PRESS REVIEW
 

 

• EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENTS

ATLANTIC ROUTE & SPAIN (Euractiv) Spanish centre-right at odds with government over migrant crisis in the Canaries – Spain’s Partido Popular broke off negotiations with the government over the migration “crisis” in the Canary Islands, accusing the left-wing executive of not accepting help from the European Union. 

EXTERNAL PARTNERS (InfoMigrants) Forced to swim to shore: Tunisian coast guard abandons migrants at sea – The Tunisian coast guard has a new method when intercepting people at sea: confiscating boats and forcing passengers to swim to shore. Ibrahim witnessed it first hand when he tried to cross the Mediterranean. 

EXTERNAL PARTNERS (Middle East Eye) Syrian refugees flee Lebanon for Kurdish and Turkish-controlled parts of northern Syria – According to activists, humanitarian organisations and displaced families, many of these people had been forced from the same area years ago during Syria’s deadly conflict, which erupted after the 2011 uprising. “These people are mostly from this region,” one activist told Middle East Eye. “They fled when their homes became a battlefield, and now they are returning only to face another crisis.” 

EU MIGRATION (Guardian) EU court rules gender and nationality enough to grant Afghan women asylum – The European court of justice (ECJ) has ruled that gender and nationality alone are sufficient grounds for a country to grant asylum to women from Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban have sharply curtailed women’s rights. 

EU MIGRATION (Euractiv) Germany, France, other EU states push to speed up migrant returns – Seventeen European countries called on the European Commission on Friday (4 October) to sharpen the EU’s rules on people who arrive irregularly to their home countries, a document showed. The letter to the bloc’s executive body was signed by 14 of the 27 EU member states, including Germany, France and Italy, and three countries from the European passport-free Schengen area – Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. 

• NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

CROATIA (ANSA) Two migrants dead, many injured after van crashes in Croatia – A van carrying people on the move crashed Saturday [5 October] in central Croatia, killing two people and injuring several others, police said. 

CYPRUS (Cyprus Mail) ECJ ruling scuppers Cyprus’ plans to declare parts of Syria safe – The court specified that the designation of a third country as a safe country of origin must cover the country’s entire territory, thus precluding situations akin to that which Cyprus had been seeking, whereby regions of Syria would have been declared safe in line with indications made by the European Union Agency for Asylum, while others would not. 

FINLAND (YLE) Finland plans tougher rules on detention, deportation and entry of foreigners – On Thursday [3 October], the government handed a bill to Parliament calling for tougher new regulations affecting non-citizens. The right-wing cabinet led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo wants to amend the Aliens Act to tighten rules on detention and entry bans. 

ITALY (Anadolu Ajansi) Italy introduces new decree to regulate migration – Italy announced a new decree on Thursday [3 October] aimed at regulating migration, local media reported. Approved during a Cabinet meeting, the decree focuses on migrant labour needs, especially in the tourism and agricultural sectors, while also tackling broader migration issues, as reported by the public broadcaster Rai News 24. 

MALTA (Times of Malta) Malta saw 600 new asylum applications in 2023; ‘poor’ conditions are slammed – Malta saw a total of 600 new applications for asylum last year, with 2023 ending with 833 cases pending, according to a new report. The report, published on Friday [4 October] by the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) managed by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, contains detailed information on asylum procedures, detention conditions and international protection across 23 countries, including Malta. 

NETHERLANDS (RTL) Minister Faber wants to warn asylum seekers with signs at asylum centers: ‘We are working on your return here’ – Minister of Asylum and Migration Marjolein Faber got this idea when she visited a detention centre in Denmark for asylum seekers who are being deported. She thought she had seen a sign with a similar text. But the sign did not exist, it turned out when officials called her. “It only exists in her head,” people around her say. 

UK (BBC) Four migrants including boy die in Channel – Four people, including a two-year-old boy, have died while attempting to cross the English Channel, French authorities say. The authorities said they were found “unconscious” and were likely “trampled to death” in two separate boats that had engine failures. 

UK (Guardian) Irregular migration into UK and large European countries is same as 2008, research shows – The number of people who arrive irregularly and are living in the UK and other large European countries has not changed for years despite hostile political discourse about migrants overwhelming the continent, according to researchers. 

• FEATURE STORY 

MEDITERRANEAN (Times of Malta) October 3: The day that changed the Mediterranean and my life – October 3, 2013, is not just a date, but a symbol of pain and awareness. On that day, 368 people lost their lives in a shipwreck off Lampedusa, forever changing the way I see the Mediterranean. This tragedy highlighted the severity of the migration crisis and the urgent need for action. 

Please note that the information included in the ECRE Press Review is taken from the public pages of media organisations’ websites. All sources are clearly attributed and ECRE does not claim any authorship over the content. The ECRE Press Review does not necessarily reflect ECRE’s views. If you have any comments or questions about the ECRE Press Review, please contact Ben Moore.

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