asylum archivos - Katoikos

Stalemate in EU migration talks

On Tuesday, 16 June, EU Home Affairs Ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss a plan to distribute asylum seekers more equally across the 28-member bloc. The scheme is part of the European Agenda on Migration, a bundle of several different and concrete measures proposed by the European Commission to respond to the current migration crisis. Over the last months, the number of migrants venturing across the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching Europe has skyrocketed. With little support from other member states, Italy and Greece have been left to bear the brunt of dealing with this influx of people. Both countries want other EU member states to help out and ease the burden

European Commission introduces “Agenda on Migration”

On Wednesday, 13 May, the European Commission unveiled its highly anticipated plan to deal with the increasing number of migrants trying to reach the European shores. The long-awaited European Agenda on Migration made waves in the media with its system of immigration quotas and proposal for military action in the Mediterranean. The “immediate action” called for by the Commission establishes a set of measures to deter and dismantle traffickers’ networks, while also distributing the burden of resettling asylum seekers amongst EU member states. More details will continue to be presented on the various proposals, while the package will be discussed by the EU leaders at the upcoming European Council meeting in June

The EU’s migration challenge

The recent tragedies in the Mediterranean, with the loss in a few days of hundreds of lives of people desperately trying to reach the EU shores, brought starkly to the fore the issue of migration, both of the asylum-seeking and the economic kind. In a typical fashion, EU ministers and heads of government reacted with half-baked measures, trying to respond to the emergency at hand but failing to put forward a comprehensive strategy or vision for addressing the issue and its root causes in the long run.

Urgent need for better irregular migration policy in Europe

Dialogue , Op-ed , EU
1 March, 2015

By Tristan du Puy “Europe needs to manage migration better.” This statement was made on 19 February 2015 by EU Commissioner Avramopoulos, in charge of Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, and is spot-on. Europe’s irregular immigration and asylum policies are failing on several fronts. Although one could argue that these questions remain a part of national policies, it should also be stated that the chaotic organization at the European level only brings inefficiency on migration issues. The current situation does not afford the luxury for EU member states to go on quarreling on the righteousness of managing irregular migration at the EU level.