Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Analysis

Election in sight, EU mood music changes on offshoring asylum

Designating a country like Rwanda as 'safe' under EU rules to send an asylum-seeker there requires strict conditions to be met first. But a backdoor clause introduced into EU legislation allows a future commission to strip out those requirements.

Latest News

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Egypt eyes $5-6bn in EU cash under migrant deal

Egypt expects to receive between $5-$6bn [€4.6-€6.5bn] in funding from the EU under a major 'cash for migrant control' pact which is set to be finalised this weekend when EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen travels to Cairo.

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Germany speeds up Georgia and Morocco asylum returns

Germany is expanding agreements to return rejected asylum seekers to their countries of origin as part of a wider shift in Europe to curtail migration. Berlin has reached deals with Georgia and Morocco since December.

Opinion

Ukraine refugees want to return home — but how?

Fewer than one-in-ten Ukrainian refugees intend to settle permanently outside Ukraine, according to new research by the associate director of research and the director of gender and economic inclusion at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.

Frontex to far-right, Leggeri epitomises EU contradictions

Fabrice Leggeri, the ex-Frontex boss who has now joined the French far-right National Rally, is a product of the internal contradictions at the EU: the competing interests among EU states and a European Commission too weak to manage their demands.

Opinion

Italy's arbitrary Albania detention deal will harm EU

The EU Commission has so far chosen an alarming, if not collusive, stance on the legality of the Italy-Albania migration deal, writes Amnesty International's researcher on migration in Europe.

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Hungary digs in against EU over migrants and LGBTi rights

Hungary is ratcheting up its rhetoric against migrants and LGBTi rights amid an on-going standoff with the EU over frozen funds following an acrimonious debate in the European Parliament on stripping Budapest of its EU voting rights.

EU raises Cyprus NGO bombing with authorities during visit

The European Commission says it discussed with Cypriot authorities the 5 January bombing of an NGO fighting racism in Nicosia. "The bomb attack ... and the authorities' reluctance to even acknowledge it, are a wake-up call for Europe," said Kisa.

Meloni decree detained rescue boats a dozen times in 2023

Charity vessels operating in the Mediterranean were detained at least 13 times last year under an Italian decree that curtails rescue efforts, according to civil society groups. And the requirement to immediately sail to distant ports inflates fuel costs.

Interview

Non-EU workers to fill gaps 'not a plan', warns union boss

EUobserver interviewed the general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) to discuss labour migration, staff shortages and working conditions — in views that strongly clash with the EU Commission's plan to attract more legal migrants.

EU seeks migrant deal with Egypt in January

The European Commission is hoping to reach a new agreement with Egypt in January as it steps up efforts to curtail irregular migration towards Europe.

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