Leaders' New Year messages bring hope of a united world

Many world leaders, multilateral groups and humanitarian groups are entering 2025 in crisis mode, with war in the Middle East, a grinding conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and some facing domestic political upheaval.

With widespread elections planned, the hope of a ceasefire in Gaza and a resolution to Vladimir Putin's war, others move into the new year with optimism.

Confident Putin

President Vladimir Putin told Russians in a New Year address that the country would move forward with confidence in 2025, although he offered no specific promises on the economy or the war in Ukraine.

At a time when many ordinary people are worried about rising prices and the central bank's 21 per cent interest rate is squeezing businesses and homebuyers, Mr Putin reassured Russians that their well-being was his top priority.

He portrayed Russia's challenges as part of a wider historic mission, evoking past victories including its role in the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

Russia, Mr Putin said, had overcome trials, achieved major goals and strengthened its unity in the first quarter of the 21st century – a period coinciding with his time as its leader.

"And now, on the threshold of the new year, we are thinking about the future. We are confident that everything will be fine, we will only move forward. We know for sure that the absolute value for us was, is and will be the fate of Russia, the well-being of its citizens," he said.

Mr Putin's three-and-a-half-minute seasonal message from the Kremlin was being broadcast at midnight in each of Russia's 11 time zones, starting with Kamchatka and Chukotka in the far east.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a post on X: "Every year-end we renew our commitment to a better future. May 2025 be full of progress, justice and equality for all."

Britain's Labour struggles

In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in his New Year’s message that 2024 was a year of change, especially with the general election that put the Labour Party in power.

Mr Starmer said the work to improve the lot of Britons had begun, adding “I know there is still so much more to do. And that for many people it’s hard to think about the future when you spend all of your time fighting to get through the week.

“So I want to be clear. Until you can look forward and believe in the promise and the prosperity of Britain again, then this government will fight for you – a fight for change that will define this year, next year, and indeed, every waking hour of this government."

Peace and prosperity must be rebuilt, Mr Starmer said: “The security of working people. That is the purpose of this government. The goal of our plan for change. And we will push it forward in 2025.”

Chronic housing shortages and immigration are issues of concern in the country, after figures published on Sunday showed that more than 150,000 people have arrived by small boats from European shores since 2018, which Labour blamed on the Conservatives' “appalling legacy of border security".

Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, said in a post on X: "Even in the darkest days, I’ve seen hope power change. There are no guarantees for what’s ahead in 2025.

"But I pledge to stand with all those who are working to forge a more peaceful, equal, stable and healthy future for all people."

WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X that leaders must bring desperately needed peace to the world, and health and safety to all.

"In 2025, let’s turn the page on conflict, chart a new path to secure a healthy and prosperous future for all," Dr Tedros said. "Peace is the best medicine," he added.

The British royal family released a simple message of "Wishing you a happy New Year."

Crisis management

Leaders of the EU's two most important countries, France and Germany, are geared to enter 2025 in crisis management mode, as highlighted in their New Year's speeches.

In a rare moment of contrition, French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said he recognised that his decision to call early parliamentary elections in June had created more political instability in the country.

The speech caps a tumultuous 2024 for Mr Macron, who shocked the nation halfway through the year by calling early elections, a gamble that backfired when voters delivered a hung parliament with a big increase in far-right politicians, diluting his power.

"Lucidity and humility force [me] to recognise that at this stage, this decision has produced more instability than peace, and I fully own up to that," he said in a televised address before New Year celebrations. "The dissolution caused more divisions in the assembly than solutions for the French people."

The political turmoil culminated in the resignation of Prime Minister Michel Barnier on December 13, after a tenure of just more than three months, the shortest in the history of France's Fifth Republic.

"Before, he was a president who governed" and laid out public policies that occupied a significant part of his New Year's speech, according to an adviser to the Elysee. This year, he will be "more in a role of guarantor".

Last year, he had promised a year of "French pride" marked by the Paris Summer Olympic Games and the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral.

Marine Le Pen, the far-right figurehead who Mr Macron has twice defeated in presidential elections, believes that the centrist will not be able to see out his term until 2027 as he has promised.

In her own New Year's message, Ms Le Pen had earlier told the French public that she expected "a decisive year in 2025".

"The happy resolution … will come from the people and therefore by a democratic decision," she said.

New Year's Eve fireworks in Abu Dhabi and Dubai - in pictures

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who faces an uphill battle to stay in power at a February general election, called on the nation's 84 million residents to stick together despite the many global crises and wars, the country's ailing economy and a deadly Christmas market attack that shocked the nation.

“Strength comes from solidarity. And we are a country that sticks together,” Mr Scholz said in his New Year’s address, which was broadcast on Tuesday night. “We have it in our hands together: we can make 2025 a good year.”

He acknowledged that Germany is still reeling from the Christmas market attack that killed five and injured more than 200 people in the eastern city of Magdeburg, when a Saudi doctor drove his car into a crowd. He was arrested on murder charges.

“We are stunned by this inhuman act. How can an insane assassin cause so much suffering?” Mr Scholz said. “And it is not only in Magdeburg that many are asking themselves: 'Where can we find the strength to carry on after such a catastrophe?'"

He thanked all those who helped the injured and warned that attacks like the one in Magdeburg and other crises should not lead to division among Germans.

“We are not a country of opposing each other, nor of passing each other by,” Mr Scholz said. “We are a country of togetherness. And we can draw strength from this, especially in difficult times like these. And these are difficult times, we all feel that.”