Justice & Home Affairs
A brief history of graft in Orbán’s Hungary
Corruption is deeply embedded in Hungary, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán shielded by a cluster of wealthy bosses with close personal and political ties to the leader, writes Szabolcs Panyi.
Children’s voice need to be heard in Europe, NGOs say
Poverty and violence are among the most dramatic threats children in Europe are facing, according to 'Joining Forces', a coalition of children's rights campaigners, but if the EU really wants to tackle them, it had better hear their voices, members of the coalition told EURACTIV.
Fatnassia refugee camp will anger both Tunisians and Europeans
Tunisia has always publically refuted reports that it “promised” Europe to accept hosting on its soil refugees from different African countries, but the EU could seize the opportunity of a war in Libya to convince Tunisia to do so, writes Mourad Teyeb.
Fact-check: Germany is EU’s fifth-worst offender, with 76 infringement proceedings
Last week, the European Commission initiated three new infringement proceedings against Germany for failing to implement EU law, bringing the total to 76. But even though this may seem like a lot, Berlin is by far not the EU's worst offender. EURACTIV Germany reports.
UK post-Brexit rules to ‘turn off tap’ of low-skilled foreign labor
Britain will “turn off the tap” of foreign, low-skilled labor and require all skilled workers wishing to come to the country to have a job offer and meet salary and language requirements as it sets post-Brexit rules from next year.
Bosnian police tussle with migrants protesting over camp conditions
Bosnian police scuffled on Saturday (15 February) with hundreds of migrants who tried to break out of an overcrowded camp during a protest over conditions at the facility and their treatment by authorities in nearby Croatia. The Miral camp lies...
Rights court clears Spain over Melilla migrant pushbacks
Spain committed no violation when it expelled migrants trying to force their way onto EU territory by scaling fences in a North African enclave, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday (13 Fenruary). The ruling, which reverses an earlier...
Hungary plans citizen survey against court compensations for Roma
Hungary’s right-wing government plans next month to survey its citizens to determine whether the courts should stop financially compensating Roma for discrimination and prisoners for mistreatment. Critics say the government survey will pave the way for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán...
Swiss government warns voters against cancelling EU free-movement pact
The Swiss government on Tuesday (11 February) urged voters to reject a referendum push by the right-wing Swiss People's Party to end an accord with the European Union on the free movement of citizens.
The drained lake in Bulgaria – and the money siphoned away
How was it possible that the water from Bulgaria’s Studena Dam disappeared, creating a humanitarian crisis for more than 100,000 people in the city of Pernik?
Cyprus’ plan to strip citizenship to golden passport holders stalls in legal vacuum
A legal technicality has led Cyprus to temporarily halt a process to strip citizenship from 26 individuals who benefitted from a secretive passports-for-investment scheme, lawmakers said on Monday (10 February).
Greece to start setting up closed-type migrant camps
Greece will begin setting up closed-type camps for asylum seekers on its Aegean islands in March, the country's migration minister said Monday (10 February), in response to growing tensions over the migrants' current overcrowded facilities.
Leftist Podemos chief to join talks with Catalan separatists
Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the leftist Unidas Podemos party who is also Spain's Minister for Social Rights, will take part in a “Mesa de Diálogo” (dialogue table) with Catalan separatist leaders, alongside members of the socialist party (PSOE), EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.
Thuringia reeling from post-electoral hangover after far-right alliance fiasco
Thuringia's freshly-elected Minister-President, Thomas Kemmerich of the liberal FDP party, stepped down on Saturday (8 February) after his alliance with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) triggered nation-wide outrage.
Spanish, Catalan leaders agree to start ‘constructive dialogue’ this month
Spain’s socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez and Catalonia's regional president Quim Torra agreed on Thursday (6 February) to start a "constructive dialogue" in order to break the country's political impasse and solve the "political conflict" in Catalonia, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.
Morocco border clampdown thwarts Europe-bound migrants
Mustapha left his home in Guinea two years ago to make the arduous journey to Morocco, hoping to cross the fence separating the kingdom from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
Senior MEP: New Commission structured to hinder parliamentary scrutiny
The complex organisation European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen set up for her cabinet "is not innocent" and hinders accountability, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), told EURACTIV.
The Brief – Stop talking about (Br)exits
Even before the European Parliament sealed the Brexit bill for good and the United Kingdom left the EU after a long tug-of-war, a lot of pundits wondered who could be the next in line to walk down the escape way...
Bulgaria warns Serbia over refusal to extradite banker
Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev has written letters to the European institutions to complain about Serbia’s refusal to extradite a banker held responsible for what is considered Bulgaria's theft of the century, hinting it might affect Serbia's EU membership bid.
Europe still reluctant to repatriate its foreign fighters and families
Since the fall of the caliphate, thousands of European foreign fighters and their families have been stranded in Syria and Iraq. European capitals have been reluctant to repatriate their nationals and children born there, despite experts warning that inaction may be more dangerous in the long run.
In Krakow, Macron urges Poland to respect European values
French President Emmanuel Macron gave a lecture at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków on the second day of his Poland visit on Tuesday (4 February), where he covered multiple topics ranging from Europe’s common history to identity and climate change....
Greece passes new law to better monitor NGOs dealing with migration
A new law providing a special registry for all non-governmental organisations (NGOs), their employees and partners, was voted on yesterday (4 February).
London attacker served prison term for terrorism offences, police say
A man shot dead after stabbing two people on a busy street in south London on Sunday (2 February 2020) in what police described as a terrorist incident is Sudesh Amman, a former convict who was recently released from prison....