Justice & Home Affairs
MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld: Efforts to defend old system in Bulgaria don’t work
In an exclusive interview, MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld shared some insights from Thursday’s European Parliament Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group (DRFMG) session, which she chaired, where the Bulgarian Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev and the new Prime Minister Kiril Petkov were auditioned.
Interview: Why did so many Kurds go to Belarus?
Political disillusionment, lack of economic opportunities and dreams of a better life are reasons why many asylum seekers that enter Lithuania from Belarus originate from Iraqi Kurdistan, a region considered one of the wealthiest and most stable in the region.
Bulgaria’s justice minister: ‘This chief prosecutor will bring us EU sanctions’
In an exclusive interview for EURACTIV Bulgaria, the caretaker justice minister Ivan Demerdjiev offered scathing criticism of Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev, saying that unless he is removed, Bulgaria risks losing access to EU funding.
Slovenia: New Europol mandate expected by end of this year
The European Commission, Parliament, and Council will start negotiating the final version of Europol’s new mandate on Wednesday (27 October), which could be ready by December, Slovenia’s interior minister Aleš Hojs told EURACTIV.com in an interview. According to him, “positions...
MEP Freund: Von der Leyen, EPP still shielding Bulgaria’s ex-PM Borissov
In an exclusive interview, MEP Daniel Freund tells about his recent visit to Bulgaria, revealing the frustrations of the caretaker government which did not receive support from the EU Commission in its efforts to tackle money-laundering.
Asselborn: We will kill Schengen if border restrictions persist
Rejecting the idea of 'deportation centres' that would host Afghan refugees in Central Asia, Luxembourgish Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told EURACTIV in an interview the EU holds enormous responsibility towards those who "helped us build an embryo of rule of law" in Afghanistan.
Sven Giegold: ECB should start ‘digging into’ financial crime in Bulgaria
To join the Euro, Bulgaria needs to tidy up with financial crime, and the European Central Bank (ECB) should be doing its job and finally start “digging into this”, MEP Sven Giegold told EURACTIV in a telephone interview.
Polish Ombudsman: ‘Rule of law has not applied to abortion in Poland’
A referendum on abortion under the current conditions in which the ruling party has unlimited possibilities for propaganda and debate in the public media, would not give room for real and in-depth discussion, Adam Bodnar, told EURACTIV Poland in an...
Police violence more problematic in France than in Germany, says police expert
Amnesty International has pointed to the "illegal use of force" by French police officers during demonstrations in a recent report. In an interview with EURACTIV France, sociologist Jérémie Gauthier discusses why this is a recurrent issue in France.
Green MEP: Migration pact could enshrine injustice in law
About a year ago, German captain Carola Rackete was arrested for docking 53 people rescued from a shipwrecked vessel in the port of Lampedusa, against the instructions of the Italian authorities. MEP Erik Marquardt spoke with EURACTIV Germany about what has changed since then and the role of civil society and politics.
Migration and the coronavirus pandemic: Crash tests for Schengen
The refugee crisis in 2015 and the current coronavirus pandemic will put the Schengen area to the hardest test since its creation 25 years ago, says Christian Moos, Secretary General of the non-partisan Europa-Union Germany, in an interview with EURACTIV Germany.
Czech FM: Visegrad countries will continue to promote EU enlargement
The Visegrad countries will need some time to close the ditches they have dug in recent years, Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček told EURACTIV.cz in an interview. He also voiced doubts about the need for a reform of EU membership negotiations, demanded by France, saying the process is already reversible at any stage.
UN official ‘concerned’ about denial of access to asylum procedures in Croatia
The Croatian government must ‘urgently’ address reports suggesting it is denying access to asylum procedures in the country, a high-ranking official from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told EURACTIV Croatia in an interview.
‘Free Courts’ activists: Poland makes another big step towards Polexit
The Free Courts initiative is the last barricade that keeps the ruling PiS party from acquiring the absolute power in Poland, activists Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram and Michał Wawrykiewicz said in an interview with EURACTIV Poland’s editor-in-chief Karolina Zbytniewska.
EU needs to focus on legislation in the digital sphere, MEP Angelika Niebler says
The EU has proven to be successful in legislating in the digital age but it needs to keep up the work to avoid being left behind, because "the digital revolution has been moving faster than legislation", MEP Angelika Niebler (EPP, Germany) told EURACTIV in a written interview.
Azerbaijan ‘discourages’ human traffickers
Azerbaijan is unlikely to become a transit country for illegal migration because the authorities have “discouraged” international human trafficking rings from taking this route, Vusal Huseynov, the chief of the State Migration Service of Azerbaijan, told EURACTIV.
Sea rescue activist: We hope for ‘coalition of the willing’ to support our rescue operations
In an interview with EURACTIV Germany, David Starke, the chief executive officer of SOS Méditerranée Germany, spoke about his sea rescue organisation and others resuming operations at sea after Italy's closing of ports and investigations led against sea rescuers prompted a six-month hiatus.
‘Unrealistic’ to think Libya can operate all rescues at sea, UN Special Envoy says
In spite of the drop in numbers of crossing, the death rate in the Central Mediterranean has increased over the past few months. EURACTIV talked to UNHCR Special Envoy Vincent Cochetel about the situation in the world deadliest border.
Right- and left-wing violence cannot be equated, says expert
In an interview with EURACTIV Germany, Axel Salheiser, who is conducting research on right-wing extremism at the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society, spoke about the growing incidence of acts of violence by the far-right and the potential dangers of right- and left-wing extremist groups in Germany.
Weber: There is no special treatment for Viktor Orban in EPP
For the European People's Party, it is clear that Europe must stand by its principles and defend the rule of law, Manfred Weber, the head of the EPP group in the European Parliament, told EURACTIV Poland.
EU counter-terrorism chief: Europe ‘may see something like Daesh 2.0’
The level of terrorist threat remains "pretty serious" in several EU countries, Gilles de Kerchove, the EU's counter-terrorism coordinator, told EURACTIV.com in an interview hours before the latest attack in Strasbourg on Tuesday night (12 December).
Navracsics: I am ‘deeply interested’ in keeping the CEU in Hungary
Viktor Orbán's offensive against the Central European University is at the core of the worsening relationship between Hungary and the EU institutions. But his man at the European Commission, Tibor Navracsics, insists that he is “deeply interested” in keeping the university in Budapest.
Former UN envoy: ‘More support to Libya would bring results relatively soon’
Few people have better insights into the EU migration debate than Bernardino León, a man once described as the golden boy of Spanish politics. The diplomat said that disembarkation platforms and controlled centres for migrants, currently envisaged by EU leaders, won’t stop the flow of immigrants to Europe.