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EU-MED-CRISIS: (18.8.15): Frontex, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Greece
18 August 2015
FRONTEX:
Number of migrants in one month above 100 000 for first time (link):
"In the month of July, the number of migrants detected at EU’s borders more than tripled to 107,500 compared to the same month of last year, surpassing the 100,000 mark in a single month for the first time since Frontex began keeping records in 2008.... Syrians and Afghans accounted for a lion’s share of the record number of migrants entering the EU illegally. Most of them, fleeing instability in their home countries, initially entered Greece from Turkey... the most detections were reported in the Aegean Sea (nearly 50 000), mainly on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos and Kos."
Germany unnerved by scores of xenophobic attacks against refugees (Washington Post, link):
"On a cool night six weeks ago, suspected right-wing arsonists struck the building, scorching its interior and rendering it uninhabitable days before the ­asylum-seekers were to move in. The attack added Meissen, a gothic castle town of 30,000 on the Elbe River, to a string of German cities caught up in an escalating rash of violence against refugees..... The incidents in Germany include at least six cases of arson and the beating of a 23-year-old African refu­gee by five Germans that left him with serious injuries"
GERMANY:
Smartphone app launched to help asylum seekers in Dresden - App offers practical assistance to refugees arriving in the eastern German city and comes in response to recent anti-immigrant hostility (Guardian, link):
"A smartphone app has been launched to help asylum seekers find their feet in Dresden, which became the epicentre of anti-immigrant hostility in Germany earlier this year. The Welcome to Dresden app, developed by two IT companies based in the eastern German city, gives refugees information on how to register with the authorities, get health insurance and find their way around."
CZECH REPUBLIC:
Academics warning of growing xenophobia (Prague Monitor, link):
"Over 740 Czech academics and other staff of scientific and research institutions have signed a petition Academics against Fear and Indifference to face the increasingly xenophobic atmosphere in Czech society that was posted online yesterday. They feel alarmed at the activities of extremist groups that are not contained enough, the petition said. Radicalisation of society by fear is one of the biggest dangers threatening Czechs in connection with the immigration crisis, it added."
Austria set to force towns to take refugees (euractiv, link):
"Austrian towns that balk at taking in refugees can be forced to accept migrants under draft legislation agreed by the two ruling parties and the opposition Greens on Monday (17 August)."
SWITZERLAND:
Steinmeier urges EU-Swiss talks on planned immigration quotas (euractiv, link):
"German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier yesterday (17 August) urged the European Union to negotiate with Switzerland on Bern's plans for new quotas on immigration from the bloc.... Switzerland has been scrambling to find a way to implement the wishes of the people - who narrowly voted in February, 2014 to dramatically rein in immigration from the EU - without ripping up a range of decade-old treaties governing Switzerland's ties with the bloc."
AUSTRIA:
Europe migrant crisis: 80,000 will seek asylum in Austria in 2015 - and for many, this former barracks in Traiskirchen is the end of the road (Independent, link):
"Ahmed has his face up against the iron bars of the asylum reception centre in the village of Traiskirchen in Austria. He fled Iraq when Isis told his family to leave. They were fishmongers, and had sold their wares to Americans, among others. “They told us that we were sinners, that we had to leave,” says Ahmed. “It gave my father a stroke and now he is dead. My sister is in Greece. My brother is in Serbia. I am here.”"
GREECE:
More ferries to help take migrants from Aegean islands (ekathimerini.com, link):
"Authorities are planning to add more ferries to the route linking the islands of the eastern Aegean to the port of Piraeus and elsewhere on the mainland in a bid to ease pressure on the islands which are on the front line of an influx of migrants....The situation remained particularly difficult on two islands which are busy tourist resorts: Kos and Lesvos. Around 3,000 migrants were unable to leave Lesvos on Monday, despite having undergone police identification procedures, as there are no places on ferries." and:
Park refugees moved to center at Elaionas (ekathimerini.com, link):
"A new reception center for migrants in Elaionas, near central Athens, was fully operational on Monday after more than 200 refugees left a makeshift settlement at Pedion tou Areos park for the air-conditioned containers of the Elaionas plot."
Germany expecting 650,000 refugees this year: report: Germany is to raise its prognosis for the number of refugees expected to come to the country this year drastically, a paper says. The UN has called on all European states to do their share in looking after the migrants (DW, link).
ITALY:
UN must address migrant 'human tragedy' - Bagnasco (ANSA, link):
"Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) chief Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco said after meeting 50 refugees in Genoa Monday he wondered whether "these international organs like the UN in particular that gathers political and financial power have ever seriously addressed this human tragedy"
Mediterranean Update: Missing Migrants Project (iom.int, link)