EU: MED-CRISIS (24.8.15)
24 August 2015
Welcome to EU - Greece (link)
Al Jazeera will not say Mediterranean 'migrants', but we should (Migrants Rights Network, link):
"By rejecting the term and using ‘refugee’ instead as a means of arousing the empathy and compassion we should be feeling towards these people, Al Jazeera gives credence to the illiberal voices telling us that migrants are not worthy of our compassion."
UK-EU:
The Observer view on Britain’s shameful response to refugees (link)
German ministers call for joint EU policy to cope with refugee crisis (DW, link):
"Two leading Social Democrat members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet have called for an EU-wide asylum policy as a way of coping with an unprecedented influx of refugees."
Swedish tolerance questioned as attacks on migrants rise (euractiv, link):
"A series of attacks on beggars and Roma has highlighted a dark side to a country considered a bastion of tolerance, but where the far right has been gaining support by claiming society is under threat from immigrants.... Since most come from Romania and Bulgaria, they are free to travel to Sweden as EU citizens, but their presence has fuelled claims by the Sweden Democrats the country is a soft-touch for migrants and is being swamped."
New one-day peak for Italy migrant rescues (The Local, it, link):
"Italy's coastguard picked up another 300 migrants from stricken boats in the Mediterranean on Sunday, a day after overseeing the rescue of 4,400 people in one 24-hour period with help from British, Irish and Norwegian ships."
GERMANY:
Gabriel visits Saxony after weekend of violence (The Local.de, link):
"Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel is to visit the Saxon town of Heidenau on Monday after far right demonstrators clashed with police outside a refugee home in the town over the weekend."
CZECH REPUBLIC:
Number of lone underage refugees rising in Czech Republic (Prgaue Daily Monitor, link):
"The Czech Education Ministry must deal with a rising number of lone underage refugees, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan aged from 15 to 18 years, who fled their countries alone or lost contact with their families during their long journey, daily Pravo writes Saturday.Under Czech law, people under 18 are considered underage and such refugees cannot be sent to detention facilities for adults."
Hollande to meet Merkel on migration, Ukraine (euobserver, link):
"French president Francois Hollande is travelling to Berlin on Monday (24 August) to discuss the growing migrant crisis with German chancellor Angela Merkel. The visit, originally planned to cover the Ukraine conflict, comes as thousands of people - many of them fleeing the war in Syria - keep trying to enter the European Union."
Macedonian army allows migrants to cross border - Migrants head towards EU border in southern Hungary after being penned for days in Macedonia (Guardian, link):
"“There is a human catastrophe here, and all the EU, the European countries, are to be blamed for this,” said German politician Annette Groth while on a visit to the “neutral” zone between Greece and Macedonia. “The refugees are not leaving their homes for fun.”"
HUNGARY:
Volunteers step in as Hungary tries to shut out illegal migrants - ‘Strange and random’ happenings await the recent arrivals in an ill-prepared Europe (Irish Times, link)