they might be negotiating a delay of the rule of the deficit

the discussions have revealed to define its head of a summit france and germany had both agreed to back the dutch social democrat. but his nomination has met with stiff resistance from eastern european leaders like andre. cross straight over to brussels where our correspondent is standing by max 28 countries trying to agree on a new head of the e.u. commission are they getting any closer. well the thing that really changed from yesterday is that they got a good night's sleep so everybody had the chance to think things over and that's the hope also that the german chancellor angela merkel expressed when arriving here she said maybe. we need to be a little more creative we everybody has to give a little something we got some sleep and so she said she's approaching this in its cheerful yet determined manner but other than that we haven't gotten any closer no ok so no closer no compromise in sight already after so many hours of negotiations how is this going to get sorted out. well probably not unanimity. the press conference yesterday already hinted she does not expect unanimity as we often had in the past here in

not governing on her and the conservatives do not govern on the urn here in germany they are in coalition with the social democrats and as we've just heard from max the social democrats are very vehemently against the appointment of also life on the line they are saying that this whole process of election towards the european parliament which put forward this idea of top candidates being voted for by the voters now somebody is getting the job that has not the election that has not been known to the voters that has not presented herself to the voters and the social democrats feel that that is undermining european democracy and therefore criticize it very strongly i'm going to america as a kind of taking into account this opposition abstained from voting. thank you very much d.w. political correspondent. now let's look at some other stories making headlines around the world today at least 40 people died when an airstrike hit a migrant detention center in the libyan capital tripoli officials said another 80 had been injured libya's un backed government of national accord has blamed the attack on the self-styled libya

germany. the social democrats were debating whether they should leave the coalition.y will in the end but they are seriously disillusioned by the fact merkel hasn't consulted with them. the issue at stake -- there are two issues at stake. he first issue is this was a unilateral decision but the other one is the whole of germany has brought into this, the parties in the european porlment decide who their leader is. and that was diswounted by decision yesterday and me picked a person out of the blue, not an ppe and didn't stand election and was probably in the afternoon of that day she would give you per physician. and the process is wrongs. it isn't what it s. and also she is considered on the left as a failed politician and not german army nd the is in complete disrepair and mack ell's plane almost forced to leave because the emergency is you will graduationable to she minute dine up for her opposed. and she can't even lead her department. tom: what does she need to do to replace yunker? we understand her to replace draghi, how does she replace younger particularly wi

in germany it is in coalition with the social democrats. they're calling the nominaiton "absurd". on. martin schulz, former leader of the social democrats, former parliamentary president was scathing. von der leyen is our weakest minister. that's apparently enough to become commission president. interestingly, ursula von der leyen chose today to send her first tweet. "hallo europa! hello europe! but she's going to need more than multi—lingual hellos to win over the doubters. here's adam fleming. the people were sounding off now is it sour grapes because their person from the political argument didn't get thejob? from the political argument didn't get the job? or from the political argument didn't get thejob? or is it that from the political argument didn't get the job? or is it that the green score a bit more concerned about the lack of transparency of how she was elected. i suppose they will roll in behind her, especially because lots of the political groups he the european parliament are negotiating a joint programme for the next five yea rs a joint programme for the next five ye

france and germany how to treat on such social democrat to france to months but czech prime minister andre babiche says his country as well as poland hungary and slovakia would not vote for this and i know we have to find a solution and we spent 21 hours yesterday saying that mr. to my mom's is not the right man to liaise between the e.u. commission and our countries of. states to brussels where we're joined. by a professional welcome barbara. easton country so opposed to france to moments. he's too much of an upstanding european democrat father because he did pursue the eastern european countries particularly poland and hungary for breaches of the rule of law they did sort of in kept passing tate their own judiciary that is something that they were sort of eliminating more or less beginning to take down their independence and that is something they're not supposed to do according to european rules until a month was really adamant to say we can't let this slide we really have to pursue this we have to go after them and force them to take this back and the european court of justice so

germany. and the popular party and the social democrats on the other hand.ch more complex. we have four political parties in europe, different groupings of countries so coming up with a deal is even more difficult than in the past. italy very much a flash point as well? italy is slightly unusual alliance. things are changing, the geography of politics in europe is changing andi geography of politics in europe is changing and i think it might be in an unexpected direction, so to speak. and as the change in the political landscape in europe continues, the pressure from the united states is increasing, isn't it? that is the other issue. we have seenin it? that is the other issue. we have seen in the past mr trump likes to strike first and then try to negotiate. this time he is doing the same. is that going to work with the european union? i am not sure. but it has worked with china and other countries. we will see. i am concerned because it looks like the timing is about october and october this year we have many other important events in europe. so it is a sor

weight in the importance of this, ultimately over the coming weeks, i think especially the social democrats in germanynd elsewhere will swing around and support the deal. asid: as we have followed closely as we could what is going on in brussels, many are struck by how complicated the structure is. we will put up a simple chart to indicate how the council interacts with the commission, parliament interacts with the ecb. it looks a little bit like spaghetti. i count four presidents. how do they interact with each other? what is christine lagarde get to do, what is the president of the commission get to do, what does the president of the council get to do? the most important person for the economy is christine lagarde at the ecb. she gets to have her important voice on the governing council in terms of where interest rates go, asset purchases, and traditional monetary policy tools. the head of the commission is a person that has the monopoly on ,nitiating new regulations whereas the head of the eu council is the person tasked with creating compromises among the 28 or soon 27 members of the eu and that r

ahead of the summit france and germany had both agreed to back the dutch social democrat funds to months of his nomination is met with stiff resistance from eastern european states and others within the conservative group the p p. holden's prime minister stressed the need to find a candidate who could build bridges across the 28 nation bloc for human video to each to support that i feel we have with people who can make compromises in the elections to the european parliament which took place a few weeks ago europe is much more divided than it was before but that's not the least manes that decisions that flow on from those elections must skillfully take into account the interests of all the member states this bill so let's bring in max hoffman who is in brussels covering these talks max there are 28 countries here they're trying to green on something or are they getting any closer to finding a new head of the e.u. commission. so far all they did compared to yesterday is sleep might be the crucial and the secret ingredient to find a solution here because as we understand from sunday to mond

eastern european nations are vehemently opposed to the dutch social democratic candidate has been backed by germany and france. china has condemned what it's calling gross interference by outside countries in hong kong's affairs following the storm.

following may's european elections france and germany may have reached a compromise on who will take the key commission president post dutch social democrat. but their choice is meeting with some stiff opposition. never think you hear about this top secret it's the 2nd time that e.u. leaders are meeting to discuss who should be the commission's next president ahead of the special summit french president emmanuel mccrone said he was optimistic of a breakthrough. is convinced it's important that we come away from the summit with answers and a new team unlike last week mccrone isn't expressing any clear preferences this time if you did the one of the criteria is competent and i can name some names. migrate france to mama hold. the goal as a candidate e.u. members can agree on and one who doesn't divide many eastern european countries are opposed to the netherlands france to muds who is criticized poland and hungary for lapses in the rule of law something they haven't forgotten i'm afraid that this person is number believe the right one to food. to europe the same thing that possibly you have a feeling the buddha was much more nobody both if

now suspended talks until tuesday france and germany had agreed to support the same candidate for the key post of commission president says dutch social democrat from stimulants but there's been stiff opposition all of the e.u. is top jobs are changing hands this year for the european elections in may. good night sleep that's what journalists and e.u. leaders are desperate for after talks through the night brought no consensus speaking after the marathon meeting german chancellor angela merkel said technically a candidate could have been chosen by out voting a group of countries but that she said would be unwise decision reason really make an effort to find a compromise before they'd like this to avoid tensions that could cause problems for many years that we're facing a threat since in many of the challenges and also say we should be careful in the way we treat each other. franco german compromise could see that dutch social democrat friends to months had the commission but eastern european countries and italy reject that idea. stalemate is the disappointment for many leaders and prompted france's president to demand radical changes to the wa

germany's closest security our in fact european german security depends on the united states and so official political speak will be that many would always look favorably at it but will already hearing here from the social democrat side who are also in a coalition government if you see a similar scenario basically to the iraq intervention it is very unlikely that germany will go into any kind of alliance of that kind of robust nature that we're hearing out of washington so reluctance behind closed doors is what i understand from your answer let's go to washington and get the view from there how about this comes after the u.s. called on nato allies to form an international coalition to protect the shipping in the strait of hormuz that basically fell on deaf ears but now it's found a loophole. i mean death is always selective hearing i think i think it's fair to characterize this definitely as very reluctant indeed now that demond came from or at least was voiced by. the u.s. acting defense secretary speaking at the nato headquarters it was his international debut essentially as pentagon chief where he made those demands for that denouncement from european allies of what he called iran's hostile behavior and then

weeks ago in the run up to the summit france germany agreed to support a common candidate for the key post of commission president the dutch social democrat runs to months but their choice is met with some stiff opposition. over more now for the very latest we're joined by. john he's at the e.u. council building in brussels max we're hearing some rumors here that they might be closer to agreement on some of those top jobs in brussels what are you hearing at this point. yeah we're hearing some sources saying just that that there is a basis for discussion for an agreement actually but it's not a done deal yet and that basis would see funds to moments the dutch man being head of the european commission something that would be a victory for the socialists who haven't had that job in a very long time i believe and that would also see the. comeback from the world bank as some of you might know is he right now is the. into rooms director of the of the world bank that she used to be a vice president for the e.u. commission here in brussels so she's a known entity and she would head this institution right here the european council and now we still

now suspended talks until tuesday france and germany had agreed to support the same candidate for the key post of commission president says dutch social democrat from stimulants but there's been stiff opposition all of the a used top jobs are changing hands this year from the european elections in may. good night's sleep that's what journalists and e.u. leaders are desperate for after talks through the night brought no consensus speaking after the marathon meeting german chancellor angela merkel said technically a candidate could have been chosen by out voting a group of countries but that she said would be unwise decision we should really make an effort to find a compromise before that like this to avoid tensions that could cause problems for many years we're facing threats in many of the challenges and also we should be careful in the way we treat each other.

social democrats. rejects the idea of underlines commission president in germany when the coalition partners disagree then in european discussions the relative relevant minister in this case has to abstain the s.p.d. a taking a very very tough line on this mean of course are sort of on the line comes from a different party they also consider that. they are upset that the spits and condit often system was jettisoned in this instance but i think there's more to it than that this is about german domestic coalition politics this is an extremely awkward coupling now between the c.d.u. in the s.p.d. the s.p.d. who are. leaderless very very unpopular in the polls they need to take every opportunity that they have to show that they can stand against the c.d.u. to demonstrate to their supporters that they still have an independent spirit and i think that is what this is about so leaving that domestic tiff aside what do you think about fonda line which should be a good president for the commission. i think the jury is out in some respects i think she will be good she has a good network she is well respected across

opinion democracy is a work in progress so what's happening here is the social democrats in brussels and also very much here in germany are saying no we stand on principle this was a democratic process by which we reached. our lead candidate and we insist that it needs to be one of them or nobody so to speak the problem is that their resistance is now beginning to look a bit like a just a contrarian approach i've just been listening to a leading german s.p.d. member in brussels essentially presenting her arguments and they are as i said standing on principle and then also that ursula funded lion herself has been too vague and too weak in the pronouncement that she's been making about what she would do but frankly she's become increasingly specific she had only a couple of weeks to get ready for this so i think the the issue of vagueness is a little problematic and the big point here is are the s.p.d. possibly simply shooting themselves in the foot because the resistance of the german s.p.d. has everything to do with domestic politics max just in do they have the public here in germany behind them i mean what do you ge

there suspended talks until tuesday france and germany had agreed to support the same candidate for the keep the commission president the dutch social democrat friends temperaments but best being the opposition to that choice all of the age top jobs are changing hands that year following european elections in may. good night sleep that's what journalists and e.u. leaders are desperate for after talks through the night brought no consensus speaking after the marathon meeting german chancellor angela merkel said technically a candidate could have been chosen by out voting a group of countries but that she said would be unwise. should we really make an effort to find a compromise before they'd like this to avoid tensions that could cause problems for many years we're facing the brics in many of the challenges and also say we should be careful in the way we treat each other. and young franco german compromise could see that dutch social democrat friends to months had the commission but eastern european countries and italy reject that idea. stalemate is a disappointment for many leaders and prompted france's president to demand radical changes to