Video Discription |
(13 Oct 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4458281
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brussels, Belgium – 13 October 2023
1. AP journalist Raf Casert, left, speaking with Charles Michel, European Council President.
HEADLINE: EU Council leader Charles Michel: The AP interview
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Charles Michel, European Council President (includes cutaways):
"What's very important is to understand and to make very clear that Israel has the right to defend itself. And it must be done in accordance with international law and there are principles and that is why the UN decided to react. And it's also very important not to give up and to talk to Israel, but also to the leaders of the region, to all those who can have an effect, a positive effect in terms of humanitarian urgencies, because in the very short term, we should be concerned, all of us, for the humanitarian consequences in Israel and everywhere in the region.
If I take a country like Egypt for instance, this country because of the situation in the region, in Libya, in Syria, they have already between 6 and 8 million refugees in the country. You can imagine for such a country with some financial and economic challenges, what it means, it means that we need to engage with those territories to see what we can do in order to support the initiatives taken by some leaders in the region, taken by some in the United Nations to allow some corridor, humanitarian corridor, so humanitarian access to do everything to protect as much as possible the life of innocent civilians, people, men, children, women. We need to do everything to try to protect them. And I don't say this is easy, it is extremely difficult. The circumstances are terrible.”
3. AP journalist Raf Casert asking question
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Charles Michel, European Council President (includes cutaways):
ANNOTATION: Charles Michel European Council President / Brussels
5. AP journalist Raf Casert asking question (includes cutaways):
ANNOTATION: Raf Casert Associated Press
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Charles Michel, European Council President (includes cutaways):
"We cannot give up, because this decision made by Russia to launch a war against Ukraine is very dangerous, not only for Ukraine, for Ukraine and for the Ukrainians, but for the rest of the world, and not only for the European Union, because it would be the message that a permanent member of the Security Council is allowed to launch a war without any consequence. It would give ideas to many others, and it would be the beginning of more countries, more difficulties, more poverty, and more tragedies. It's why we need to be very firm. We do not have the duty to forget Ukraine. And you can count on me personally, but also on the European leadership to make very clear that we are with Ukraine for as long as it takes, because this is fundamental for our common future, for the future of the world.
STORYLINE:
European Council President Charles Michel warned Friday that the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict could become a major problem in the bloc because a potential surge in refugees could spur on anti-migrant forces to deepen divisions and by inflaming tensions between backers of Israel and Palestinians.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the top European Union official called for increased immediate outreach to nations like Egypt, which already hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees, and would be a natural reception nation for those fleeing neighboring Gaza.
Michel also called for diplomats and government officials to fan out across the region trying to contain the crisis from spilling over.
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