Tuesday
11th May 2021
Italian media have reported some 1,400 migrants arrived on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on Sunday. EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson is asking EU states to help relocate some in a bid to help Italy.
The EU's law enforcement agency Frontex has been helping member states return unwanted migrants. The European Commission now wants it to take a lead role, while hoping to boost the number of voluntary deportations.
MEPs working on the new EU-wide asylum reforms have cast doubt on whether agreement will be reached with their co-legislating member state counterparts. A proposal to create independent monitors on human rights is also on shaky ground.
Prison conditions deteriorated last year, due to budget cuts and the pandemic, amid accusations of severe abuse in some EU states, says Council of Europe's anti-torture committee.
A model camp for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos is being shut down by the Greek authorities as residents are being taken to 'Moria 2.0', a lead-contaminated sprawling ghetto perched on the edge of the island.
After five years and a European Court ruling against Hungary, Frontex finally decided to leave the country, given Budapest's rights violations. Such alleged violations are also taking place in Greece - but the prospect of Frontex leaving is low.
Lawyers in Greece accuse Frontex of incorrectly labeling minors as 'adults', a violation. Among them was 17-year old William, sent to the adult section of Moria, where he says he was abused. He was later able to prove his age.
The Libyans are demanding more assets, such as patrol boats and planes, for their coast guard. The EU has now floated the idea of tapping into its new European Peace Facility to supply them.
A lawyer for Frontex billed too many hours in a case against transparency activists, the General Court of the European Union ruled. The agency had demanded a €23,700 legal bill from the activists - now reduced by over half.
Denmark is stripping Syrians of residency rights - the first country in the EU to do so - amid threats to deport them back home. The EU did not comment directly, but warned that Syria is not safe.
Greek migration minister Notis Mitarachi suggested people smugglers are feeding media "fake news" on illegal pushbacks because they are losing cash flow.
The Warsaw-based agency held out 105 days, refusing freedom of information requests, before it finally revealed a partial breakdown of costs linked to its annual European Border and Coast Guard Day. Such delays, on spending, tend to arouse suspicions.
The EU's border agency Frontex has blacked-out entire documents on how it spends EU taxpayer money on itself, including gala dinners and hotels. The agency, whose annual budget has soared to €544m, claims there is "no overriding public" interest.
Greece denies any illegal pushbacks at sea. The EU takes their version of events as face value, in a system unable and unwilling to shed doubt on Greek authorities - posing accountability questions on the EU's border guard agency Frontex.
Several hundred Frontex guards could be armed by the summer and deployed to EU member states that host its operations. An agreement has already been reached with Greece, says Frontex, the site of its biggest operation to date.
Hamed Ahmadi arrived in Italy to showcase a documentary at the Venice Film Festival. Now he's running a restaurant staffed by refugees, telling their journeys through recipes.
The European Commission drafted a confidential report outlining the cooperation of migrant returns in 39 countries. It is now ready to start imposing visa restrictions for those that don't take back their nationals.
It is in Europe's interest to vaccinate undocumented people - the race towards herd immunity cannot afford the luxury of another EU standstill.
Frontex is invoking EU interception rules, plus a European Court of Human Rights case against Spain, as precedents to allow authorities to turn back migrants in boats in the Aegean Sea. But legal analysis by the EU Commission says otherwise.
Out of the seven serious incident reports shared with this website, five deal with allegations against Greek authorities, while the remainder describe separate incidents in Germany and Hungary.
MEPs probing the EU's border agency Frontex cross-examined the agency's director. They also spoke to EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson, who made it clear she had little sway over the agency.
A management board at Frontex is tasked to make sure its operations stick to the rules. An internal probe, known as the working group, will soon deliver its final report on the Warsaw-based agency.
Earlier this month the European Parliament set up a permanent probe into the EU's border agency Frontex. Now that the Frontex boss is set for his first grilling, MEPs have decided to keep the public in the dark.
Some 14 MEPs have created a group to probe allegations of rights abuse by the EU's border agency Frontex. Its head, Fabrice Leggeri, welcomed its creation and said it "is about time".
A joint investigation last year by Reuters and The New Humanitarian revealed alleged sexual abuse by people working for the World Health Organization and other leading NGOs. The European Commission has since collected over two dozen documents on the allegations.
Greek NGO Refugee Support Aegean says the state system is traumatising and failing people who are victims of torture by expediting their cases - without offering them any help as required by law.
Flying below the radar, given the recent upheaval within the Italian government, is the small but significant steps taken to improve Italy's migration policies.
Last October, Der Spiegel published an investigation into illegal pushbacks off the Greek islands, implicating the EU's border agency Frontex. Journalists asked Frontex to release location data of its vessels, so has an MEP - without success.
The International Organization for Migration, an inter-governmental body related to the UN, is demanding the EU and member states put an end to illegal expulsions of people seeking asylum.
Germany's biggest opposition party in parliament, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), may be wire-tapped and infiltrated by undercover agents of the domestic security agency.
MEPs in the civil liberties committee have agreed to create a Frontex scrutiny working group to probe the Warsaw-based agency over a number of allegations.
EU member states, including the United Kingdom, resettled just over 9,000 refugees last year. In 2019, they took in almost 35,000.
The EU's border and coast guard agency, Frontex will suspend operations in Hungary. The move follows a European Court of Justice ruling in December demanding Hungary stop pushing people back into Serbia.
