⊂ EUROPE ⊃
Refugees block train tracks near Idomeni: Protesting refugees and migrants on Tuesday clashed with Greek police in the border town of Idomeni, next to the closed crossing between Greece and Macedonia. Refugees also blocked train tracks near the Idomeni camp. Aid agency Oxfam has reported that only 1.39 percent of five million Syrian refugees have been resettled by the world’s wealthy nations. The refugee organisation Pro Asyl has accused the EU of completely failing in the refugee crisis.
euronews.com, dw.com
After the Brussels attacks: Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur has acknowledged that mistakes have been made by Belgian investigators before and since the 22 March attacks. Mayeur, who has travelled to Paris to address the city council on the Brussels bombings as well as last November’s Paris attacks, said that he thought it was a mistake to free Faycal C., arguing that the suspect had actively tried to recruit refugees for jihad in a park in Brussels. Belgian’s health minister, meanwhile, lowered the death toll from 35 to 32, citing an overlap due to some victims having dual nationality. The figure does not include the three suicide bombers.
bbc.com, dw.com
IMF considers relaxing austerity demands in Greece: The International Monetary Fund believes in the European Central Bank’s low interest rate policy. IMF’s chief economist Maurice Obstfeld warned of the deflationary effect of falling oil prices, if central banks were no longer able to lower their key interest rates to counter low inflation. In the case of Greece, austerity demands could temporarily be relaxed to deal with additional costs arising from the refugee crisis.
spiegel.de
Another border fence in the East: Latvia has started building a fence at its border with Russia. Finland and Russia already agreed last week to tighter restrictions at two Arctic border crossings as an increasing number of asylum seekers try entering the EU through the Nordic state. For refugees and migrants seeking asylum in the EU, the 833-mile Arctic border offers an alternative crossing as weather warms and southern routes become increasingly restricted.
time.com
Psychoanalyst: “Reactance” could determine Brexit euractiv.com
EU: Croatia threatens to block accession negotiations with Serbia derstandard.at
⊂ QUOTES ⊃
„For those who refuse to learn German, for those who refuse to allow their relatives to integrate – for instance women or girls – for those who reject job offers: for them, there cannot be an unlimited settlement permit after three years.“
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said he is planning a new law that will require refugees to learn German and integrate into society, or else lose their permanent right of residence.
reuters.com
„We must not only support integration but demand it.“
Germany’s Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel agrees with proposals for new laws which would require refugees to integrate into society in order to stay.
independent.co.uk
⊂ COUNTRIES ⊃
Turkey demands deletion of video mocking Erdogan: The Turkish government has reportedly ordered the deletion from the internet of a German satirical video that pokes fun at President Recep Tayipp Erdogan and condemns his human rights record. Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, Martin Erdmann, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Ankara and asked to justify the contents of the short film made by “extra 3”, a satirical television programme. Instead of bowing to demands for the video to be wiped, “extra 3” sought to build on the huge interest in the song, fuelled largely by reports of the diplomatic fallout it has caused, by publishing it on Twitter, this time with English subtitles.
theguardian.com
Hostage taker arrested after plane diverted: A hijacking that diverted a domestic Egyptian flight to Cyprus has ended with all hostages released and the hijacker surrendering. EgyptAir Flight MS181 was taken over by a passenger claiming to be wearing a suicide explosive belt. Airline officials later said they had been told by Cypriot authorities that the belt was fake. The hijacker’s motives remain unclear but the Cypriot president said the incident was not terrorism-related.
bbc.com
Ukraine removes another prosecutor general: The Ukrainian Parliament voted on Tuesday to remove a prosecutor general who had clung to power for months despite visible signs of corruption. The US and other Western nations had for months called for the ousting of the prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who was widely criticized for turning a blind eye to corrupt practices and for defending the interests of a venal and entrenched elite. He was one of several political figures in Kiev whom reformers and Western diplomats saw as a worrying indicator of a return to past corrupt practices, two years after a revolution that was supposed to put a stop to self-dealing by those in power.
nytimes.com
FBI warned Dutch before Brussels terrorist attacks: The FBI notified the Netherlands about its concerns over suicide bombers Ibrahim El Bakraoui and his brother Khalid six days before the Brussels attacks, Dutch Justice Minister Ard van der Steur revealed Tuesday. Dutch officials the next day passed on to Belgium the information provided by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which had placed Ibrahim El Bakraoui on a terror watchlist in September 2015. Belgian and US investigators suspect a second assailant likely took part in the attack on a Brussels metro station last week.
yahoonews.com, wsj.com
Turkey: Tourism dives amid security fears theguardian.com
Bosnia: After two years census still without results derstandard.at
Estonia: Russia violates airspace abcnews.com
Germany: 11 terror plots foiled since 2000 n-tv.de
⊂ DATA ⊃
49 percent of Germans want to keep Greece in the EU. One year ago, 59 percent of Germans were in favour of a “Grexit”.
faz.net
⊂ JOB-BOARD ⊃
politjobs.eu: 350.org seeks campaigner *** Steltemeier & Rawe seeks Senior Associate (m/f) *** 1&1 sucht EU Public Affairs Manager VKU sucht Referentin/en *** Afore Consulting seeks Junior Consultants in European Public Affairs
politjobs.eu, politjobs.eu/submit (Inserat schalten)
⊂ MALFUNCTION ⊃
Australian anti-refugee film: The Australian government has spent 6 million dollars of taxpayers‘ money on a straight-to-TV movie intended to discourage refugees from claiming asylum in Australia. A Sydney-based film company was paid to make the film. The company’s director, Trudi-Ann Tierney, has previously been involved in the production of pro-war soap operas for Afghan television.
independent.co.uk