Opinion
Bulgaria offers lesson in tackling radical-right populists
Fundamental freedoms are under attack across the EU but the case of Bulgaria presents unique challenges, and opportunities to learn, for left-wing forces throughout Europe.
Opinion
Calling time on European-Turkish strategic relations
With an Erdogan-Putin summit on Tuesday, joined by Iran on Wednesday, it is time for Europe to face facts - Turkey's ties with the West are no longer strategic. When Europe goes hither, Turkey deliberately goes thither.
EU mulls coercion to get refugee kids' fingerprints
EU policy and law makers are ironing out final details of a legislative reform on collecting the fingerprints of asylum seekers and refugees, known as Eurodac. The latest plan includes possibly using coercion against minors, which one MEP calls "violence".
News in Brief
- MEPs urge better protection for journalists
- Dieselgate: MEPs back greater role for EU in car approvals
- European parliament adopts new organic farming rules
- EU granted protection to half million people in 2017
- Report: Facebook to carve 1.5bn users out of EU privacy law
- Greek court ruling permits migrants to travel to mainland
- Commonwealth summit hopes for trade boost after Brexit
- Merkel and Macron meet to finetune eurozone reform plans
Opinion
Moria refugee camp is no place for people
Two years on from the highly-controversial EU-Turkey deal, many thousands of refugees are still trapped on Greek islands. One of them offers an open invitation to EU leaders to see their inhospitable conditions at the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos.
EU seeks another €3bn Turkey migrant deal
Money should flow despite concerns about the Turkish regime, the Commission said. EU should "pressure" African states to take back unwanted migrants, it added.
EU billions had 'limited' effect in Turkey, audit finds
The EU got "limited" effect for the €9bn it spent trying to modernise Turkey in recent years, auditors have said. Turkey has been "backsliding" on reforms since 2013 due to "lack of political will", the European Court of Auditors found.
Analysis
Orban, the 'anti-Merkel', emboldens European right
Hungary's premier Viktor Orban has inspired 'illiberalism' across central Europe and far-right politicians in the West. His expected re-election this Sunday will further reinforce his standing as a symbol for being tough on Europe's political mainstream.
Rise in criminal smuggling gangs challenges EU policy
The EU says its policies are tackling and undermining the smugglers' business model. But recent statements by Frontex appear to challenge the effectiveness of those policies.
Interview
Spanish NGO boat bosses face jail for rescuing Libya refugees
Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms had its rescue boat seized by Italian authorities in Sicily earlier this month. Three employees have been accused of migrant trafficking and face up to 15 years in jail and huge fines.
EU-Turkey summit ends with 'no solutions'
Bulgaria's prime minister Boyko Borissov described a meeting at the Black Sea resort of Varna between the presidents of Turkey, the EU council, and the European commission as "charged with great tension." Disputes remain far from resolved.
Analysis
EU praises Turkey on migrant deal despite Greek misery
The EU-Turkey deal was agreed two years ago in Brussels. Focus has largely been on reducing migrant flows across the Mediterranean and helping Syrian refugees in Turkey, while the plight of those on the Greek islands are ignored.
Evacuated women from Libya arrive newly-pregnant
Niger has temporarily stopped all evacuations from Libya detention centres under an EU funded programme because so few are being resettled to Europe. Many of those that have been evacuated are pregnant, with some asking for HIV testing.
Pilot project blurs military and police lines on migration
EU interior ministers are pushing to get a crime cell unit onboard the EU's naval operation Sophia. The unit is part of pilot project that aims to forward intelligence on migrants to the police.
EU states tackle Dublin asylum reform 'line by line'
A Friends of the Presidency group, set up by the Bulgarian EU presidency, has sifted through the European Commission's proposal to reform Dublin, an EU asylum law that has sparked widespread political tensions and divisions.
EU anti-slavery mission in Libya at risk, UN says
Karmen Sakhr, who oversees the North Africa unit at the UN refugee agency, told MEPs that Niger may stop accepting people from Libya if EU states don't take in more refugees.
Opinion
Orban's EU funds gamble
The Orban regime in Hungary is continuing the same, destructive, campaigns undermining the legitimacy of EU institutions - while at the same time it is one of the largest beneficiaries of EU funding.
EU-Turkey migrant deal redundant, rights chief says
Nils Muiznieks, human rights commissioner at the Council of Europe watchdog, said people would no longer cross into Greece from Turkey due to difficulties getting further - regardless of the EU migrant deal with Ankara.
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Latest News
- Obscurity surrounds EU military fund's expert groups
- New EU party finance rules short circuit accountability
- Draghi to stay in secretive 'lobby' group
- Bulgaria offers lesson in tackling radical-right populists
- Getting secret EU trilogue documents: a case study
- Selmayr case scars Parliament and Commission
- Beyond macho: Turkish-EU ties
- 'Flobert' guns - Europe's latest terror loophole
Opinion
Why has central Europe turned so eurosceptic?
Faced with poorer infrastructure, dual food standards and what can seem like hectoring from western Europe it is not surprising some central and eastern European member states are rebelling.
Analysis
Frontex: Europe's new law enforcement agency?
The past 18 months have seen the EU's border agency Frontex morph into a law enforcement as it steps up efforts to crack down on crime and terrorism.
Libya return demand triggers reintegration headaches
The UN migration agency (IOM) had planned to help return and reintegrate 5,000 people from Libya to their home countries, but ended up aiding 20,000 in 2017. The extra demand has piled on the pressure.
Few migrants returned to Turkey under 2016 deal
Only 16 percent of asylum seekers in Greece can be returned to Turkey, according to Maria Stavropoulou, the former head of the Greek asylum service.
Frontex naval operation to look for 'foreign fighters'
The EU border and coast guard agency, or Frontex, has launched a new naval operation called Themis. The operation replaces its surveillance Triton mission but with a bigger emphasis on security and intelligence gathering.
Uproar at Belgian bill letting police raid homes for migrants
A Belgian government proposal to crack down on migrants ordered to leave the country has sparked heated debates, as the bill allows police to raid and search people's homes. The bill has also now provoked a backlash from judges.
Refugee split leaves German coalition deal hanging
German party leaders were unable to agree on forming a coalition as internal divisions and policy spits on issues like family reunification for refugees remain too wide.
Bulgaria set to delay EU talks on refugee quotas
The Bulgarian EU presidency may delay efforts to tackle the thorny issue of refugee quotas until some easier points in a key EU asylum reform proposal are sorted out.
Focus
EU court bars tests for gay asylum seekers
Authorities in EU countries can no longer impose controversial psychological tests to determine whether an aslyum seeker is telling the truth about their homosexuality.
UK gets more EU migrant cash than any other member state
The UK has received more money from an EU migration fund than any other EU state. It then used most of that money to kick people out of the country.
Opinion
2018 - a crucial year for refugees
The UNHCR is worried by various moves among EU member states on asylum seekers and migration - from the adoption of a so-called 'safe third country' rule
Ethiopian regime to get EU migrants' names
EU to hand names of Ethiopian irregular migrants to regime's intelligence services under controversial readmission deal.
EU 'hypocrisy' condemns people to Libya
Human Rights Watch said key EU policy of returning migrants to Libya is putting them at risk of "nightmarish conditions".
Hungary to tax NGOs that 'help' migration
Ahead of elections in April, Hungary's government swings into campaign mode by proposing a new set of rules to stop illegal migration and NGOs that assist in it.
Macron eyes France-UK border agreement
French president Macron wants the UK to take in more refugees as he revisits the 2003 Le Touquet agreement, which allows British border controls to take place inside French territory.
Magazine
The asylum files: deadlock and dead-ends
The EU is reforming a number of internal asylum laws, but lack of staff, politics, and the sheer complexity of the bills means deadlines - like those announced by EU council chief Tusk - are likely to come and go.
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