Tag Archives: Europe

Austria to slash asylum claims, strengthen border checks

VIENNA (Reuters) – Austria declared on Wednesday it would cap the number of people allowed to claim asylum this year at less than half last year’s total, and its chancellor said border controls would have to be stepped up “massively”- but how that would be done was unclear.

Germany said on Wednesday Austria’s decision was “not helpful” to German efforts to negotiate a European Union-wide solution with the support of Turkey, from which most migrants reach the European continent.

Hundreds of thousands of people have streamed into Austria, a small Alpine republic of 8.5 million since September, when it and Germany threw open their borders to a wave of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The vast majority of arrivals simply crossed the country on their way to Germany, but a fraction have stayed. Roughly 90,000 people, or more than 1 percent of Austria’s population, applied for asylum last year.

Public fears about immigration have fueled support for the far right, and calls for a ceiling on the number of migrants by members of the centre-right People’s Party within the coalition government have grown.

“We cannot take in all asylum seekers in Austria, or in Germany or in Sweden,” Werner Faymann, a Social Democrat who has resisted calls to cap immigration, told a joint news conference, referring to the countries that have taken in the most migrants.

The government plan announced on Wednesday provides for the number of asylum claims to be restricted to 1.5 percent of Austria’s population, spread over the next four years.

Breaking down the four-year cap, the statement said the number of asylum claims would be limited to 37,500 this year, falling annually to 25,000 in 2019.

Asked what would happen if the number of people who wanted to apply for asylum exceeded that figure, Faymann said only that experts were due to examine the issue.

“We must also step up controls at our borders massively,” Faymann told the joint news conference with Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner and other officials, without explaining what that would involve.

Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said one option would be to accept asylum requests without processing them.

“The (other) option of not having to accept asylum requests at the Austrian border is now being checked, and to send these people back, to deport them back to our safe neighbor states,” she told public broadcaster ORF.

Slovenian police said later on Wednesday that Slovenia planned “the same action” as Austria on its southern border with Croatia if Austria, which lies north of Slovenia, took further steps to limit the inflow of migrants.

The Dutch prime minister, whose government currently chairs EU ministerial councils, said Austria’s move illustrated the kind of national action likely to multiply if the 28-nation EU did not start implementing a commonly agreed strategy on asylum before a likely “spike” in arrivals with spring weather.

Saying the EU had six to eight weeks to end division and inaction on managing immigration, Mark Rutte told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg that if that failed “we have to think about a plan B”.

As Germany has firmed up border controls in recent months, Austria has often followed. Austria’s interior minister said last week it would start turning away people who were no longer being let into Germany, prompting a knock-on effect further down the main route into Europe.

Faymann said he had discussed his government’s plans in principle with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and their Slovenian counterpart.

Faymann referred to the measures as a second-best option while awaiting a European solution involving securing the EU’s external borders, setting up centers there for people to apply for asylum, and spreading them around the bloc.

(Additional reporting by Matt Robinson in Belgrade, Marja Novak in Ljubljana and by the Brussels bureau; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

EU official warns Europe has two months to tackle migration crisis

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) – European Council President Donald Tusk issued a stark warning on Tuesday that the European Union had “no more than two months” to tackle the migration crisis engulfing the 28-nation bloc or else face the collapse of its passport-free Schengen zone.

Tusk was speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg amid growing frustration in Brussels and Germany – the bloc’s biggest economy and main destination for migrants arriving in Europe – that the EU seems unable to get its act together on its worst migration crisis since World War Two.

“We have no more than two months to get things under control,” Tusk, who chairs the summits of EU leaders, said.

“The March European Council (summit) will be the last moment to see if our strategy works. If it doesn’t, we will face grave consequences such as the collapse of Schengen.”

The European Council summit on March 17-18 will focus mainly on the migrant crisis. The Schengen system has already been suspended in some countries like Denmark, Germany and Sweden, which have introduced controls at their borders in order to stem the flow of migrant and refugee arrivals.

Tusk said that EU governments have failed to deliver on commitments to curb the flow of refugees and migrants reaching Europe, with more than 1 million arrivals last year and figures showing little sign of decreasing over the winter months.

A landmark deal with Turkey, which is meant to keep more people on its soil in exchange for funding for migrants and reviving its long-stalled EU membership talks, “was still to bear fruit”, Tusk said.

On creating the bloc’s joint border guard – another measure to address the migration crisis – Tusk said he expected a political agreement between EU leaders when they meet for a summit in June.

He said the EU would “fail as a political project” if it could not control its external borders properly.

The crisis has exposed bitter disputes among EU countries, with some blaming Greece and Italy for letting too many people in. Athens and Rome say Germany’s initial open-door policy encouraged more arrivals than anyone could cope with.

DEAL WITH BRITAIN

Tusk also said he would present his detailed proposal on talks with Britain ahead of a summit next month over its demands for changes to the bloc that London says are necessary for the country to stay in.

The most contentious demand is to allow London to curb benefit payments to EU migrants for four years after they arrive in Britain.

“There will be no compromise on fundamental values on non-discrimination and free movement,” Tusk said. “At the same time, I will do everything in my power to find a satisfactory solution also for the British side.”

He said time he would try to obtain a deal in February.

(Writing by Gabriela Baczynska and Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Number of European Migrants, Refugees Now Officially Tops 1 Million

More than 1 million migrants and refugees traveled to Europe in 2015, according to data released Tuesday by the International Office of Migration (IOM).

The office placed the approximate total of refugee and migrant arrivals in Europe at 1,005,504 through Monday. The office said it was the highest flow of displaced people since World War II.

The overwhelming majority of the migrants and refugees arrived by sea, according to the IOM. Approximately 97 percent (971,289) traveled that way, while only 34,215 journeyed by land.
Most of the new arrivals were from South Asia, Africa and Syria, where an ongoing civil war has forced millions of people to flee their homes and travel to other countries in search of new lives.

The data was announced days after a United Nations Refugee Agency report indicated the number of displaced people around the globe likely “far surpassed” 60 million, a record total. That U.N. report covers refugees, asylum seekers and so-called internally displaced people, or those who have been forced to flee their homes but were still currently living in their countries.

The surge in migrant and refugee arrivals has become a contested political issue in Europe, with widespread debate about policies and security. In a joint statement with the IOM, the United Nations Refugee Agency described Europe’s initial reaction to the arrivals as “chaotic,” with thousands of refugees traveling through Greece only to be unable to cross certain borders, but noted “a more coordinated European response is beginning to take shape.”

Still, there remain some concerns about the arrival of refugees — particularly from Syria, the most common place of origin for refugees — as one of the men behind the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris had a forged Syrian passport, fueling concerns that he was posing as a refugee.

“As anti-foreigner sentiments escalate in some quarters, it is important to recognize the positive contributions that refugees and migrants make to the societies in which they live and also honor core European values: protecting lives, upholding human rights and promoting tolerance and diversity,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

The United Nations reported that 50 percent of the refugees arriving in Europe were traveling from Syria. Another 20 percent were from Afghanistan and another 7 percent came from Iraq.

The IOM reported 3,692 refugees were killed on their journeys, about 400 more than 2014. The IOM’s director general, William Lacy Swing, called for improvements to the migration process.

“Migration must be legal, safe and secure for all – both for the migrants themselves and the countries that will become their new homes,” Swing said in a statement.

French PM: Europe can’t accept more refugees

It is impossible for European Union nations to accept any more refugees, the French prime minister has been quoted as saying, and the fate of the bloc depends on its border controls.

Manuel Valls reportedly made the comments in the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Reuters reported that roughly 1 million refugees were expected to arrive in Europe this year. Germany, which began accepting refugees in September, was originally praised for opening its doors for those fleeing the war-torn Middle East. But the nation’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has faced more and more scrutiny as the number of migrants going to Europe has continued to rise.

Valls, in his comments to the German newspaper, warned that Europe’s external borders needed more stringent regulations.

“If we don’t do that, the people will say: Enough of Europe,” Valls was quoted as saying.

The BBC reported that select European nations have enacted stricter border controls in the wake of the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks that left 130 dead. The attacks have added fuel to the debate over the migrants, particularly because a forged Syrian passport was found near one attacker.

Critics fear terrorist groups could take advantage of the ongoing migrant crisis, which Reuters called the continent’s worst since World War II, and use it to funnel terrorists into Europe.

Economic officials from both France and Germany have proposed setting aside $10.7 billion to improve security, border controls and refugee care, Reuters reported.

The European Union has also voted to devote $3.1 billion for an aid facility in Turkey, which it hopes will help lower the number of migrants headed to Europe, Reuters reported. However, it’s still not finalized and it’s unclear if the member nations will give enough money to fully fund it.

A summit between Turkey and the European Union is scheduled for Sunday. Officials told Reuters there are still major hurdles to clear before any migration pact will be finalized.

ISIS Threatens Paris-style Attack on Washington D.C. and Other Countries

The Islamic State recently posted a video on one of their websites, claiming that more attacks like the one carried out in Paris would be executed in other countries contributing to strikes against ISIS in Syria, including the United States.

In fact, the Washington Post reports that ISIS specifically threatened to carry out an attack on Washington D.C. in the 11 minute video after showing new clips of the carnage in Paris.

“We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France’s and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington,” the man says, according to a translation from Reuters.

Another member of ISIS also threatened other European nations in the video.

“I say to the European countries that we are coming — coming with booby traps and explosives, coming with explosive belts and [gun] silencers and you will be unable to stop us because today we are much stronger than before,” he said.

Reuters added that it was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the video.

EU Leaders Vow to Increase Capacity at Migrant Summit

European Union (EU) leaders gathered in Brussels to handle the European refugee crisis, resulting in an additional 100,000 refugees to be welcomed into Greece and the western Balkans.

According to BBC News, the new agreement between the 11 EU countries and the three non-EU states will have Greece opening up its country to an additional 30,000 refugees by the end of the year. Just within the last week, Greece has seen 9,000 refugees a day enter its borders, which is the highest rate so far in 2015. The Associated Press reported that the United Nations will be providing capacity for 20,000 more.

The meeting was held to find a plan of action before the winter months set in, leaving thousands of refugees in camps and out in the open in soon-to-be freezing temperatures.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker conducted an interview with German newspaper Bild am Sonntag saying: “Every day counts…otherwise we will soon see families in cold rivers in the Balkans perish miserably.

“The challenge now is to slow down the flow of migration and to bring our external borders under control. We must also make it clear that people who arrive at our borders who are not looking for international protection have no right to enter the EU,” he added.

“As winter looms, the sight of thousands of refugees sleeping rough as they make their way through Europe represents a damning indictment of the European Union’s failure to offer a forward thinking and coordinated response to the refugee crisis,” John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International director of Europe and Central Asia, told USA Today.

“The EU has the mechanisms and, collectively, the money to ensure adequate reception conditions to all arriving refugees and migrants; these must be used to end the march of misery being endured by hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants,” he added.

The summit was conducted with the current world leaders of Austria, Croatia, Macedonia, Germany, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, and Slovenia present.

Due to the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Eritrea, and Afghanistan, over 680,000 refugees have escaped the areas and came to Europe by sea this year, according to USA Today.

Thousands of Refugees Stranded across Balkans

Thousands of refugees, including children and babies, were left stranded at borders in the Balkans as Croatia and Slovenia and other countries began tightening border control and limiting the number of refugees allowed in their countries.

According to CNN, approximately 10,000 refugees were left stranded in Serbia due to Hungary closing down two of its borders – including its border with Serbia. Many of the refugees have been bottlenecked on Serbia’s western border where they are trying to enter Croatia, then travel to Slovenia. Slovenia recently announced they would only accept 2,500 refugees a day, but their neighbor, Croatia, is letting more than 5,000 travel through to Slovenia, despite Slovenia’s limitations. Slovenia borders Croatia, Austria, Hungary, and Italy.

“Croatia is ignoring our pleas, our plans,” Bostjan Sefic, state secretary at Slovenia’s interior ministry, told a news conference, saying the army would be called in to help if such a rate continued.

Croatia is also considering tighter restrictions after more than 200,000 refugees crossed their border over the past month. Government officials are considering raising a barrier or fence across the border.

“I would like to avoid the situation where we have to put any kind of physical barrier on the border, but I have always requested from our government a tight control of the border… I don’t know about the fence, I don’t exclude it as a possibility in the future,” said Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

U.N. refugee agencies have reported another concern: they are running out of supplies. As colder weather approaches, doctors are worried that they will not have the supplies to treat children and weaker adults who suffer from hypothermia. Aid agencies and charities continue to donate to the cause, but have been struggling to keep up with the large number of refugees fleeing war in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

“We don’t have a chance to treat, we don’t have the actual medicine to be given out to them, we don’t have any more rain coats,” Dr. Ramiz Momeni, London-based founder of the Humanitas Charity, told Sky News.

“There is a lack of food, lack of blankets, we are missing everything,” UN Refugee Agency spokeswoman Melita Sunjic also told the media outlet.

Since the crisis began, more than 615,000 refugees have arrived in Europe via sea so far this year. In 2014 there were 626,000 asylum applications according to Eurostat figures. Germany alone is expected to see up to 800,000 asylum seekers and refugees this year.

Goldman Sachs: The Third Wave of 2008’s Financial Crisis is Coming

In 2008, the U.S. real estate and investment banking collapsed, resulting in a financial disaster that is returning in a third wave.

Goldman Sachs analysts led by Peter Oppenheimer stated that the new crisis is characterized by a triple-whammy of rock bottom commodities prices, China’s stalling growth and other emerging markets economies, and low global inflation. The triple-whammy is a result of the banking collapse and European sovereign debt crisis, what experts call a debt supercycle that has taken place over the last few decades.

During the first two debt-fuelled crises, central banks all began to lower interest rates, encouraging investors to lend in emerging markets like China for a decent return. However, now that interest rates may be on the rise, lenders are pulling out of commodities.

During the first wave in 2008, the same situation happened along with the crash of the U.S. housing market. The low interest rates were put into place to grow credit and increase leverage, particularly in China. Combine this with China trying to escape the middle-income trap and the plunge of global commodity prices, and a new crisis is not very far away. At best, the situation would be a painful readjustment period for China.

The global economy will soon slow down thanks to developed economies raising interest rates. The raised rates will also apply to safer assets such as government bonds, which gives investors less incentive to take risks overseas in emerging markets. Without the investments, emerging market companies can’t fund big projects, which in turn, slows down the global economy.

What makes the situation even worse, is that recovery from the crisis is continuously stalled due to the different stages of the economy interacting with each other. In 2010 and 2011, the EU sovereign debt crisis derailed the U.S. economic recovery.

What will it take for the world to recover from the financial crisis? All excess lending in emerging markets have to be worked through, and investors will have to take losses.

Facebook Privacy Concern for EU Citizen Continues

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The European Union’s (EU) highest court gave their opinion on a security matter concerning Facebook handing over user data of EU citizens to United States officials. The opinion of the European Court of Justice ruled that the data sharing rules between Europe and the U.S. were “invalid.”

An agreement was reached in 2000 between Europe and the U.S. allowing tech firms to transfer user data in huge quantities to U.S. servers. However, the court believes the deal is no longer valid due to recent allegations of mass spying by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The case was brought forward by activist and Austrian law student Max Schrems. Schrems was concerned with how his personal data could be transferred to the U.S. through Facebook. To illustrate the problem, he used documents leaked by Edward Snowden.

“This finding, if confirmed by the court, would be a major step in limiting the legal options for U.S. authorities to conduct mass surveillance on data held by EU companies, including EU subsidiaries of U.S. companies,” Schrems said in a statement.

A final ruling is expected later this year. If ruled in favor of Schrems, Facebook’s European branch in Ireland “would be barred from processing its data in the U.S., but would have to process its data in a place where those data are not subject to NSA mass-surveillance,” Herwig Hofmann, a lawyer representing Schrems, told reporters.

Facebook continues to state that have broken no laws and are in complete compliance with the EU Data Protection Law.

“We have repeatedly said that we do not provide ‘backdoor’ access to Facebook servers and data to intelligence agencies or governments,” said Facebook spokeswoman Sally Aldous.

The case is: C-362/14, Maximillian Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner.

“European Day of Action for Refugees” Brings Protests

Saturday marked a day of protests across Europe after a Facebook-driven activist campaign called for a “day of action” on behalf of refugees.

“We can’t continue to allow thousands to die trying to reach Europe as they search for safety, hope and the chance to live another day,” the Facebook page states.  “We can’t stay silent anymore as our politicians and the media are stigmatizing these men, women and children as threats and burdens. We can’t let our governments close all our borders and build fences to keep people in need out. That’s not what Europe should be about.”

Marchers in London worked their way to 10 Downing Street to call on Prime Minister David Cameron to accept more than the 20,000 Syrians he agreed to take over the next five years.  The group held signs that read things like “Don’t Bomb Syria,” “Refugees welcome” and “Solidarity with refugees.”

Protests took place in Denmark, Austria, Romania, Greece, France and Finland.

Meanwhile, debate in Washington raged on Sunday morning talk shows about the role the U.S. can play in accepting Syrian refugees.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut suggested the U.S. could take in 50,000 refugees.

“It doesn’t stand to reason that Germany is going to take 800,000 and the U.S. has only taken 1,500,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “If we want credibility in the region, we’ve got to be seen as a partner in trying to solve this humanitarian crisis.”

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson said that any help should not compromise national security.

“It is not the fanciful to think that ISIS may be assaulting some of those refugees with some of their operatives,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “We are taking shortcuts in terms of vetting process. …  . And we need to be first concerned about our own national security. So we are a compassionate nation, but we’ve got to fully vet the individuals that we would take in.”