About: European pact on immigration and asylum
EU needs ‘mandatory’ migrant solidarity system, Johansson says
The EU home affairs commissioner, who is to unveil a much-awaited asylum reform this week, urged Saturday (18 September) that a system of "mandatory" solidarity on migration be agreed between member states.
1% of the world’s population is now forcibly displaced, UN report says
79.5 million people have had to leave their homes as a result of persecution, violence and human rights abuses, among which 4 in 10 are children, according to the annual global trends report of the UN refugee agency, published today (18 June).
MEPs hope to break deadlock on migration reform
Reaching a common EU response to the long-running migration crisis has been painfully slow. Ministers remain deadlocked on plans to reform the so-called Dublin Regulation that sets out the EU’s common migration and asylum rules.
Set voting age at 16 to renew EU, says Davos report
The voting age for next year’s European elections should be lowered to 16 as part of a suite of reforms to revitalise the European project.
Refugees inundate new EU crisis hotspot Croatia
Croatia closed most of its border with Serbia Thursday (17 September) as it became the latest hotspot in Europe's migrant crisis, with thousands of new arrivals overwhelming local authorities ahead of an emergency EU summit next week.
Commission ready to drop mandatory quotas for refugees
European authorities are prepared to drop the idea of a mandatory scheme to redistribute 120,000 asylum seekers around the bloc, in favour of a voluntary system favoured by Eastern European states, officials said on Wednesday (16 September).
Hungary, Austria seal their borders as refugee crisis escalates
Hungary's right-wing government shut the main land route for migrants into the European Union on Tuesday (15 September), aiming to halt a massive influx of refugees.
Why Angela Merkel is so generous to the refugees
The German government has set aside €6 billion for the settlement of refugees. The Chancellor has many reasons for this magnaminity. La Tribune reports.
Merkel accused of sending ‘totally wrong signal’ to Europe on refugees
Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to allow thousands of refugees stranded in Hungary to enter Germany caused a rift in her conservative bloc on Sunday (7 September) when her Bavarian allies accused her of sending a "totally wrong signal" to the rest of Europe.
Refugees greeted to cheers in Germany as EU bickers over quotas
Thousands of exhausted refugees and asylum seekers received a hero's welcome Sunday (6 September) as they streamed into Western Europe. But Austria warned the emergency measures are only "temporary" as the EU struggles to establish a united response to the crisis.
Britain, chaos and Calais
Sending a few sniffer dogs across the Channel to deal with what David Cameron called “swarms” of refugees cannot cope with the scale of the problem, writes Melanie Sully.
Italian ambassador: ‘Illegal immigration poses security threat to Europe’
Many immigrants reaching Italy’s shores cannot or do not want to be identified, posing a security threat to the whole of Europe in terms of terrorism and criminal infiltration, says Alessandro de Pedys, the Italian Ambassador to Poland.
UMP demand more selective Schengen II
On the eve of the EU elections, France’s main opposition party, the UMP, lashed out at the Schengen agreement. Nicolas Sarkozy resurfaced and echoed this sentiment in an opinion piece published by the French weekly Le Point. EURACTIV France reports.Can we make sense of the UK immigration debate?
Europe was relatively low on the UK's political agenda until a strong showing by UKIP in May 2013 frightened the Conservatives. The recent attempts to compromise the right of free movement will leave the UK with a diminished international standing and a poorer economy, Vicky Pryce argues.
Most asylum seekers in EU come from Afghanistan
Most asylum seekers to the European Union in 2011 came from Afghanistan, a new EU report revealed Tuesday (10 July).