Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (30.11.15)
30 November 2015
- EU-TURKEY:
Talking Turkey: €3 billion to control migration
In the days leading up to the EU-Turkey summit that EU Council President Tusk said would "change the rules of the game when it comes to stemming the migration flow," the Commission issued its Decision on the project's funding: the €3 billion
"Refugee Facility for Turkey" (pdf).
The Facility is supposed to be funded with €500 million from the EU and €2.5 billion from the Member States, and has the aim:
"to assist Turkey in addressing the immediate humanitarian and development needs of the refugees and their host communities, national and local authorities in managing and addressing the consequences of the inflow of refugees."
See also: Mülteci-Der (Association for Solidarity with Refugees):
Put an end to the dirty deal and respect the human rights at the EU-Turkey summit on 29 November, 2015! (pdf):
"We denounce this dirty deal over the lives of refugees. We say that no political, economical or social argument could be more precious than human lives. We call the EU and Turkish leaders to terminate this dirty deal at today's summit, to respect human rights and human honour in all their policies and practices and to be transparent in their negotiations and in their asylum/migration policies/practices."
- News (30.11.15)
BELGIUM:
"Boost capacity of closed asylum centres with 33%" (Flanders News, link):
"The Asylum Secretary Theo Francken wants to create extra places in closed reception centres for asylum seekers that saw their application for a residence permit rejected. Francken was speaking in the VRT's Sunday news programme "De Zevende Dag". He also wants to send back 1,000 more undocumented people in the short run."
BULGARIA:
Bulgaria Could Send up to 1000 Troops to Border if Migrant Wave Surges (Novinite, link):
"Bulgaria could deploy up to 1000 troops at its borders to help police if a worsening crisis in Syria leads to increased migrant flow out of the war-torn country, Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev has said."
Bulgarian Authorities Detain Syrian Refugees Hidden in Romanian Truck (Novinite, link):
"Bulgarian authorities detained nine Syrian refugees hidden in a Romanian truck in the Pass of the Republic (also known as Hainboaz) in central Bulgaria on Saturday."
CZECH REPUBLIC:
PM: Prague not joining legal complaint against refugee quotas (Prague Post, link):
"The Czech Republic will not join the legal complaint against mandatory quotas for the redistribution of refugees across the European Union as it does not want to harm its position in the EU, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) said today."
EU:
Merkel creates EU core group on refugees (EUobserver, link):
"German leader Angela Merkel has said a core group of eight EU states is preparing to resettle refugees from Turkish camps next year."
"The eight leaders - from Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden - held a separate meeting in Brussels on Sunday (29 November), shortly before all 28 member states met with Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu."
Germany Offers Protection to Refugees Stranded in Egypt (Internatonal Organization for Migration, link):
"This week IOM moved the last of nearly 600 refugees – half of them Syrian – from Egypt to Germany as part of the country’s Humanitarian Admissions Programme (HAP)."
POLAND:
FM Waszczykowski: Polish refugee policy based on 'safety criteria' (Radio Poland, link):
" The policy on how many refugees Poland will accept of the 7,000 pledged by the former government will depend on issues of safety, Foreign Minister Waszczykowski said."