World
EU migration reform won't lead to Rwanda-style plans, says Johansson
The reform of the European Union’s migration policy will not encourage the outsourcing of asylum requests, Ylva Johansson has said.
“Do we need to work with third countries to manage migration? My answer is definitely yes. We are already doing that and it’s necessary to do it even more. Nobody can manage migration alone,” the European Commissioner for Home Affairs said on Tuesday afternoon. “So we need to work with partner countries and we need to work along the routes and we need to fight the smugglers together.”
“Should we send away people that are on the EU territory applying for asylum to a third country? My answer is no. (We’re) not open for that in the Pact.”
Johansson was referring to the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, the bloc’s comprehensive reform that foresees common rules to manage the arrival of asylum seekers, fast-track the applications of those with low chances of success, and ensure a fair distribution of those granted international protection.
The New Pact was provisionally agreed upon in December and is set to receive the final greenlight from the European Parliament and member states next month, capping off almost four years of intense negotiations.
In parallel to the reform, the EU has stepped up efforts to reinforce the so-called “external dimension” of migration by designing bespoke agreements with neighbouring countries, including Tunisia, Mauritania and, soon, Egypt. In exchange for receiving a wide range of EU funds, the countries are expected to improve their border management and reduce departures of migrant vessels.
But in a move that took Brussels by surprise, Italy took the “external dimension” a step further and signed last year a protocol with Albania to process up to 36,000 asylum applications per year in the Balkan country.
The special procedure will apply to migrants who are rescued at sea by Italian authorities and then disembarked in the Albanian coastal town of Shëngjin, where two centres will be built at Rome’s expense and exclusively governed under Italian jurisdiction. Those granted international protection will be sent to Italian territory.
The Italy-Albania deal was harshly criticised by humanitarian organisations, who saw it as an unlawful case of extraterritoriality that could lead to human rights violations.
The Commission did not object to the deal but stressed its implementation had to be in line with EU law, including the provisions of the New Pact once adopted. President Ursula von der Leyen later described it as an “example of out-of-the-box thinking, based on fair sharing of responsibilities with third countries.”
The question of outsourcing resurfaced last week after von der Leyen’s party, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), adopted a manifesto for the EU elections calling for agreements to ensure “anyone applying for asylum in the EU could also be transferred to a safe third country and undergo the asylum process there.”
“In case of a positive outcome, the safe third country will grant protection to the applicant on-site. A comprehensive contractual agreement will be established with the safe third country,” the manifesto reads.
The project immediately evoked comparisons with the Rwanda plan, which Britain tried to pursue to fly asylum seekers to the African country. The plan was subject to a lengthy legal battle and eventually deemed unlawful by the country’s Supreme Court.
Speaking on Tuesday, Johansson stressed the New Pact would not pave the way for a Rwanda-style type of deal to send applicants away.
However, the Commissioner stressed the Italy-Albania protocol was “totally different” because it would apply to migrants who are rescued in international waters, not to those who have already entered Italian territory (and therefore EU territory).
“If they (receive) asylum, they will be transferred to Italy,” Johansson said. “So it’s not about externalising the asylum process.”
Last year, the EU received 1.14 million applications for international protection, marking a seven-year high. About a third of these were filed by migrants who arrived in the bloc through irregular means, Johansson said.
World
Iran's president, foreign minister, other officials confirmed dead in helicopter crash
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials were confirmed dead on Monday after their helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of the country’s northwest, Iranian state media reported.
State TV said earlier on Monday that there was “no sign of life” at the crash site of the helicopter that was carrying 63-year-old Raisi, 60-year-old Abdollahian and other officials after it made a “hard landing” on Sunday.
The crash site was across a steep valley, according to state media, which gave no immediate cause for the crash.
As the sun rose on Monday, rescuers saw the helicopter from a distance of roughly 1.25 miles, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society Pir Hossein Kolivand told state media. The officials had been missing for more than 12 hours when the helicopter was observed.
IRANIAN PRESIDENT EXPERIENCES ‘HARD LANDING’ IN HELICOPTER: IRANIAN MEDIA
Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian were traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province when the helicopter made what state TV described as a “hard landing” near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, roughly 375 miles northwest of Tehran. State TV later said it crashed further east near the village of Uzi, although details remained contradictory.
The governor of the East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards were also aboard, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. One local government official described what happened as a “crash,” while others referred to it as a “hard landing” or an “incident.”
“The esteemed president and company were on their way back aboard some helicopters and one of the helicopters was forced to make a hard landing due to the bad weather and fog,” Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in comments aired on state TV.
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE EVENT OF RAISI’S DEATH? AN IRAN EXPERT WEIGHS IN
The incident comes as Iran, under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack against Israel last month.
Iran has also faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy in response to a struggling economy and attacks on women’s rights.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Fake news on the rise as the European elections draw near
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the shooting of Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico and new EU anti-money laundering rules have all been the target of misinformation recently.
Ahead of the European elections between 6 and 9 June, EU leaders and the European Union itself are increasingly finding themselves as the targets of misinformation campaigns.
Whether it’s an attempt to discredit political rivals or claims about EU regulations, social media is rife with false narratives.
One such example stems from the dramatic shooting of Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, which has prompted swathes of politically-motivated misinformation online.
Social media users are claiming that this picture shows Fico’s alleged attacker alongside Martin Šimečka, the father of the leader of the opposition party Progressive Slovakia.
Slovakian media has identified the alleged shooter as self-described writer Juraj Cintula.
However, the picture in the post doesn’t show Cintula and Šimečka together. In fact, the second man in the picture isn’t Šimečka at all, and the photo itself comes from one of Cintula’s book launches in 2019.
Facebook itself has now labelled the post as false information.
The attempted false association of the attack on Fico with his political rivals remains particularly dangerous ahead of the European elections.
Is Donald Tusk ashamed of his Polish identity?
Across the border in Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has been accused of attacking the notion of Polishness as an identity.
A picture posted on TikTok claims that Tusk called Polishness ‘an abnormality’ that comes to him ‘with painful persistence’. However, this is misleading.
The prime minister did state those words, but they come from an article he wrote over 40 years ago.
According to Polish fact-checkers, Tusk’s article critically discusses Poles’ attitudes to reality before confirming that he identifies with his own Polishness, at a time when Poland was a communist satellite of the Soviet Union.
“Despite its oppressive heritage it remains our common conscious choice,” he said.
As a strongly pro-EU prime minister who previously served as president of the European Council, Tusk is a crucial target for misinformation mere weeks before the elections.
Is the EU banning cash payments of over €100,000?
Often, it’s the EU itself that’s under attack from those spreading false narratives.
Some social media users say the bloc has prohibited all cash payments over €100,000.
This is partly true: the EU has approved rules limiting cash transactions to €100,000 as part of a raft of new anti-money laundering measures, but these restrictions don’t apply to all transactions.
Specifically, there’s a limit on professional traders barring them from accepting or paying cash over €100,000.
Transfers between private individuals in a non-professional context are excluded.
Ahead of the European elections, it’s critical that news is shared accurately and fairly, so that the electorate can vote with the proper information at hand.
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