European Union

OPINION on the implementation of the 2010 recommendations of Parliament on social and environmental standards, human rights and corporate responsibility
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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Pope Francis meets with refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos during a visit on Saturday

Which European country has received the most asylum seekers on a per capita basis so far this year? Germany? No. Sweden? No. Hungary? No. After this weekend, it is actually the Vatican. Aided by a low official population of 450, the Vatican shot to the top of the leaderboard when it comes to housing refugees after Pope Francis returned from his trip to Lesbos with 12 Syrians in tow.

The gesture was token and humanitarian rather than political — or so the Vatican’s spinners insisted. But it provided an ugly juxtaposition for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spent the weekend fending off criticism at home after giving the go ahead for a criminal investigation into a comedian who made jokes at the expense of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The footage of a pope embracing asylum seekers who fled war only to face months of detention in Greece and then a legally questionable return across the Aegean provided the grimmest reminder yet of the moral price that the EU has paid for the Merkel-led deal with Turkey.

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The EU stands united with the people and Government of Belgium and expresses solidarity on the 22 March Brussels attacks.

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