Libya floods: EU releases €5.2 million and channels further civil protection assistance

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. As needs in Libya are dramatically rising, the EU is strengthening its support to the country by releasing €5.2 million in humanitarian funding. The funding will be channelled through EU humanitarian partners active in the country, enabling them to strengthen assistance with a focus […]

Libya floods: EU mobilises emergency assistance via its Civil Protection Mechanism

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. Following yesterday’s request for international assistance by the Permanent Mission of the State of Libya to the United Nations office in Geneva, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated to support Libya in the aftermath of the major flood that has left thousands […]

Humanitarian aid: EU allocates €18 million in Algeria, Egypt and Libya

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The European Commission has announced its humanitarian funding for North Africa for 2022 amounting to €18 million. The funding will support some of the most vulnerable people in Algeria, Egypt and Libya. Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič said: “The European Union is committed […]

Stop cooperation with and funding to the Libyan coastguard, MEPs ask

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament. The EU should stop channeling funds to Libya to manage migration and to train its coastguard, as the violation of human rights of migrants and asylum-seekers continues. In a debate in the Civil Liberties Committee with representatives of the Commission, Frontex, UNHCR, the Council […]

Will the EU be condemned by the International Criminal Court for violating migrants’ human rights?

It was two days ago when a group of lawyers sued the EU for the deaths of Libyan migrants who attempted to cross the Mediterranean. The case is being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) which will have to rule whether or not EU nations violated human rights and are responsible for thousands of […]

Libya: Attack on foreign ministry, an attack on all Libyans, stresses UN envoy

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The United Nations peace mission in Libya has “strongly” condemned a terrorist attack on the country’s foreign ministry in the capital, Tripoli. According to media reports, the ISIL, or Da’esh terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday. At least three people […]

France, Germany challenge Trump’s America on Iran and the reign of the dollar

Last week, the French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel challenged the US President Trump by deciding to create a real European army. This week, the two European leaders said they are seriously working on the project to build a financial/trade-clearing mechanism, meant to override the American sanctions against Iran. In both […]

Erdogan vies to become Middle East Sultan over Khashoggi’s killing

It’s plain by now that the Turkish ‘Sultan’, President Tayyip Erdogan vies to directly implicate Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud or MbS, the actual ruler of his country in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The victim was for decades a very high placed systemic journalist in Riyadh, loyally serving the […]

Two shipwrecks add to ‘alarming increase’ in migrant deaths off Libya coast: IOM

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. More than 200 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean in the past three days, bringing the overall death toll so far this year to more than 1,000, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Monday. The tragic weekend began on Friday with the […]

EU migration deal welcomed by UN agencies

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. UN humanitarian agencies on Friday broadly welcomed a freshly-inked deal on migration by European Union leaders which calls for more Member States to take responsibility within their borders for those in need of protection, amid a hardening stance by some since 2015. In a […]

Libya: EU efforts should focus on protecting migrants, MEPs say

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament. This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament. Libya needs a government backed by a broad national consensus, said MEPs on Wednesday, adding that Libyans should decide the future form of their state. In their recommendation on Libya, passed by 486 […]

The missiles fired against Damascus, Syria divided Europe deeply

Last Friday night till the early hours of Saturday morning the US-France-Britain alliance attacked the Assad/Putin regime of Damascus, with a precipitation of missiles. Seemingly though, the hits have had a greater political impact on Europe than in Syria itself. Germany and Italy, the other two major European Union countries with strong interests in the […]

Human trafficking, slavery reports and health of migrants in Libya

Endorsed content of the International Federation of Medical Students Associations Grave violations of the human rights of migrants along migration pathways, including abuse, extortion, rape and even murders, were for years at the spotlight of the international and national actors, such as the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), The International Organization for Migration (IOM), UN High […]

EU Trust Fund for Africa: Can it be beneficial for Italy and tackle the migration crisis in the Mediterranean?

It was last week when the EU leaders met in Brussels to discuss how to support Italy with managing the refugees’ crisis in the central Mediterranean. The increase of the financial aid in the Trust Fund for Africa is believed to be one of the main ways to deal with this long-lasting issue. However, this […]

EU and African leaders to jointly tackle the migration crisis across the Mediterranean

It was last week when the leaders of Italy, France, Germany and Spain met in Paris with the African leaders of Chad, Niger and Libya to discuss on how to manage the influx of migrants through Libya and across the Mediterranean. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, hosted the summit and mentioned that refugee crisis is […]

Refugee crisis update: EU lacks solidarity as migration figures drop

There has been a significant decrease in July in the number of refugees reaching Italy through the Mediterranean according to data released by the Italian interior ministry last Thursday. The report shows that 11.192 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean last month; only half compared to June’s and last July’s figures. Are migration crisis figures going […]

Will the EU ever tackle the migration crisis despite the lack of political will?

Despite the fact that migration crisis figures have decreased compared to last year, the disappointing commitment of some countries to fulfil their obligations receiving asylum-seekers from Greece and Italy combined with the worsening situation in the Mediterranean are perpetuating this crisis. The European Commission (EC) continues its hard work towards the completion of the relocation […]

EU: Divided they stand on immigration and Trump hurricanes

The last Friday’s Malta Summit of the 28 minus 1 EU leaders, on emigration and the future of Europe, was convened amidst a steaming wider political environment within and without Europe. The Council could only agree upon on transferring another €200 million to the one of the at least two Libyan governments, that a small […]

Europe moulds global defense and security chart given US new inward vision

Europe takes very seriously Trump’s rhetoric about limiting US commitment to NATO and Old Continent’s defenses. In view of that, Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, speaking at a conference entitled “The Future of EU-NATO Cooperation“, found a great opportunity to address the dawning US […]

The impossible end of the war in Syria

The United States and the Russian governments without the slightest remorse announced that it was with their guns the Syrians have been killing each other for the last six years. This is the translation in plain English of last weekend’s news, which is that Washington and Moscow agreed on a truce in Syria, after very […]

Another doomed EU attempt to interfere in Libya?

Last Monday, the Italian coastguard rescued a round number of 2,000 immigrants and refugees in the central Mediterranean off the Libyan waters. In those fifteen operations the Italian coastguard was aided by two ships of the country’s navy, another two ships operated by the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières – MSF) […]

For how long will terror and economic stagnation be clouding the European skies?

Some days ago the European statistical service, Eurostat confirmed that the inflation rate in the euro area for February was well into the negative part of the chart at -0.2%. This is an infallible sign that Eurozone remains in the stagnation or even the recession region of the economic cycle for a sixth year in […]

Is there a chance for the West to win the war on terror?

On the night of 13 November 2015 in Paris, after the ISIS operatives had hit almost simultaneously a concert hall, a major football stadium and some restaurants and bars leaving 130 dead and hundreds injured, the French President Francois Hollande said “we are at war”. Last Tuesday morning the same kind of ‘armed forces’ and […]

The three sins the EU committed in 2015

During 2015, the year that now ends, the European Union has brought its well-known inability to manage the egocentric and centrifugal action of its major three nations (Britain, France and Germany) to new highs, a practice that has lately led to ineffectiveness and Euroscepticism. The EU cooperated this year with Britain, France and of course […]

Unemployment and immigrants haunt the EU; who can offer relief?

On Tuesday 1st December, Eurostat the EU statistical service reminded us all that in the euro area the October unemployment rate still remained in the double digit region with 10.7%. Understandably, this is the official percentage of people without a job, while the real unemployment rate may be double that, as this newspaper has proved, […]

The UN supports Europe’s military action in Libya and the Mediterranean; Russia and China agree

Last Friday 9 October the UN Security Council and its five permanent members unanimously decided to actually trade entire nations and geographical regions between them. To this effect they authorized the European Union to employ warships in the Libyan waters to “board ships for inspection, seize and even dispose of vessels suspected of being used […]

Drowning in the Mediterranean this summer? Many happy returns

This month the European Commission approved 23 multiannual national programs “under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF). The total funding for the agreed programs is approximately €2.4 billion, for the period 2014-2020… 22 national programs were already approved in March, and an additional 13 programs will be approved […]

EU should promote immigration as a humanitarian issue in order to provide a more permanent solution

Only a few days after the Calais migration incident, a new shipwreck just 10 miles off the coast of Libya caused the death of 25 people while there are still 200 people missing out of the 600 who were on board. The European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos in a common […]

A few, or rather two, trade and economic alliances may rule our brave new world

Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU Commission President together with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave a Press conference following the 23rd EU-Japan Summit which took place in Tokyo on 29 May. The focal point of the meeting was supposed to be the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two sides. However the EU dignitary spoke […]

Why is the EU launching a doomed policy in stopping immigrant waves? What are the real targets?

For what it’s worth, the Libyan government, the one recognized by Europe and the West, rejected the EU plan to carry out military operations in the country’s territorial waters and soil against the traffickers of immigrants. This reaction by the one of the two Libyan governments is quite understandable, because it’s practically impossible to distinguish […]

The EU threatens to occupy Libya militarily; is another colonial war brewing?

It was really deplorable to watch the 28 EU leaders who gathered in Brussels last week after the hecatombs of drowned emigrants, to solemnly discuss aggressive military operations on the soil and the sea ports of their Mediterranean neighbours. They decided to use military force and thus kill people, in order to forcefully reverse the […]

Why do thousands of migrants need to be drowned for Brussels to wake up?

The European Union is once more hit by migration. Last Sunday, around 800 illegal immigrants are believed to have died when their ship sank on the way from the Libyan coast to the Italian Island of Lampedusa. As a result, the EU foreign and interior ministers gathered in Luxembourg earlier this week to discuss about the migration crisis […]

Does the West reserve the fate of Libya and Syria for others? How does this relate to the EU’s Neighborhood Policy?

Last Monday the High Representative and Vice-president of the European Commission Federica Mogherini delivered the opening speech, in the ministerial meeting of EU’s Southern partners, in the context of the European Neighborhood Policy that took place in Barcelona. At some point she noticed that out of the 38 foreign ministers who were supposed to participate […]

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