European Union

Committee meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

The foreign minister of Canada, which is embroiled in a diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia, called for German support on Monday in Ottawa’s campaign to promote human rights around the world.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and Italian interior minister Matteo Salvin pledged in a meeting in Milan on Tuesday to create a pan-European anti-migrant alliance ahead of next year's European elections. "There are two sides at the moment in Europe. One is led by Macron, who is supporting migration. The other one is supported by countries who want to protect their borders," Orban said.

29 August was chosen by the United Nations to commemorate the anniversary of the closure of the Semapalatinsk nuclear test site, and to promote the initiative for a nuclear weapon-free world, writes the Astana Times in an editorial article.

"Russia would want us to pay for it but Syria under Assad is not safe," Reuters quoted an EU official as saying. Syria is not safe for refugees to go back and the EU is not likely to spend money on rebuilding the country as long as Syrian president Bashar al-Assad does not allow the opposition share power, the source said. EU foreign ministers might discuss the matter this week.

Northern Ireland has beaten Belgium's record of 589 days with no elected government without signs of a solution in the near future. The region has been without government since January 2017, when the nationalist Sinn Fein party pulled out requesting equal treatment with the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The unionists demonstrated on Tuesday outside parliament, urging the nationalists to end their "boycott".

When Irish rock band U2 kicks off its European tour in Berlin this week, it will wave "a big, bright, blue EU flag" on stage, lead singer Bono announced in an op-ed published in German daily FAZ. "Europe is a thought that needs to become a feeling," he wrote, adding that nationalistic visions of the future "looks to me a lot like the past".

French president Emmanuel Macron made a strong case for Europe while in Denmark on Tuesday pressing for more Danish involvement in the European Union. Denmark has a defence opt-out clause in its EU membership treaty. "I am not calling for a referendum but for a debate," prime minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said, adding that Denmark planned to participate in a French-led European Intervention Initiative on a bilateral basis.

German commissioner said Italy would be cutting off its nose to spite its face on budget threats, but did not comment on Rome's plans to overspend on EU deficit rules.

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for asylum seekers.

Since 2014, Europe has seen a mass movement of people arriving at its borders. Many of them are asylum seekers who are fleeing war, instability or persecution in their countries.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

While national authorities decide on who is recognised as a refugee and offered protection, the EU sets out a number of conditions that all EU countries must respect during this process. These include adequate reception conditions, processing times for asylum applications and safeguards for vulnerable applicants. EU rules require countries to give asylum seekers the chance to work after six months in a country, and ensure the right to an education for underage asylum seekers.

© Frank Gärtner / Fotolia

Those common standards were, however, undermined by exceptionally high migratory flows, especially in 2015. This put a strain on some countries’ reception capacities, and prompted calls to make the EU asylum system more responsive, effective and fair.

As a first step, the EU set up a temporary relocation system to distribute asylum seekers more evenly between all EU countries. The EU provides funding for relocation and monitors progress closely. The EU also set up ‘hot spots’ – operational centres along the main entry points – where staff from EU border and asylum agencies help local authorities to register and instruct arriving asylum seekers.

Since 2016, the EU is working on simplifying the rules and reducing differences between EU countries’ approaches to asylum.

Further information

• European Commission, European agenda on migration, COM(2015) 240 final
• European Commission, Delivery of the European Agenda on Migration, COM(2017) 558 final
• European Parliamentary Research Service, Migration and asylum (animated infographic)

Bumblebees acquire a taste for food laced with a pesticide known to harm them, according to a study suggesting the chemicals pose an even greater threat to pollinators than previously thought.

Police in Greece said on Tuesday (28 August) they had arrested three members of a Greek NGO on suspicion of helping migrants illegally enter the country.

The recent change of government in Spain has helped ease tensions but a lawsuit filed by Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont in Belgium against the Spanish judge overseeing his case risks stoking the fires again.

US President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has written a letter to Romania’s president, accusing the Eastern European country’s anticorruption efforts of going too far and calling for amnesty for those already prosecuted and convicted.

Sweden's ruling Social Democrats launched their election manifesto on Tuesday (28 August) promising an extra week of holiday for parents as the party seeks to avoid its worst showing ever in a national vote.

French President Emmanuel Macron once promised to "make our planet great again", but the shock resignation of his popular environment minister has put his mixed record on green issues under the spotlight.

Denmark will take part as much as possible in European defence cooperation outside NATO, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said after meeting France's president on Tuesday (28 August).

Slovakia is about to take up a one-year stint as president of the Visegrad Four, with a determination to anchor Central Europe in "Jadro Europy" - the core of Europe.