PRESS REVIEW
 

3 September 2024
 

 

• EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENTS

ATLANTIC ROUTE & SPAIN (Euractiv) Canary Islands government accuses Spanish State of ‘abandoning’ the region amid a serious migratory crisis  – The President of the Canary Islands government, Fernando Clavijo, said on Monday [2 September] that the regional executive is mulling taking legal action against the Spanish state over Madrid’s alleged abandonment of its responsibility to try to solve the serious migration crisis affecting that community. 

See more (AP) 249 irregular migrants arrive on Spain’s Canary Islands – Number of irregular migrants arriving in Spain has surged by nearly 70% in first 8 months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. 

BALKAN ROUTE (Novinite) Frontex Team to Stay Until Year-End as Migrant Pressure on Bulgaria-Turkey Border Falls by 70% – Migratory pressure along the Bulgarian-Turkish border has dropped by 70% compared to the previous year, according to Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, Director of the Main Directorate “Border Police”. The agreement between Bulgaria and Frontex includes keeping the Frontex team stationed at the Bulgarian-Turkish border, which is now three times larger than last year’s contingent, until the end of the year.  

EXTERNAL PARTNERS (Enab Baladi) Syrian migrants missing in Libya, 16 of them from Daraa – On 31 August, Daraa 24 network reported that at least 16 people from the city of Tafas in western rural Daraa are missing, including children and women, who are documented by name. According to the network, contact was lost with three other people from the city more than 20 days ago, after they were on a boat that sailed from the Libyan coast. 

EXTERNAL PARTNERS (InfoMigrants) 40 migrants allegedly expelled into desert by Tunisian authorities – A group of about 40 migrants, including pregnant women and children, were reportedly expelled from Tunisia's coastal city of Sfax and abandoned near the country's border with Algeria. Rights groups are reporting rising numbers of such forced displacements from Tunisia and its neighbors. 

MEDITERRANEAN (Guardian) Refugee NGOs attack EU shipwreck ‘double standard’ after Bayesian effort – Organisations who try to save lives in Mediterranean say Sicily response showed what can be done. The tremendous resources and global attention dedicated to the tragedy of the Bayesian superyacht hint at a double standard for shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, several NGOs dedicated to assisting asylum seekers have said, citing the barriers they regularly face as they attempt to save lives in the same waters. 

• NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

AUSTRIA (Euronews) Austria joins Germany in deporting Afghans with criminal records back home – Austria’s Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum has said that deportations to Afghanistan are permissible on a case-by-case basis due to the “changed security situation” in the country. Vienna says it intends to cooperate closely with Berlin on joint deportations.

CYPRUS (Kathimerini News) Cyprus follows Germany’s lead on refugee returns to Syria – The Cypriot Interior Minister, Konstantinos Ioannou, has argued for reevaluating Syria’s current status and exploring the possibility of designating certain areas as safe, potentially enabling the return of Syrian refugees to those regions. 

CZECHIA (Reuters) Czech police find some 30 migrants in truck, one dead – Czech police detained some 30 migrants and found one dead person in a truck near Prague on a highway to Germany on Monday [2 September] evening, police and emergency service said on social network X. The ASCR emergency service said on X that rescuers unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate an unconscious woman, aged around 30. Others did not require hospitalisation, it said. 

FRANCE (InfoMigrants) Nearly 60 migrants picked up on Normandy coast – A total of 58 people, including nine minors, were picked up by French authorities in the Dieppe region on the Normandy coast on Monday night and early Tuesday. 

GERMANY (DW) Germany deports Afghan nationals for first time since Taliban takeover – Germany on Friday reversed a policy to stop returning migrants to Afghanistan due to human rights concerns after the Taliban took power in 2021. The first group of 28 Afghans who were “convicted offenders”, according to German authorities, boarded a Kabul-bound Friday [30 August] as the Germany’s coalition government faces pressure to take a tougher stance on migration after a deadly knife attack in Solingen. 

HUNGARY (Euronews) Hungary misses first deadline to pay €200 million fine imposed by ECJ – Hungary has missed the first deadline to pay the €200 million fine imposed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), prompting Brussels to send a second payment request and setting the stage for an impending head-on clash.The new deadline is 17 September. 

See more (EUobserver) EU ups pressure to claw back €200m asylum fine from Hungary – The commission had already made an initial request for the money in mid-July. If Hungary fails to comply, then the commission plans to deduct the amount from upcoming EU budget payments to Hungary. 

IRELAND (RTE) Majority agree Ireland should welcome migrants – survey – Almost two-thirds of people, 64%, agree that Ireland should welcome people who move here to make a better life for themselves or their families, according to a new survey. The study, which was conducted by Ireland Thinks for the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI), showed that 18% of those surveyed disagree that Ireland should welcome people who move here. 

ITALY (ANSA) Italians sleep in Trieste’s streets ‘for immigrants’ – Dozens of residents in Trieste, a northeastern port city in Italy, have slept in the city's squares to demand proper sleeping facilities for migrants. The event aimed to raise awareness about the large number of migrants who have recently arrived in Trieste via the Balkan Route and are now sleeping on the streets, primarily in Libertà Square in front of the railway station. 

NETHERLANDS (NL Times) Dutch minister says Ukrainian refugees will go back to their country when it is safe – Minister of Migration Marjolein Faber has said that refugees from Ukraine will return to their country from the Netherlands when it is safe. She compared the situation to the Dutch people after World War II. “The whole of the Netherlands was flattened in 1945,” said Faber. “I did not see a single Dutch person leave then. What did the Dutch people do? They rolled up their sleeves.” Faber added that the generations before her “worked extremely hard to rebuild the Netherlands.” 

SPAIN (Guardian) Spanish police boat appears to run over dinghy carrying four people – Human rights campaigners in Morocco and Spain have called on Spanish authorities to launch an investigation after a video appeared to show a Spanish police boat briefly mounting a small dinghy carrying people towards the coast of Spain. 

UK (Guardian) Labour’s plan to reopen immigrant detention centres will be disastrous –  The fact that nearly a year after the Brook House inquiry revealed a culture of abuse, the government has allowed these horrors to persist – and worsen – is beyond appalling.

UK /GERMANY (InfoMigrants) UK and Germany to cooperate to curb irregular immigration – During a trip to Germany, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to “reset” his country’s relations with the European Union after Brexit. One of the big themes of the meeting was to discuss the launch of a “joint action plan to tackle illegal migration,” according to Starmer. 

• FEATURE STORY

ITALY (ANSA) ‘The last island’ – a film on the 2013 Lampedusa shipwreck – Eight friends who live on Lampedusa and 47 migrants they saved celebrate their birthday every October 3. It's not the day they were originally born but they consider it the anniversary of their second birth. The documentary 'The last island' tells their stories. 

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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