(AP) European Union leaders agreed Thursday to pursue the cooperation of countries in North Africa and to beef up the bloc’s external borders to stop large numbers of migrants from entering Europe. A statement from an EU summit in Brussels where the […]
(Reuters) The head of the European Parliament said on Thursday EU countries who refuse to host refugees could instead pay more for EU migration and development projects in Africa, signaling possible compromise to end a bruising dispute in the bloc. The migration […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s Interior Ministry announced on Friday that it will extend migration controls at borders with Austria and Denmark, which were reintroduced in several parts of the normally passport-free Schengen area after the European migrant crisis of 2015. The extension is […]
(Deutsche Welle) The number of refugees under the age of 14 who are missing in Germany has increased in recent months, despite a drop in the total number of refugee arrivals, according to the German Child Welfare Association. The number increased from […]
(Washington Post) There could scarcely be a spectacle more French than elderly matrons and young fathers vying for choice cuts of veal on a weekend morning. But the popularity of Les Jumeaux, an artisanal butcher shop in this Paris suburb, is something […]
(Reuters) President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he would consider putting Turkey’s long-stalled bid to join the European Union to a referendum, signaling exasperation with a process he says has been waylaid by prejudice against Muslims. A direct vote on whether to […]
(Politico) Morocco’s foreign minister threw cold water on an EU plan to build offshore centers to process migrants in North Africa, saying claims of a migration “crisis” are overblown. “Morocco is generally opposed to all kinds of centers,” Nasser Bourita told German […]
(Yahoo Finance) The European Parliament is under pressure to scrap part of its new election campaign after being accused of “pandering” to anti-Muslim extremists by a British politician. Conservative MEP Sajjad Karim made the claim after campaigners said a new promotional banner […]
(Anadolu) In the wake of growing racism across Europe, a project to counter Islamophobia was launched in the European Parliament on Wednesday. Experts and academics from across Europe gathered at the parliament for the launch of the two-year Counter-Islamophobia Kit (CIK) project […]
(Courthouse News) Halal beef from cows that are not stunned prior to slaughter can still be marketed with an “organic farming” label, an EU magistrate determined Thursday, siding against French animal-rights activists. Though EU law calls for slaughterhouses to take necessary measures […]
(AFP) Germany wants a stronger EU border agency to handle migration to Europe, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Thursday while judging “unsatisfactory” the squalid living conditions for thousands of migrants in Greece. Maas said he was favourable “to proposals on strengthening Frontex” […]
(AFP) EU leaders vowed Thursday to intensify talks with Egypt and other North African countries on how to curb flows of illegal migrants to Europe and to fight those who traffic them. European Council President Donald Tusk said the leaders meeting in […]
(Pew) Three years after a record 1.3 million migrants sought asylum in Europe, a majority of people in several European countries say they support taking in refugees who are fleeing violence and war, according to a Pew Research Center survey. However, most […]
(AFP) The EU must convince Italy, Spain and Greece to back a plan to bolster the bloc’s external borders, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Wednesday as bloc leaders met in Salzburg to discuss the controversial issue of migration. EU Commission chief Jean-Claude […]
(Kathimerini) The lawyers of two Muslim religious leaders (muftis) said on Friday they plan to appeal to European Union judicial bodies against a provision voted through the Greek Parliament last month that stipulates their retirement. The August provision states that muftis in […]
(Reuters) The European Parliament’s vote to punish Hungary for flouting democratic standards works in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s favor by letting him pose as a champion of national sovereignty against a remote Brussels elite as EU elections loom next year. His typically […]
(Gatestone) The European Parliament has voted to pursue unprecedented disciplinary action against Hungary over alleged breaches of the European Union’s “fundamental values.” The EU has accused the Hungarian government of attacks against the media, minorities and the rule of law. Hungarian Prime […]
(AFP) The European Union on Wednesday proposed steps to force social networks and websites to remove terrorist propaganda within an hour of receiving the order from authorities, or companies like Facebook and Twitter could face massive fines. The legislation proposed by European […]
(AP) EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova says the European Commission is set to unveil new rules that could force internet companies to take down suspected terror content. Jourova told reporters Wednesday that “we should have absolute certainty that all the platforms and […]
(Gatestone) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini have pledged to create an “anti-immigration axis” aimed at countering the pro-migration policies of the European Union. Meeting in Milan on August 28, Orbán and Salvini, vowed to work together […]
(AFP) Italy’s deputy prime minister has threatened to pull the country’s EU funding if the bloc does not come to the aid of 150 people stranded aboard an Italian coastguard ship. The migrants have been blocked at the Sicilian port of Catania […]
(Reuters) Around 1,300 Danes marched through Copenhagen on Wednesday in protest at a new ban on the wearing of face veils in public, accusing the government of infringing on women’s right to dress as they choose. Denmark’s parliament enacted the ban in […]
(Reuters) Spain aims to invest 30 million euros ($35.1 million) in an emergency plan to manage its new status as the main destination for seaborne migration from Africa, the government said. During two months in office, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has […]
(Bloomberg) Google, Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. have taken significant steps to expunge Islamic State propaganda and other terrorist content from their platforms. But taking no chances, the European Union is set to propose a tough new law anyway — threatening internet […]
(Times of Israel) US Vice President Mike Pence condemned on Thursday increasing anti-Semitic violence in Europe, lamenting the fact that French and German Jews have been advised not to publicly identify as Jewish. Addressing a three-day conference on religious freedom at the […]
(Breitbart) The new chief of staff of the Austrian army, the Bundesheer, Major General Robert Brieger has warned that the greatest threat the central European country faces is from uncontrolled mass migration. Major General Brieger said that due to a lack of concrete […]
(Reuters) The European Commission offered on Tuesday to shoulder the cost of taking in migrants from boats in the Mediterranean, seeking to entice more governments to shoulder the burden after Italy’s new government closed the country’s ports to rescue vessels. Under the […]
(Pew) Across Western Europe, people who say they personally know a Muslim are generally more likely than others to have positive opinions of Muslims and their religion, according to a recent Pew Research Center study in 15 countries. However, knowing something about […]
(JTA) Austria’s vice chancellor has called for a ban on ritual slaughter in the country, including Jewish shechitah. Heinz-Christian Strache, the nation’s interior minister and head of the far-right Freedom Party, in a Facebook post Monday said animals should be stunned before […]
(Washington Examiner) President Trump’s belief that immigration is “changing [the] culture” of Europe is wrong, the European Union’s ambassador to the United States said Friday. “Europe is not going to become a Muslim continent any time soon,” Ambassador David O’Sullivan said at […]
(AFP) The European Union’s migrant strategy suffered a major new setback Friday with Italy refusing to freely accept people rescued at sea and Libya spurning a proposal for asylum processing centres. The salvoes follow a fractious EU summit in June which agreed […]
(Pew) Nationalist populism has become a major force in European politics. But while such populism has long been thought to have its roots in economic anxiety, a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data suggests there are additional factors at play. […]
(Politico) The European Commission on Thursday referred Hungary to the European Court of Justice over its treatment of asylum seekers, declaring that Budapest is not complying with EU law. The referral is the final stage in an infringement proceeding — the action the […]
(Gatestone) “Far from leading to fusion, Europe’s migration crisis is leading to fission,” Stanford’s historian Niall Ferguson recently wrote. “Increasingly, I believe that the issue of migration will be seen by future historians as the fatal solvent of the EU.” Week after […]
(USA Today) En route to winning a fourth term this year, Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that migration would harm Hungary’s largely homogeneous nation, proclaiming “countries that don’t stop immigration will be lost.” It resonated with voters, who delivered his Fidesz party and […]
(AP) President Donald Trump’s lament this week that immigration is “changing the culture” of Europe echoed rising anti-immigrant feelings on both sides of the Atlantic, where Europe and the United States are going through a demographic transformation that makes some of the […]
(AFP) Austria used the first meeting of EU interior ministers under its presidency of the bloc to advance its tough proposals on the issue, but without reaching firm agreement on its most radical proposals. After the meeting in the Austrian city of […]
(Bloomberg) Czech billionaire Andrej Babis won parliamentary approval for a minority government, strengthening the group of European Union members who are challenging the bloc’s unity. As populist forces from Italy to Sweden shake the EU’s foundations and Brexit talks languish far from […]
(Politico) Migrants are increasingly taking the Western route across the Mediterranean to reach Europe via Spain, the head of the EU’s border monitoring agency warned. “If you ask me about my greatest concern, I say it’s Spain,” Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri told German newspaper […]
(Reuters) The parties in Germany’s ruling coalition on Thursday reached agreement on a package of measures to deal with asylum-seekers who have already registered in other European Union states, and vowed to push ahead with an immigration law before year’s end. The […]
(Reuters) Hungary’s anti-migrant Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday signalled his willingness to strike a bilateral deal with Chancellor Angela Merkel to limit the arrival of asylum seekers in Germany and other European countries. Merkel needs the backing of both her junior […]
(Gatestone) A Dutch government report published in June showed that Muslims in the Netherlands are becoming more religious. The report, based on information from 2006-2015, is a study of more than 7,249 Dutch nationals with Moroccan and Turkish roots. Two thirds of […]
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