Friday
3rd Jul 2020
EU commissioner for home affairs Ylva Johansson admitted on Thursday that the latest European asylum report reveals a need to better manage migration. In all, Cyprus, France, Greece, Malta and Spain received more asylum applicants last year than in 2015.
China denies it, but Uighur exiles who fled to EU states say they are still being terrorised by threatening phone-calls, SMS-es, and other forms of "refugee-espionage".
The European Union says bilateral relations are improving - because Eritrea's totalitarian dictatorship asked for €6.6m of EU money to help fight the pandemic.
The task been transferred from Operation Sophia to Operation Irini. Instead, a coalition of EU states must finally be formed which are willing to rescue and receive people in distress at sea.
Malta's prime minister's office is under scrutiny after allegations it gave instructions for a private vessel to push back a boat of migrants from waters within its zone of responsibility, and back to Libya. At least 12 people died.
Legal, human-rights and anti-poverty organisations are now demanding the EU's financial watchdog launch an audit into how the EU supports war-torn Libya.
If the European Commission is seriously committed to its fundamental values, it is time to put words into practice and condemns unlawful returns and violence at its external borders and demands perpetrators of such illegal acts are held to account.
Refugee and asylum seeker hopefuls are showing up with horrific injuries, including broken bones and collapsed lungs, after entering Croatia. NGOs blame a militarised Croatian police force for the abuse. The Commission now wants to monitor the border.
The European Commission has described a question in a Hungarian government poll as a lie meant to mislead the public. Another question in a similar Hungarian poll in 2017 forced the government to pay a fine and issue an apology.
Whether it is the West, Turkey, or Russia who think they are winning in Libya, Libyan people are the losers, according to one woman, speaking from Tripoli.
Three EU states are now willing to help Malta take in some of the migrants stranded in day-trip boats off its coast, some for more than a month. The European Commission is hoping more will step come forward.
Hundreds of people who fled Libya have been stuck off the Maltese coast as the government in Valletta refuses to allow them to disembark. The European Commission is demanding EU states step in to help relocate them.
New rules in Greece single out NGOs that work with refugees and asylum, in what the Athens government say is a bid to create greater transparency. But refugee groups say the rules are discriminatory and follow an anti-NGO pattern.
Malta's new prime minister was recently in war-torn Tripoli to strike deals on migrants, as Libya falls further apart.
The new EU pact on migration and asylum must cease the reliance on the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept and return those fleeing violence and armed conflict in Libya.
Alarm Phone, a hotline service for migrants in distress, has released video footing showing an Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) boat making dangerous manoeuvres next to people swimming for their lives at sea. Malta does not deny the footage.
The new EU pact on migration is set for publication sometime in June. Final tweaks are still underway as commissioner for home affairs Ylva Johansson says she remains cautiously optimistic on finding a solution to the most pressing issues.
The Dutch Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans has initiated a court case against the European Union for financing highway projects in an Eritrea where forced labour is rampant. The lawsuit comes amid a European Parliament debate on the funding.
There is a pan-European systemic issue: from Spain and Italy to France, Belgium, or Poland, harvests are under threat and Europeans are entirely dependent on the hard labour and sweat of foreign-born workers. The elephant in the room? Regularisation.
The EU is reorienting funds to boost the Libyan coast guard - amid fears that the escalating violence in the north African country plus the coronavirus will force a large exodus of people to take boats towards Europe.
Interior ministers from France, Germany, Italy, and Spain sent a joint-letter to the European Commission outlining ideas ahead of the upcoming overhaul of the EU-wide asylum system.
Around half of the 600 residents have tested positive for Covid-19 at the Ellwangen camp in Baden-Wurttemberg, in southern Germany. Camp residents, many of them families, are forced to share facilities with those infected as police impose a lockdown.
Ports in Italy and Malta closed amid claims they are no longer safe because of the pandemic. The move means NGO rescue vessels are in limbo. The European Commission says it cannot pass any judgement on the closures.
From the Netherlands to Italy, refugees and asylum seekers are stepping forward to help in the fight against the pandemic. Some are trained doctors, others are cleaners, while others help out the homeless on Europe's streets.
The new EU naval mission to prevent arms-smuggling to Libya has clearly ignored Libya's reality and all expert advice.
Some 20 people at a refugee camp near Athens have tested positive for Covid-19. Although a worrying development, the EU commission says Greece will be able to handle it.
The Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary broke the EU law over refusing to relocate asylum seekers after a decision in 2015 by member states.
The EU's latest navy operation, Irini, designed to counter arms trafficking to Libya, is keeping details on migration rescue procedures a secret. The mission was agreed earlier this week.
Berlin's justice minister Dirk Behrendt has said the city is ready to airlift up to 1,500 asylum seekers and refugees stuck on the Greek islands, as German activists collect money to pay for the evacuation.
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.
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.
