Category: European Union

Afghanistan Could Be Catalyst for Common EU Migration Policy: Commissioner

ZURICH—Events in Afghanistan could be a catalyst for the European Union to forge a common migration policy, European Commissioner Margaritis Schinas said in a newspaper interview. EU states are concerned that the Taliban takeover could trigger a replay of the crisis of 2015/16, when the arrival of more than a million migrants, predominantly from the…


Echoes of 2015 as EU Grapples With Afghan Migration Challenge

BRUSSELS—European Union countries on Tuesday proposed to step up aid to Afghanistan and its neighbors but could not agree a common policy on accepting asylum seekers fleeing Taliban rule. Western nations involved in the fight against the Taliban have already evacuated 100,000 people who supported them, and should take them in, along with others who…


EU Says No Recognition of Taliban, No Political Talks

BRUSSELS—The European Union has not recognized the Taliban, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday, nor is it holding political talks with the militants, a week after they seized control of Afghanistan. The Taliban completed a lightning takeover of Afghanistan on Sunday, walking into the capital Kabul without firing a shot. The…


Europe Fears Afghan Refugee Crisis After Taliban Takeover

HANGEDIGI, Turkey—From above, the new border wall separating Turkey from Iran looks like a white snake winding through the barren hills. So far it only covers a third of the 540-kilometer (335-mile) border, leaving plenty of gaps for migrants to slip across in the dead of night. Traffic on this key migration route from central…


EU Holds Illegal Immigrant Talks, Accuses Belarus of ‘Hybrid Warfare’

BRUSSELS—European Union ministers are holding emergency talks on Wednesday in response to allegations that Belarus is deliberately sending illegal immigrants to Lithuania as part of a “hybrid warfare” campaign to destabilize the Baltic EU member country. The ministers are holding a videoconference in a so-called “integrated political crisis response” format. Such meetings are usually called…


EU to Hold Meeting on Tuesday to Discuss Afghanistan

European Union foreign ministers will hold a crisis meeting on Tuesday to discuss the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the bloc said on Monday, as countries race to evacuate citizens and local staff from a chaotic Kabul airport. Five people were killed at the airport, witnesses said, as people tried to flee a day…


European Union Reviewing New Possible Side Effects of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines

Experts in Europe are probing three newly reported conditions that appeared in people who received a COVID-19 vaccine built on messenger RNA, the European Union’s drug regulator said on Wednesday. The safety panel of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is reviewing post-vaccination cases of erythema multiforme, a skin condition that leaves people with round lesions;…


Rescued Migrants Get OK to Land in Italy After Days at Sea

ROME—A German charity boat carrying 257 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean docked Saturday in Sicily after Italian authorities granted permission, and hours later a French humanitarian vessel with 549 migrants aboard received a similar port assignment. After several days in limbo at sea, Sea-Watch 3 sailed into port at Trapani, western Sicily. Among the migrants…


Why the EU Is Dragging the US Into Its Failings | Truth Over News

President Joe Biden received a warm welcome during his visit to the Group of Seven (G-7) in England, as he declared that America was back. But unlike former President Donald Trump, Biden was not there to place America first. Climate and multilateralism were at the forefront of the agenda, as were other items near and…


WhatsApp Faces EU Consumer Complaint Over Privacy Update

LONDON—Facebook’s WhatsApp faces a complaint from European Union consumer groups who say the chat service has been unfairly pressuring users to accept a new privacy update in what it calls a breach of the bloc’s regulations. The European Consumer Organisation, or BEUC, filed a complaint Monday over the way WhatsApp has brought in changes to…