BULGARIA (ANSA) Three teachers ‘arrested in Bulgaria for rescuing migrants’ – Three teachers and activists of the Balkan Route Collective said they were arrested in Bulgaria at the end of December for aiding three young Moroccans, according to a post on Facebook.
BULGARIA (InfoMigrants) Three minors die at Bulgaria’s border as activists accuse authorities of blocking rescue – Three Egyptian teenagers lost their lives to hypothermia near Bulgaria’s eastern border in December. Activists allege deliberate neglect by Bulgarian border police, sparking renewed scrutiny over the EU’s border policies.
FINLAND (Yle) Government seeks to extend controversial border law – The Ministry of the Interior wants to renew the measures in place before they expire in July.
GERMANY (InfoMigrants) Germany’s plan for Syrian refugees: Will protection status be revoked? – Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has announced a four-point plan for the treatment and welfare of Syrian nationals which reportedly includes the revocation of protection grants.
GREECE (InfoMigrants) ECtHR finds Greece's border ‘pushbacks’ illegal in landmark ruling – The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Greece illegally deported a Turkish woman, confirming evidence of systematic “pushbacks” at its borders. The decision could impact how the EU manages people at its external borders.
GREECE (EUobserver) EU’s top migration envoy to raise ‘pushbacks’ with Greece – The European Commission is sending its top migration envoy, Magnus Brunner, to Greece next week [13-19 January], where the issue of pushbacks will be among the topics on the agenda.
ITALY (AFP) Mediterranean Rescuers Slam ‘Cynical’ Italy After Migrant Rescue – A French-based group that rescued more than 100 people from a sinking boat off the coast off Libya on Friday [10 January] accused Italy of imposing “cynical” conditions on taking them to a port.
LITHUANIA (LRT) Lithuanian minister expects favourable ECHR decision regarding migrant pushbacks – Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovič hopes that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will treat Lithuania’s policy of turning away people who arrived irregularly differently than it did in Greece’s case.
NETHERLANDS (Netherlands Times) Asylum applications in Netherlands decline for first time in four years – The total number of asylum applications in the Netherlands dropped in 2024, marking the first decline in four years, according to figures released by the Ministry of Asylum and Migration, Trouw reports.
SLOVAKIA (Euronews) Slovakia threatens to cut aid to Ukrainian refugees over end of Russian gas – Slovak PM Robert Fico said his government was discussing retaliatory measures against Ukraine after Kyiv shut off a pipeline supplying central Europe with Russian natural gas.
SWEDEN (Reuters) Sweden grants lowest ever number of residence permits to asylum seekers in 2024 – Sweden granted the lowest number of residence permits to people seeking asylum and their relatives on record in 2024, a boost for the right-wing government which pledged on Friday [10 January] to keep bringing the number down further.
SWITZERLAND (SwissInfo) Head of Swiss municipalities warns of asylum system collapse – The director of the Swiss Association of Municipalities has warned of an impending collapse of the asylum system.
UK (BBC) People smugglers to have finances targeted with sanctions – New sanctions targeting the finances of people smuggling networks will make it harder for gangs to profit from the deadly trade, the Home Office has said.
UK (Guardian) Home Office says record number of refused asylum seekers deported since July – Keir Starmer has boasted of deporting a record number of “immigration offenders and foreign criminals” since scrapping the Rwanda scheme, using language that has dismayed human rights campaigners.
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