100 posts
More information on our privacy policy changes
Last night we received a letter from the Jacob Kohnstamm, Chairman of the Europe's Article 29 Working Party, asking for additional information about the changes to our privacy policy. We briefed most of the members of the working party in the weeks...
Libya Asks EU to Assist with Renovation of Migrant Detention Centres
At a press conference held last week, Libyan Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali asked the European Union for assistance in dealing with new immigration flows and specifically requested assistance to renovate 19 existing migrant detention centres. (Gl...
Report of Migrant Boat Sinking Off Libyan Coast – 15 Dead, 40 Missing
According to AFP , the Somali envoy in Tripoli has reported that a migrant boat carrying approximately 50 migrants sank off the coast of Misrata on Wednesday last week. The boat was reportedly carrying about 55 migrants from Somalia. 15 …...
The multi-million euro gorilla
Leaked wiretaps implicate Slovakia's political elite in a bribery scandal...
Formal informal in Copenhagen
I’m attending a so-called informal council meeting in Copenhagen. And by “informal”, I don’t mean relaxed discussions by the fire, without any strict agenda. On the contrary, we are more numerous than ever – all EU membe...
EASO Press Release: Asylum Support Teams to go to Luxembourg
On 26 January 2012, in the margins of the informal meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Copenhagen, Dr Robert K. Visser, Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and Nicolas Schmit, Minister of Labour, Employment...
UNHCR: Record Number of Refugees and Migrants Cross to Yemen in 2011
The UNHCR reports that there has been an almost 100% increase in the number of refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants who crossed the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea from Africa to Yemen in 2011 compared to 2010. 103,000 migrants are … Continue read...
ECJ Madness strikes again
Sometimes one just has to sit open-mouthed in wonder at the judgements pouring forth from the Luxembourg European Court of Justice. I bring you the case of Maribel Dominguez. Meribel had been off work for 14 months due to an accident, and felt that t...
We shouldn’t apologise for our immigration record
Labour has recently joined the Tories in drawing up a mea culpa for our record in Government. Some of these have a degree of merit. For example, Labour did not rebalance our economy; and Labour allowed many of the gains it made in social welfare and...
Hrant Dink trial once again puts judiciary process in Turkey under fire.. A roundup…
Turkey seeks to streamline judicial process from FT.com – World, Europe Ankara has unveiled a package of almost 100 reforms to the lumbering judicial system, which is under the international spotlight Judiciary in Turkey under European fire fr...
Migration Watch row says a lot about modern Britain’s attitude to immigration
This month, a report from Migration Watch apparently claimed a link between migration to the UK and youth unemployment. The derision, of both the report’s method and its claim, was immediate. Most clearly heard amongst the dissenting voices was...
Deaths at Sea: Tourists and Migrants
Presseurop reproduced a commentary article by Dominic Johnson from the Berlin newspaper Taz (Die Tageszeitung) contrasting the sinking of the Costa Concordia (and the extensive media coverage) with the more common and numerous sinking of migrant boat...
Malmström: Europe Failed Refugees in 2011
Commissioner Cecilia Malmström wrote an opinion article in The Times of Malta of 19 January: “Refugees: How Europe failed- European promises of solidarity with people in need were tested in 2011. It is worrying to note that Europe, collectively,...
Hundreds of Tunisians Who Sailed to Lampedusa in 2011 Remain Missing
Hundreds of Tunisians who departed Tunisia for Lampedusa by sea in early 2011 remain missing. Some of the missing almost certainly died at sea, but family members remain hopeful that others survived the voyage and are now in Italy or … Contin...
The Inventory
January is obviously a month during which various plans for 2012 are being made by the European institutions. Also the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) published today his priorities for the coming year as far as legislative initiatives are...
Has the European Court of Justice Challenged Member State Sovereignty in Nationality Law?
RSCAS/EUI Working Paper n. 2011/62 edited by Jo Shaw and published in the EUDO Citizenship Series In March 2010, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU or Court) handed down its judgment in the long awaited case of Rottmann. This paper ex...
European Commission asks: Do immigration laws reflect today’s couples?
Written by Thomas Huddleston, MIPEX Research Coordinator, Co-author and Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Group Most EU Member States do not let non-EU couples reunite if they do not–or cannot–marry. Can Member States work together to cha...
EASO Press Release: 2012 Work Programme published
The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) has recently published its Work Programme for 2012. During its second year of operations, EASO will consolidate the work undertaken in 2011 and will start new tasks in accordance with the EASO founding...
Before Christmas in Luxembourg
Here are some cases that I didn’t get around to before the holidays. Regularly scheduled programming resumes next week. The biggest case of the weeks before Christmas is undoubtedly the Grand Chamber’s Emissions Trading for Airlines judgment in...
Statewatch Analysis: The EU’s self-interested response to unrest in north Africa: the meaning of treaties and readmission agreements between Italy and north African states
Statewatch released an Analysis by Yasha Maccanico entitled “The EU’s self-interested response to unrest in north Africa: the meaning of treaties and readmission agreements between Italy and north African states.” The Analysis provides a desc...
The “carnage” on our roads.
I’m posting this on New Year’s Eve. Here’s a prediction about the weekend: The AA or the Gardai will have issued a “Call” for drivers to “exercise caution” over the weekend. By Monday night, a number of youn...
Princess Caroline vs. German glossy BUNTE
A decision in the field of freedom of expression versus personality right by Germany's highest court the Federal Constitutional Court otherwise known as Bundesverfassungsgericht or "BVerfG" has caught this Kat's eye (case reference: 1 BvR 927/08). No...
Islamists slaughter Nigerian Christians on Christmas day
“There was a car filled with dead bodies. Apparently it was a family coming to worship” - witness Timothy Onyekwere, quoted in today’s Guardian. At least 35 Nigerian Christians deliberately blown to bits as they worshipped (or...
De Nederlanders “ontdekken” de “schokkende” waarheid over de immigratie naar Nederland
De Nederlanders hebben nu "ontdekt" de waarheid over wie is migreren naar hun land. De "schokkende cijfers" Er wordt gezegd dat een "explosie" van ... nee ... WACHT ... .. niet de moslims ... maar Oost-Europeanen zijn. Yep, dat klopt - de waarheid ov...
The Dutch “discover” the “shocking” truth about immigration to the Netherlands
The Dutch have now “discovered” the truth about who is migrating to their country. The “shocking numbers” are said to be an “explosion” of…nope…WAIT…..not Muslims…but East Europeans. Yep, that’s right – the truth about who is...
French police interview restaurant staff from Aidan Burley Nazi party
French police have already interviewed staff at La Fondue restaurant as part of the criminal investigation into the Nazi-themed stag party attended by Aidan Burley MP. With French news agency RFI reporting that detectives are now looking to speak to...
Australia’s Asylum-Seeker “Problem”
Although Australia is a nation conceived and developed by immigrants, the contemporary political climate towards asylum-seekers is one of hostility—a hostility that has seeped into the Australian population. The recent failed attempt by the Austral...
Appointments to the Luxembourg Courts – Part 2
Christopher Brown The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has recently commenced the selection process for appointing the UK’s next judge at the Court of Justice. He or she will succeed Sir Konrad Schiemann, who retires next summer. The process con...
Customs, security and immigration - learn it, live it, love it
I have many irrational pet peeves, and many seem to involve air travel. One of the most silly may be my disproportional irritation when people use the word 'customs' when they really mean immigration or airport security. But as silly as this little h...
“Third World War” of Terrorists
By Robert Nakarada Lately in Europe a mutual terroristic threat has been growing from the side of Western and Musli...
Anders Breivik: cold and calculating, yes – but insane? | Simon Baron-Cohen
Breivik probably has a pyschopath's lack of affective empathy. But that alone cannot explain his terrible crueltyWe can all remember where we were when we heard that Anders Breivik had gone to a summer camp on Utoya island in Norway, dressed as...
NATO Reportedly Agrees to Provide Additional Information to PACE Regarding Migrant Deaths in the Mediterranean
The PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, in connection with the preparation of a report by Ms Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC) on the deaths of boat people who have died in the Mediterranean, conducted a hearing in Paris on … Co...
Criminal Charges Brought in Italy Against 5 Men Accused of Murdering Passengers On Disabled Migrant Boat
Italian authorities in Agrigento have brought criminal charges, including charges of unlawful killing, against 5 men from Ghana and Nigeria who are accused of throwing fellow migrant passengers into the sea from a disabled migrant boat this past Augu...
Last Week in Luxembourg
Unquestionably, the most important judgment last week was Scarlet Extended v. Sabam, the internet privacy case. Internet Service Providers cannot be made to police the use of peer-to-peer file sharing software among their customers, because such a re...
Chatham House Briefing Paper: Responding to Migration from Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: Lessons Learned from Libya
A new Chatham House Briefing Paper by Dr Khalid Koser entitled “Responding to Migration from Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: Lessons Learned from Libya” has been released. Summary: At its peak during the Libyan conflict, migration to Tunisia an...
Germany’s “mysterious murder series” and the “new far right terrorism.”
Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, Germany's interior minister, is an Islamophobic boob himself, is now "discovering" some kind of "new terrorism" in his own country. The obvious murders of Turkish businessmen and threats from a Nazi group to ca...
Duitsland: “mysterieuze moorden” en de “nieuwe extreem-rechts terrorisme. “
Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, minister van Binnenlandse Zaken van Duitsland, is een islamofoob boob zelf, is nu 'ontdekken' van een soort van 'nieuwe terrorisme "in zijn eigen land. De voor de hand liggende moorden op Turkse zakenlieden en bedreigin...
The Continent's New Europeans
Europe's newest citizens are first and foremost Moroccans, Turks, and Indians, reports Le Monde, integrating the countries that they are historically linked to, i.e., France, Germany, and Britain who, together, take in over half (respectively 135,80...
Copenhagen for the day
I have spent the day in Copenhagen, as part of preparations for the incoming Danish EU Presidency. The day began with me giving a public lecture at the University of Copenhagen. The theme was the Arab spring and the EU’s migration policy. It wa...
European (legal) culture & consumers
The best part of my working day today consisted of reading a part of a thesis manuscript dedicated to the cultural dimension of national resistance against the 'Europeanisation of private law'. Having come to the end of the chapter, it seemed interes...
A German decision that sets back Europe
News reaches me of a rather strange decision by the German constitutional court regarding the elections to the European Parliament. The ruling is forcing a change in the way in which Germany elects its MEPs. The decision is strange not because it is...
The Commission and the IOM streamline their cooperation
The European Commission and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) agreed to strengthen their cooperation in the area of migration and mobility. Commissioners Cecilia Malmström (Home Affairs) and Andris Piebalgs (Development) signed a...
UNHCR Calls on Malta and Italy to Expand Search For Missing Migrant Boat
UNHCR’s Malta office issued the following statement on Thursday while search efforts for the migrant boat by the Armed Forces of Malta continued: “The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expresses deep concern for the fate of te...
Director Laitinen Describes Frontex Response to the 2011 Migratory Flows from North Africa
In a recent opinion article published on Publicservice.co.uk, Frontex Director Ilkka Laitinen described the challenges faced by Frontex and provided a description of Frontex’s “unprecedented” activities over the past 12 months in the operationa...
Conference on Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection in Rome
My meeting today with Gianni Letta (pictured above), Under Secretary of State to the presidency of the Council of Ministers and right-hand man of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, took place amid the high drama of a political era drawing to a close i...
Today’s agenda: Cybercrime
I’ve spent the day in various meetings, starting off with my fellow Commissioners. The hot topic was growth, and of course the situation in Greece and Italy, among other issues for discussion. It seems that it will still take some time before...
Reports of First Post-Gaddafi Migrant Boat [UPDATED 2345 GMT - Lampedusa "Closed" for SAR Operations]
Italian media is reporting this afternoon that a satellite telephone distress call has been received from a disabled migrant boat carrying about 50 persons from Libya. A search in the Maltese SAR zone is being undertaken. The boat is reportedly &...
Fair Trials International
Fair Trials International (previously known as Fair Trials Abroad) is a unique UK-based organisation which campaigns on behalf of people unjustly or cruelly imprisoned around the world, notably those who have been waiting years for a trial or else ha...
Publish and be Sued: But Where?
Aidan O’Neill QC If defamatory material has been published on the Internet where can the defamed individual bring an action, and what law applies? These are the questions posed of the CJEU by the German Federal Court of Justice (the … Con...
Opt-in, opt-out, shake it all about: the future of the European Arrest Warrant
Joanna Buckley & Anita Davies The High Court’s decision on 2 November that Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face rape allegations has rekindled debate on the use and implementation of the European Arrest Warrant (“EAW)”. Cri...
EFD Rights Watch: rape scandal at the highest judicial level; growing frustration with KCK operations…
Fury rages over rape case from Hurriyet Dailynews by ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News Government ministers and deputies from opposition parties all joined an outcry regarding a court decision that lowers the sentence for 26 suspects who wer...
