1. Migrants, the Brussels summit
Step by step, everything about the European political leaders meeting in Brussels on the migrant issue – as Liveblogged on Politico.eu. The results of the summit, envisaged by Politico:
– the Balkan route in Europe is closed;
– the “open door” policy is over;
– all non-Syrian migrants will be sent back to Turkey – where the majority of migrants come from – and the Turkish state will receive European aid.
2. Open the borders
Life in Idomeni (Greece) along the 18 kilometres of barbed wire at the border with Macedonia. This one-hour long video by Diego Bianchi, host of the popular TV show Gazebo, documents how things are going in the most heated area on the Balkan route. The episode was aired on March 6.
3. Small ideas, major outcomes
Four small and yet brilliant ideas to deal with the migrant crisis. The principle is that of supply and demand: why not ask refugees in Europe what they want and what they are good at, to match with our needs? And why not make humanitarian visas possible ?
4. A postcard from Idomeni
Let's move #EU Summit to #Idomeni, where govt leaders can face their collective shame & listen to #refugees' stories pic.twitter.com/4viTw0NYwl
— Lotte Leicht (@LotteLeicht1) March 5, 2016
5. Good-bye Schengen?
What do Italians and Europeans actually think about the Schengen Treaty? These are bad times for the continental agreement, which allows – or rather, allowed – free movement in the 28 EU countries, according to sociologist Ilvo Diamanti. The IX European security report (realized by Demos and Pavia monitoring Unit with Unipolis Foundation) reveals that 60% of the Italians that were interviewed want to reinstate border controls.
6. Afghans and Iraqis as second class refugees.
The fight against non-Syrian refugees. The European Union seems to want to take the refugees’ country of origin as a key criterion for making decisions on asylum applications, whereas the UN warns that it is illegal to say no to the Afghans and Iraqis in Turkey, or to return them in Turkey if they are in Europe – here is the Financial Times’ analysis.
7. A divided Europe concerning the solution to the refugee crisis.
What to do about refugees?
No agreement in Europe. pic.twitter.com/pmQmkfjqJV— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) March 7, 2016
8. The strange couple Merkel-Tzipras
Berlin and Athens are unusually connected in facing the refugee crisis. In fact, here is Bloomberg’s analysis on what was an unimaginable scenario just a few months ago: “Greece is suffering a terrible lack of solidarity by a lot of European member states. The only European state that’s defending Greece on the migration issue in these days – quite interestingly – is Germany” said the Minister of Finance Schauble, the enemy of his (former) Greek colleague Varoufakis only a few months ago.
9. The Pope himself says yes to humanitarian corridors
Migranti, Papa 'benedice' i corridoi umanitari: "Uniscono solidarietà e sicurezza" https://t.co/sdHdU4PlJx
— Repubblica Tv (@RepubblicaTv) March 6, 2016
10. A wrong turn for the EU
“Respect the European Union’s fundamental democratic principles”. ASGI – Associazione per gli Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione, an Italian association working on the legal aspects of migration – has published a paper stating how a democratic and egalitarian policy regarding migrants should be.
