About: Bert Koenders

EU, Mali sign deal to return refugees

The European Union on Sunday (11 December) signed an agreement with the Malian government aimed at enabling the return of migrants who have reached Europe's shores, and whose asylum requests have been refused

Dutch join push for EU-Turkey accession talks freeze

The Dutch government has lent its weight to calls for the EU to freeze Turkey's membership talks, diplomats said yesterday (1 December), raising the prospect of European leaders making such a move at a summit in two weeks.

Diplomats mock the ‘founding countries’ ministerial gatherings

Diplomats outside the group of the six founding members of the Union who have had meetings to discuss the future of the EU spoke ironically about the initiative.

Mogherini says Bosnia’s EU application is ‘good news’

Bosnia and Herzegovina today (15 February) formally submitted an application to join the EU, hoping to catch up with its Balkan neighbours after years lost following the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia.

MEPs’ migration debate turns into ‘stress test’ of European values

We are on a stress test of our European values, Bert Koenders, Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister admitted in the European Parliament yesterday (2 February), following a 5-hour debate on the ongoing migration crisis, in which more than 150 statements were made.

Hastily signed Minsk agreement forgot the perpetrators of MH17

Nervous reactions suggest that when German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande co-signed the Minsk agreement, they may have forgotten to include a very important text.