Sunday

28th May 2023

Agenda

Asylum crisis and Western Balkans This WEEK

Migration is set to dominate this week following a mini-summit of leaders over the weekend concerning refugee flows in the Western Balkans.

“We are struggling with our agencies and with our member states on all fronts. We have people living in forests”, European Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas told reporters in Brussels on Friday (23 October).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Schinas’ remarks come as thousands of people seeking refuge left Croatia for Slovenia after Hungary sealed off its border.

Sunday's mini-summit in Brussels will involve leaders from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

EU Council chief Donald Tusk and European Parliament president Martin Schulz will also be in attendance, alongside the affected EU agencies and the United Nations.

Schinas said the plan is to “enhance cooperation, consultation and operational action”.

The EU has already dedicated four summits to migration since the summer but member states are lagging behind on their promises.

Only around 80 asylum seekers from Italy out of a target total of 160,000 have so far been relocated. Greece has yet to dispatch any.

Member states are also falling to fulfil their pledges of humanitarian aid, asylum relocation spots, and experts for the EU’s border agency Frontex and the European asylum support office (EASO).

National governments said they would give a combined total of €500 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) to help care for Syrians in UN-run camps in countries surrounding the war-torn nation.

Over the summer, the WFP was forced to cut assistance to 1.2 million Syrians and had stopped food vouchers for 229,000 refugees in Jordan.

The poor conditions are pushing some to pay smugglers to take them to Greece where they then trek up through the Western Balkans to reach mainland EU.

More than half of the 537,000 sea arrivals to Greek shores this year are Syrian.

A contact at the WFP said that the agency is now reinstating the food vouchers in Jordan but that it is still waiting for the bulk of national pledges to arrive.

In addition to Sunday’s mini-summit, these issues will also be debated on Tuesday at the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg with Tusk and Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

Differences between the two leaders on how to tackle the asylum crisis have emerged. The Commission is becoming increasingly impatient with the slow response from member states.

Tax, data, roaming, Sakharov prize and other issues

Next week will also see MEPs preoccupied with issues not related to migration and asylum.

A number of debates will take place on Monday with votes on Tuesday.

On Monday, the plenary will debate a European Commission proposal to make “tax rulings” more transparent.

The debate will follow another in the special committee on tax rulings. The committee has met resistance from companies and member states throughout the probe.

Because of it, the Greens want the mandate extended. The centre-left S&D, for its part, has slapped a ban on meeting representatives with companies that refused to cooperate.

MEPs are also set to debate on Monday a ban on mobile roaming charges with a vote on the new telecoms package on Tuesday. The plan is set remove the charges by June 2017.

A Monday debate is also organised with EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova on the future of the now invalidated EU-US data transfer pact known as Safe Harbour.

On Tuesday, MEPs also plan on voting on a resolution on the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

On Wednesday, the plenary will vote on a draft law on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The environment committee, which leads the parliament’s debate on the issue, has recommended MEPs reject it.

European Parliament president Martin Schulz, for his part, will on Thursday present the winner of the 2015 Sakharov Prize.

The three finalists are Raif Badawi, a Saudi Arabian blogger, political prisoners in Venezuela and opposition group Mesa de la Unidad Democratica, and Boris Nemstov, an assassinated Russian opposition leader.

Juncker's first EU anniversary This WEEK

The asylum and refugee crisis continues to dominate this four-day WEEK as the European Commission marks its one-year anniversary under Jean-Claude Juncker.

Russia sanctions and EU elections on top This WEEK

The parliament's constitutional affairs committee is set to vote on a draft proposal on the number of seats in the European Parliament, and their distribution among EU countries, ahead of the 2024 elections.

Keeping China at arm's length is in focus This WEEK

The G7 aims to send a signal to China by announcing a joint effort to counter "economic coercion," with the EU hoping to avoid becoming a "vassal" in a US-China clash, as French president Emmanuel Macron said recently.

Visions of war and peace in Europe This WEEK

Russian president Vladimir Putin will cheer on a mini war-parade in Moscow on Tuesday, as German chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks of peace in Europe in Strasbourg.

Hungary's EU funds and corruption in focus This WEEK

EU budget commissioner Johannes Hahn is set to travel to Budapest on Tuesday (2 May) as negotiations to unlock billions of EU funds, held up because of concerns over judicial independence, made some progress last week.

Opinion

How the EU's money for waste went to waste in Lebanon

The EU led support for the waste management crisis in Lebanon, spending around €89m between 2004-2017, with at least €30m spent on 16 solid-waste management facilities. However, it failed to deliver.

Latest News

  1. How the EU's money for waste went to waste in Lebanon
  2. EU criminal complicity in Libya needs recognition, says expert
  3. Europe's missing mails
  4. MEPs to urge block on Hungary taking EU presidency in 2024
  5. PFAS 'forever chemicals' cost society €16 trillion a year
  6. EU will 'react as appropriate' to Russian nukes in Belarus
  7. The EU needs to foster tech — not just regulate it
  8. EU: national energy price-spike measures should end this year

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us