Croatia has assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the EU Council -- for the first time. The youngest EU member state is having a chance to prove itself on the world stage amid serious allegations of migrant abuse at its borders.
The European Union is known for championing freedom of movement. EU citizens can easily travel or move to another EU country. But what about migrants and refugees living in the EU? Can they travel to other countries? Are they allowed to work in another EU country? Here's what you need to know...
A new study by the US based Pew Research Center has found that as many as 4.8 million migrants were living undocumented across the EU in 2017. More than half of those are estimated to be living in the UK and Germany. However, even though news of undocumented migrants tends to dominate headlines and election campaigns, the anaylsis found that even if estimates are correct, those migrants without papers account for less than 1% of Europe's total population.
The organisation Human Rights Watch does not want Croatia to be allowed to join the Schengen area because of alleged abuses against migrants committed by Croatian authorities.
As large numbers of displaced people arrived in 2015, some Schengen countries reintroduced border checks. Six are extending controls. That's illegal, EU observers say, and it undermines the idea of freedom of movement.
The European Union has adopted regulations that establish its first permanent, stand-alone border security force. The move will increase the bloc's current security forces nearly tenfold.
A Croatian migrant rights group has placed a sign saying ''Welcome to Croatia - Country of torture'' at the border between Croatia and Bosnia to protest against reported cases of violence against migrants at the hands of the authorities. The protest is also directed against Croatia joining the Schengen zone.
Austria’s interior minister has said his country will continue to conduct checks on the borders with neighboring Hungary and Slovenia. All three EU countries are members of the Schengen zone whose members don't have controls at their mutual borders. But six Schengen countries, including Austria, have reintroduced border checks for security reasons.