Sunday
29th Mar 2020
Frontex has instructed deployed officers they have a legal obligation to remain on duty along the Greek-Turkey border in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, other operations are being suspended and downgraded.
The Greek government has decided to transform the camps and create "closed facilities", where identification, relocation, and deportation are made easier for authorities.
The failure of successful integration of migrants and refugees granted stay in Europe puts the entire asylum and migration policy at risk. Member states have to step up their integration policies.
The Vienna-based International Centre for Migration Policy Development is predicting possible migration flashpoints in Iran, Libya and South America over the next 12 months. Its director-general Michael Spindelegger says EU states are not prepared for a repeat of 2015.
Around 7,500 applications were sent to Frontex to fill 700 new border guard posts. The guards will become official EU staff and wear a yet to be unveiled 'European Union' uniform.
At least 17 Libyans were returned to their war-torn country after attempting to flee on boats towards Europe. Their fates, along with many others, remain unknown as the EU-backed Libyan Coast Guard sweeps up people en masse.
An EU naval operation set for launch in April off the Libyan coast may be derailed following objections by Austria and Hungary. Both want the power to end the mission should migrants be lured into being rescued.
Greece has banned large pubic gatherings to curb the spread of the coronavirus, while imposing a curfew on thousands of asylum seekers and migrants living in misery in overcrowded camps, with one water tap for 1,300 people at one camp.
Malta has let the Libyan coastguard drag a boat of migrants from Maltese waters back to Libya despite the civil war, a UN agency said.
Far fewer people have been trying to cross the Greek border than in the past two weeks - but Turkey says migrants are still welcome to have a go.
Some 5,000 people stuck on the Greek islands will each be offered €2,000 to go home. The scheme is likely to take several weeks before officially launched and will be valid for one month.
The EU's only response so far is to work with Greece to strengthen the border into south-east Europe - a short-term measure which fails to deal with Turkey's intention to pressure the EU into supporting its wider agenda in Syria.
Revelations by the New York Times that Greece is running a black site where asylum seekers are detained, denied legal rights and then deported, will not be probed by the European Commission.
Some three million more Syrian refugees are being "deliberately" pushed by Russia toward Europe, US diplomats have warned.
The European Commission is traveling to Athens to discuss tension on the Greece-Turkey border. It wants to find a better response on getting EU states to take in unaccompanied minors. It also wants to discuss Greece's controversial asylum-suspension measures.
The EU's new Pact on Migration and Asylum is an opportunity to take a different approach. To take a breath, to remember the values that the European project was founded upon, and to dust off the good old fundamental rights.
Migrants are still free to go to the Greek land border despite EU and Nato crisis talks with Erdoğan in Brussels on Monday.
Despite the escalating bloodshed in Idlib, the EU had made no evident plans to continue funding Syrian refugees in Turkey with the impending expiration of the so-called EU-Turkey statement.
By refusing to respond to questions on human rights, the European Commission has given the far-right a carte blanche on asylum and migration.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed to restart a ceasefire in Idlib, the last rebel-held province in Syria, at their meeting in Moscow on Thursday.
The EU's border agency Frontex says Greece may have to wait until next week before receiving any extra border guards.
Turkey has accused Greece of using live ammunition against migrants, killing one man, amid growing violence on the EU border.
The EU's reluctance to take in hundreds of thousands more refugees means the bloc's best option is to try to renew migration co-operation with Turkey - even if this leaves a bitter taste in its mouth.
By opening Turkey's border, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to push Europe into supporting him in Ankara's negotiations with Russia's Vladimir Putin for a deal on Syria's Idlib.
Greece is now "Europe's shield" said the European Commission, as it shores up border patrols on the Turkish border. But when it comes to Greece suspending asylum claims, the same institution was unable to comment.
Critics misread the public mood when they claim that migration restrictions are a sign of creeping authoritarianism. More restrictive court judgements would result in broader support for common migration policies across the EU.
Along with Greece, Hungary has also closed down its borders to asylum seekers, while Bulgaria's premier Boyko Borissov was due to meet with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Europe can do more to stop the wars in Syria and Libya, and thus avoid a major comeback of Isis. Avoiding the causes of new movements of refugees is smarter than just closing borders.
The European Commission says the 2016 deal with Turkey to stem migration flows towards Greece "still stands". The comments follow reports Turkey had opened its borders to allow refugees and migrants into Greece and Bulgaria.
Two pro-transparency campaigners received a €23,700 bill from the EU's border agency Frontex after having lost a court case. Frontex's budget for 2020 is €460m. The campaigners refuse to pay, saying the agency doesn't need the money.
Residents on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios have been met with riot police, following protests against plans to erect new migrant detention camps. The European Commission says measures by Athens' authorities must be "necessary and proportionate."
The European Commission is to present its new pact on migration at the end of March. Margaritis Schinas, the commissioner in charge, says its 2016 Dublin-reform proposal will be "taken off and be repackaged, redrafted."
Foreign ministers reached a political agreement to create a new EU naval force to replace Operation Sophia. It aims to enforce an UN arms embargo on Libya and operate in area where migrants do not take boats.
