Europe is facing 'no burning crisis' of people crossing its external borders, according to the EU’s border and coastguard agency, Frontex. But despite a drop in arrivals, the agency says stronger border controls are needed.
European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker has said Viktor Orban's political party does not belong in his center-right EPP group. Orban's party has accused Juncker and the EU of purposely weakening Hungary's borders.
More than 3,500 migrants from The Gambia have returned home between 2017 and now, through an EU-IOM voluntary assisted return programme. It said about 2,000 of them have received reintegration assistance.
The number of refugees using visa-free travel rights to enter the EU, especially from Latin America, is on the rise. Over the entire bloc, the number of new refugees has fallen to pre-2014 levels.
A human rights organization in Hungary has renewed allegations that Hungarian authorities are leaving asylum seekers without food for long periods of time in order to convince them to give up on asylum claims and leave the country. When the Hungarian Helsinki Committee first made the accusation six months ago, Hungary denied the claim.
European Union countries plus Norway and Switzerland saw a 10 percent drop in international protection requests in 2018 compared with 2017. The EU border agency, Frontex, also says arrivals via the Central Mediterranean route in January were 73 percent down on the previous month.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called, in his keynote speech in Strasbourg to the European Parliament, for a Europe for the people and by the people. He accused the bloc of having lost touch with what the people want and asked for more unity to address the many challenges the continent faces, including migration.
Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, has called upon Italy to uphold the human rights of refugees in an open letter dated January 31. Addressed to Italy’s Prime Minister she declares she is "deeply concerned" about "some recent measures" taken in the country.
The European Union has signed an agreement with Montenegro for border management of migrant flows in the Balkans area.
Europe’s governments are breathing a sigh of relief as the number of refugees arriving from Africa falls. But at what price?
More than 1,000 Ghanaians have been assisted to return home under a program run by the UN migration agency IOM since 2017. The IOM says it offers people the chance to go home 'with dignity', as well as helping them to reintegrate.
Bosnian authorities said migrants attempting to enter the country illegally increased by 500 percent last year, compared to 2017.