Denmark has appointed a new special migration envoy to "help open doors" towards a new EU migration policy which would push reception centers outside EU borders. The government on Thursday also said that Tunisia should take in the 27 migrants aboard the Danish-flagged tanker Maersk Etienne which has been stranded off Malta for weeks.
Following two nights of fires at the Greek migrant camp on the island of Lesbos, the authorities are providing temporary accommodation on board navy ships, ferries and in new tents being flown in. Thousands of the former residents spent the night sleeping on the roads and in fields with what few belongings they were able to save from the fires.
Italian authorities have grounded an aircraft used by the non-government organization Sea-Watch to search for migrant boats in distress. Sea-Watch says it is a deliberate ploy to stop them from reporting what is taking place in the Mediterranean.
Reactions to and speculation about the causes of a fire which has destroyed large parts of the migrant camp Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos are coming thick and fast. Now that almost 13,000 people are without shelter, what will politicians and the EU do? Some say the fire has sent current European migration policy up in flames too.
Greek authorities announced on Tuesday that they had recently stopped a total of 63 migrants at the airports on the island of Crete. The migrants were all attempting to fly to other parts of the EU on forged travel documents.
A first contingent of 134 Iraqis took off from Athens on Thursday, August 6, in Greece’s first voluntary returns flight. The scheme, funded by the European Union is aimed at relieving pressure on Greece, which is struggling to cope with the amount of migrants and asylum seekers who have reached its shores.
The German frigate "Hamburg" set sail from Wilhelmshaven in the north of Germany on August 4. It is expected to reach its Mediterranean patrol zone off the Libyan coast by mid-August. The boat will be part of the EU operation Irini, designed to help enforce a UN weapons embargo on Libya in the hope of stabilizing the country.
The story of Pietro Bartolo has been made into a film. Bartolo worked as a doctor tending to migrants on the island of Lampedusa, and is now a member of the European Parliament. The movie is also intended to serve as an appeal to Europe and its sense of responsibility.
A judge has ruled against the municipality of Castel Volturno in Italy's southern Campania region after it refused to pay a maternity grant and family benefits to a Nigerian migrant. The judge said that similar EU legislation demanded the woman be treated equally.
Migration in the Mediterranean became a focus as Germany took up the rotating presidency of the EU Council in July and the EU’s foreign minister, Josep Borrell, visited Malta this week.
The Centre for Development Information and Education (CIES) and the Tunisian Union of Social Solidarity (UTSS) have launched the first training course on "Socio-economic inclusion of migrants." It targets municipalities and civil society organizations in Tunisia.
Germany has announced it is ready to begin sending asylum seekers who have already applied for asylum in another EU country back to those countries to complete the process. The so-called 'Dublin transfers' were paused towards the end of March due to the coronavirus pandemic.