Greece is considering adopting measures proposed by EU institutions now and agreeing to implement additional reforms if it misses its 2018 bailout targets, in an effort to unlock new bailout loans, a government official said on Sunday. Talks on the
In his one-day visit to meet migrants and refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Saturday, Pope Francis expressed his conviction that “we are all migrants” as he greeted the many asylum-seekers awaiting word regarding the processing of their cases.
Contents: Egypt-Saudi deal for Red Sea bridge triggers massive protests in Cairo; Migrant traffic from Libya to Italy surges; Czech Republic debates adopting the short name ‘Czechia’
Scenes of desperate migrants being tear-gassed at the Greece-Macedonia border are straining an already testy relationship between the two neighbours, as Skopje also grapples with a political crisis that has seen protesters ransack the president’s office. With thousands of people
In a press conference Thursday Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi denied a political agenda behind Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to the Greek island of Lesbos, insisting that the visit is “purely humanitarian and ecumenical.” Father Lombardi outlined the program for
The Greek tourist island of Lesbos was once known to Greeks mainly for its potent ouzo, and to the rest of world as the homeland of Sappho, the seventh century poet who immortalised love for women. But in its new
The Pope told visiting pilgrims Wednesday that his upcoming visit to the Greek Island of Lesbos is meant as a gesture of “closeness and solidarity” to refugees and to all the Greek people who have been “so generous in welcoming
Contents: EU threatens to impose travel restrictions on US/Canada visitors; EU migrant crisis moves to Italy as Austria begins closing border; Austria begins construction on border controls with Italy
(REUTERS) – Keen to clear the decks for its lucrative summer tourist season, Greece is trying to clear thousands of migrants out of its biggest port where they are sleeping rough by persuading them that they are better off in
Macedonian police fired tear gas as migrants screamed “Allah hu Akbar” and tried to break through the border fence from Greece in a series of clashes that left over 200 people injured on Sunday. The incident happened at the Idomeni
Contents: ‘Horrific’ scenes as Macedonian police lob teargas into Idomeni refugee camp; Armenia-Azerbaijan ceasefire holds, despite hundreds of ‘breaches’
Heavily armed Macedonian police deployed tear-gas launchers, rubber bullets and stun grenades at the border with Greece this morning as an organised migrant invasion attempted to force the fence. Thousands of anonymous leaflets written in Arabic had been in circulation
Turkey’s president has threatened to pull the plug on the European Union (EU) migrant deal should the EU fall short on any of his demands – including visa free travel for 70 million Turks by June. In exchange for the
Contents: EU-Turkey refugee deal fraught with chaos and legal and political problems; Turkey’s Erdogan threatens to terminate the refugee deal
Pro-migrant activists in Greece swam in font of a ferry as it attempted to returning migrants to Turkey, clinging to the anchor chain to stop the vessel moving off. BBC Radio 4 this morning repeatedly claimed they were ‘migrants’, not Western activists. Yet
As the European Union deal with Turkey gets under-way and illegal migrants who have not yet applied for asylum in a EU nation are deported, thousands are rushing to get their paperwork processed in Greece, even if it isn’t their
A ferry carrying 45 Pakistani migrants returned to Turkey from the Greek island of Lesbos on Friday – the second round of arrivals under a European Union deal with Ankara to stem mass migration to Europe across the Aegean Sea.
A migrant has threatened to throw a young baby at Greek officers during a clash over plans to move the migrants to a holding centre. Greek commentators have denounced the event as ‘barbaric’. According to various reports the man grabbed
Contents: In desperation, EU tries to overhaul its refugee asylum rules; As migrants turn to the Libya route, Germany warns Italy not to wave migrants through
(Reuters) – Turkey and Germany said on Wednesday an agreement between Ankara and the EU meant to stem the flow of migrants to the Greek islands was showing signs of success, but many were still trying to cross the sea
(Reuters) – The European Union was in such a rush to start deportations of unwanted migrants from Greek islands to Turkey this week that it skirted legal questions weighing on the scheme as it tries to stem an influx into
Within the coming week Pope Francis will visit the Greek island of Lesbos, which has been dubbed “the gateway to Europe” because of the staggering number of migrants arriving to its shores, to draw attention to the plight of migrants
Athens — the last European capital without a mosque — is likely to be hit by Islamic terror attacks unless it rapidly builds one with tax payer money, local government officials have warned. “Every day that we do not have
An American lawyer is attempting to help clog up Greece’s asylum applications system to prevent migrants from being deported to Turkey. 30 year-old Kavita Kapur came to Greece initially to help cook for migrants who were stuck in Greece after Macedonia
The landmark EU-Turkey migrant summit deal may already be failing as Greece decides to postpone deportations in large migrant camps. There were no deportations of migrants from the Greek island of Lesbos on Tuesday because, according to the Greeks, there
A day after Greece deported hundreds of migrants to Turkey under an EU deal meant to discourage others from making the same perilous journey to Europe, anger was simmering on Greek islands and asylum applications were piling up. Under the
(AFP) – Pope Francis will travel to the Greek island of Lesbos on the frontline of Europe’s refugee crisis next week, Greece announced Tuesday, as a controversial EU accord to send migrants back to Turkey stalled. The trip by the
Migrants and left wing, German agitators have been demonstrating the “shameful” European Union (EU) plan to send “irregular” migrants back to Turkey, which came into effect today. “If they make me go back to Turkey I’ll throw myself and my
The Greek government deported more than 200 migrants back to Turkey early Monday morning, the first enactment of a recent agreement between the European Union (EU) and Turkey meant to curb migration via the “Balkan route” into Europe. European police
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Sunday told Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that “we are still a good distance away” in negotiations for a new deal for hard-up Athens. Her strongly worded letter to the prime minister, made
Greece sent a first wave of migrants back to Turkey on Monday under an EU deal that has faced heavy criticism from rights groups. A small Turkish ferry, the Lesvos, and a larger catamaran, the Nezli Jale, left the island
(Reuters) – Migrants sent back from the Greek island of Lesbos began arriving in Turkey on Monday under a European Union deal aimed at stopping the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe since last year. The first of two
Contents: Armenia vs Azerbaijan conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh worst in two decades; Russian analysis: Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict could spread throughout the region; New EU-Turkey migrant crisis is developing rapidly
ISTANBUL/ATHENS (Reuters) – Migrants protested on a Greek island and rights groups raised legal objections on Friday three days before a disputed EU deal to return rejected asylum seekers from Greece to Turkey was due to go into action, with
On Wednesday, an Italian Coast Guard vessel rescued 774 migrants in the Strait of Sicily between Italy and North Africa, one of a seemingly endless series of new waves of migrants moving north as the weather becomes more temperate.
ANKARA (Reuters) – Five days before Turkey is due to begin taking back illegal migrants from Greece under a deal with the European Union, neither side is fully ready, with officials scrambling to be able to make at least a
Contents: Human traffickers sell routes through Europe for 5000 euros; Europeans expect hundreds of thousands of migrants from Libya
The horrendous attacks in Brussels last week understandably dominated the news. The slaughter of innocent civilians in yet another of Europe’s capitals has left many questioning how exactly our membership of the EU makes us safer. It is far too
Left wing extremists and anarchists have occupied private housing and a university building in Athens in order to hand them over to migrants. For the past few weeks various groups of left wing extremists and anarchists have been breaking into
A protest by hundreds of migrants, egged on by activists to demand that the border between Greece and Macedonia be opened, passed without any serious incidents on Sunday. However, it exposed rifts between different ethnic groups among the over 11,000
