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- Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (21 stories and documents, 20.10.15)
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (21 stories and documents, 20.10.15)
20 October 2015
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Far-right parties always gain support after financial crises, report finds (euractiv, link):
"Extreme and populist right-wing parties have always been the biggest political beneficiaries of financial crises, according to a new study." Report: Going to Extremes: Politics after Financial Crisis, 1870-2014 (pdf)
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Weekend Greece Arrivals Exceed Peak Summer Day Total (IOM, link): as at 20-10-15: 651,132 refuge arrivals (Greece: 507,825 Italy: 139,711) and 3,138 dead/missing people.
"IOM Greece reports, after consultations with the Hellenic Police, an unprecedented number of migrants arriving in Greece this weekend, with totals exceeding arrivals during peak summer sailing days. On Friday (16/10) over 8,900 migrants crossed into Greece; on Saturday (17/10) arrivals exceeded 9,100; and on Sunday (18/10), arrivals approached 9,200.
A total of over 27,000 migrants entered Greece last weekend, the majority of whom arrived on the island of Lesvos (16,448). The island of Chios, which previously saw arrivals of up to 300-500 migrants a day, over the weekend, witnessed the arrival of over 4,300 migrants."
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Turkey 'not concentration camp', won't host migrants permanently: PM (Daily News, link):
"Turkey is “not a concentration camp” and will not host migrants permanently to appease the European Union, which wants Turkey to stop the flow of people to Europe, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Oct. 19, a day after Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Istanbul to discuss refugees....
“We cannot accept an understanding like ‘give us the money and they stay in Turkey,’” Davutoglu said in a live television interview a day after talks with Merkel on the migrant crisis.
“I told this to Merkel, too. No one can accept Turkey becoming a country like a concentration camp where all refugees live,” he said."
- Commentary:
EU Should Make Minor Compromises for Turkey’s Help on Refugees (German Marshall Fund, link)
- News (20.10.15)
Greece:
Resettling migrants from Middle East camps could ease crisis, minister says (ekathimerini.com, link):
"Greece said on Tuesday that resettling migrants from camps in the Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, where they first arrive, could ease Europe’s refugee crisis."
Denmark preparing harder residency rules (The Local.dk, link):
"The Venstre government is preparing its next round of tighter immigration laws, this time targeting those who want to obtain permanent residency."
France: 96 percent of asylum rejects stay (The Local, fr.link):
"France's asylum procedures have been slammed as too long and inefficient, with as many as 96 percent of refugees who are refused asylum not being deported, an official report found."
Zeman: Refugees will apply sharia law (Prague Post, link):
"NGOs, politicians, others reject president's comments, say he discredits country ... Islamic refugees will not respect Czech laws and habits, they will apply sharia law, so unfaithful women will be stoned to death and thieves will have their hand cut off, President Miloš Zeman said in a debate with the employees of a local butcher's today."
German anti-refugee movement sparks fears - Officials warn a resurgent far-right has seized on the crisis to incite hatred and violence. (politico, link):
"German politicians warn that a resurgent far-right has seized on the refugee crisis to incite hatred and, in some cases, violence against refugees and the elected officials who are seen as sympathetic to them."
Media Interest in Refugees May Have Peaked ... the Influx Hasn't (Huffington Post, link):
"When challenged, the argument you'll hear in newsrooms will be that the refugee flows aren't really news anymore. It is a common failing. Unable to come up with fresh angles on a story, editors tend to move on and forget to follow up on stories only a few weeks before they couldn't seem to get enough of."
Anti-racism: an integral part of the current migration and asylum debate (ENAR, link)
Bulgaria Border Poilice 'Ill-Prepared', Its Fmr Chief Says after Migrant Death (novinite.com, link):
"The quality of training and preparation of border police officers in Bulgaria has become extremely low over the past years, a former border police chief said on Tuesday. Commenting on the incident last week when an Afghan man died after being hit by a bullet fired by a police officer as a warning shot that rebounded, he added other recent events such as the death of a commando in a special operation i Lyaskovets were a sign of mismanagement.... He added police officers were previously told they should only draw their weapons when there it is likely to be used, whereas in the present conditions they tended to do so more often."
Fourth asylum home on fire in west Sweden (The Local.se, link):
"Housing for asylum seekers near Munkedal in western Sweden is on fire, in the fourth suspected arson attack on refugee accommodation in just over a week. Police in the area said that emergency services were called to the building just after 4am, with firefighters still working to put out the blaze five hours later."
Over 500,000 refugees, migrants reach Greece this year, arrival rate rising, says UN .(ekathimerini.com, link):
"Over half a million refugees and migrants have arrived by sea in Greece this year and the rate of arrivals is rising with over 8,000 coming on Monday alone, in a rush to beat the onset of freezing winter, the United Nations said on Tuesday.UN refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said 27,500 refugees and migrants remained in transit on Greek islands near Turkey from which hundreds of thousands have come. “We have reached another dramatic milestone, with the arrival yesterday (Monday) of 8,000 people, bringing the total to 502,000. Obviously we knew this was coming, but we do see a spike in arrivals in Greece,” Fleming told a news briefing". and
Turkey suspected over spike in refugee arrivals (ekathimerini.com, link):
"The flow of refugees and migrants to Greece from Turkey is rising rather than falling, with Greek officials suspecting that Turkish authorities are turning a blind eye to traffickers on purpose."
Sealing of Hungarian borders puts Croatia, Slovenia to the test (euractiv, link):
"The Balkans struggled with a growing backlog of refugees yesterday (19 October) after Hungary sealed its southern border and Slovenia tried to impose a limit, leaving thousands stranded on cold, rain-drenched borders where tempers frayed."
Cyprus to block restart of Turkey-EU talks (euobserver, link):
"Cyprus said on Monday (19 October) that it will continue to oppose restarting Turkey’s stalled accession negotiations to join the European Union because Ankara has not done enough to reunite the divided island."
Hungary links Roma to jihadists in Syria (euobserver, link):
"Hungary’s minister of justice Laszlo Trocsanyi on Monday (19 October) said there is a risk Roma could end up in Syria as foreign fighters alongside jihadist or other radical groups.Speaking at a conference in Brussels, the centre-right Fidesz minister said the some 12 million Roma in Europe “could be a target for radicalisation”."
Fifty Czech police officers to protect Schengen border in Hungary (Prague Daily Monitor, link):
"The police will be serving at the Hungarian-Serbian border, police spokeswoman Jana Macalikova has told CTK. "It will be the task of the police to conduct the patrolling activities along with the Hungarian soldiers and police officers," Macalikova said.... Twenty Czech soldiers have been in Hungary since last week. They are mainly drivers and equipment staff. They are helping the Hungarian military with transport of materiel and building a fence."
Greece:
2,336 refugees from Mytilene and Chios arrive at Piraeus port (anampa, link)