(AFP) There were tears and emotional tributes Monday as Spain and the European Union paid tribute to the 192 victims of March 11, 2004, Madrid train bombings that marked the start of mass Islamist attacks in Europe. Heads were bowed across the […]
(EUobserver) Sweden has called for an EU immigration crackdown to stop terrorism, with a right-wing slant on Muslims that risks sharpening division. EU ministers should discuss in December how to prevent attacks such as the killing of two Swedish football fans by […]
(Reuters) Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on Friday for the European Union to act jointly “with a naval mission if necessary” to prevent migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa. Meloni posted a video message on social media promising tough action […]
(Politico) Pascal Smet, foreign affairs minister of the region of Brussels, resigned on Sunday after coming under fire last week for inviting the ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran to the Brussels Urban Summit. “I have decided to resign,” Smet, who is also urban […]
(Politico) Belgium’s parliament on Tuesday will debate whether to ratify a proposed treaty with Iran that could allow an Iranian convicted of terrorism in Belgium to be sent back to Tehran. Iran has loudly demanded that Belgium release Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian […]
(Politico) European Council President Charles Michel turned heads Wednesday when he claimed the EU could legally fund border barriers — calling into question a long-standing EU refusal to allow such financing. “Based on an opinion of the Legal Service of the Council, […]
(AP) European Union officials on Wednesday accused Belarus of state-sponsored “trafficking” of human lives by luring desperate migrants to the Polish border — the edge of the EU — where many are now stuck in makeshift camps in freezing weather. As the […]
(AP) From above, the new border wall separating Turkey from Iran looks like a white snake winding through the barren hills. So far it only covers a third of the 540-kilometer (335-mile) border, leaving plenty of gaps for migrants to slip across […]
(Politico) The EU is ramping up pressure on Iraq to stop its airlines from flying to Belarus, which helps Minsk send asylum seekers into the EU in retaliation against sanctions imposed by the bloc. On Thursday, there were signs that the pressure […]
(AFP) With a pair of binoculars, a German police officer working for the EU border agency Frontex scans an empty field crossed by the Belarus-Lithuania border on the lookout for migrants. The Baltic EU member state has seen more than 2,000 arrivals […]
(Brussels Times) This morning a military aircraft landed at Melsbroek airfield outside Brussels, carrying six women and ten children repatriated from a refugee camp in Syria. The women, aged between 25 and 53 years, have been held in the Kurdish-run camp Roj […]
(Reuters) The European Union “speaks with one voice” in condemning a decision by Belarus to allow illegal migrants to cross into Lithuania in response to EU sanctions, European Council President Charles Michel said on Monday. The Lithuanian government declared a countrywide emergency […]
(Reuters) The head of the European Commission said it will make a proposal to Turkey to ensure the flow of funding for refugees that the country hosts, adding that Ankara must however respect human rights and the rule of law. Ursula von […]
(AFP) The European Union said on Monday that Turkey must “urgently” resume accepting migrants from Greece, where thousands are being held in camps, days before EU chiefs are to visit Ankara. Greece, which has also been seeking support from EU allies in […]
(AFP) It has been five years since Islamist bombers slaughtered 32 people in the Belgian capital Brussels, in an attack then-prime minister Charles Michel says changed the country forever. In an AFP interview, Michel — now the president of the European Council […]
(AP) European Union interior ministers pledged Friday to beef up border security, boost the powers of the bloc’s police agency and crack down on hate speech and online propaganda in response to a wave of extremist attacks, most recently in Austria and […]
(Politico) The rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris has described European Council President Charles Michel’s proposal to create a European imam training institute as “not feasible.” Visiting Austria earlier this week after the terror attack in Vienna, Michel suggested establishing an […]
(Reuters) The EU plans to tighten its rules to combat online extremism, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting this week between ministers under pressure to beef up security following deadly attacks in France and […]
(AFP) Austrian police on Monday raided more than 60 addresses allegedly linked to radical Islamists and seized millions of euros in cash, with orders for 30 suspects to be questioned. The operation came a week after a convicted Islamic State group supporter […]
(Politico) European Council President Charles Michel on Monday called for the creation of a European institute to train imams as a way to curb hate speech and prevent terrorism. Speaking in Vienna, where he paid tribute to the victims of last week’s […]
(Reuters) Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia criticised on Thursday proposals for an overhaul of the European Union’s broken migration and asylum rules that are due to be discussed by EU leaders at a summit next week. After a meeting in […]
(AFP) Six young Afghan men including two minors will face a prosecutor on Greece’s Lesbos island Wednesday on suspicion of setting fires that destroyed Europe’s largest migrant camp last week. The suspects, aged 20 and below, are to be arraigned after midday, […]
(Reuters) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on Tuesday for “tangible solidarity” from the European Union in tackling the migrant crisis and tensions with Turkey in the east Mediterranean region. A fire destroyed Greece’s biggest refugee camp last week on the island […]
(AFP) Germany said Tuesday it will take in more than 1,500 refugees from Greece on top of the 150 unaccompanied minors whose camp burned down on the island of Lesbos as Berlin tried to rally a fresh EU response to a years-long […]
(AFP) Greece on Monday accused migrants of deliberately burning their overcrowded camp last week on Lesbos island, where hundreds reluctantly moved to a new temporary site with “no showers or mattresses.” Families, children, young men and pregnant women have been left wandering […]
(Reuters) Europe must improve migration procedures on its external borders, seal more deals with foreign countries and synchronise asylum policies in the bloc before it tackles the thorny issue of hosting asylum seekers, a top EU official said on Friday. European Council […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany is prepared to take in “an appropriate share” of the neediest refugee children housed in overcrowded Greek migrant camps, German officials said on Monday. The country is set [to] take children in as part of “a coalition of the willing” […]
(AFP) Stern-faced EU leaders warned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to respect the terms of a previous deal to keep migrants away from Europe’s borders, after the Turkish leader came to Brussels to demand more support. There was no disguising the […]
(Reuters) Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged Greece on Sunday to “open your gates” to refugees trying to enter the European Union from Turkey and said he hoped to win more help from the EU at talks on Monday. Tens of thousands of […]
(AFP) EU chiefs on Tuesday pledged millions of euros of financial assistance to Greece to help tackle the migration surge from neighbouring Turkey, warning against those wishing to “test Europe’s unity.” Flying by helicopter over the Greek-Turkish border, where thousands of desperate […]
(AFP) The EU dispatched its highest officials to Turkey and Greece Tuesday, as concern grew over a fresh migrant crisis and accusations that Ankara was trying to “blackmail” the bloc by opening its borders to thousands of refugees trying to reach Europe. […]
(Reuters) Greek police fired teargas to push back hundreds of stone-throwing migrants trying to cross the border from Turkey on Saturday, as a crisis over Syria shifted onto the European Union’s doorstep. Greece, which has tense relations with Turkey, accused Ankara of […]
(Reuters) The United Nations General Assembly formally approved a deal on Wednesday aimed at boosting global cooperation to tackle rising migration, but the United States, Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland voted against the voluntary pact. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has […]
(Reuters) Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel offered to resign on Tuesday after opponents tabled a no confidence vote in a political crisis triggered by differences over immigration. In office since 2014, Michel lost the support of the biggest party in his coalition, […]
(Reuters) U.N. members on Monday adopted a deal aimed at improving the way [the] world copes with rising migration, but almost 30 countries stayed away from the ceremony in Morocco. The pact, meant to foster cooperation on migration, was agreed in July […]
(Reuters) More than 150 countries will join a United Nations conference to adopt a global pact to better handle migrant flows, a senior U.N. official said on Sunday, less than the number that initially worked on the plan. In July, all 193 […]
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