The flight to Europe

The flight to Europe Archive image. A boat with refugees arrives on the coast of Greece. AP  

EU countries agree on common migrant pact  

The EU member states have reached an agreement on a new asylum and migration pact, according to AFP.  

According to the news agency, the last doubting countries chose to give the go-ahead for the reform on Wednesday. The purpose of the reform is to more clearly distribute responsibility between different member states. This is so that certain countries - such as Greece, Italy and Spain - which are closest to the EU's external border - should not have to bear a disproportionately large burden compared to others.

As recently as last week, negotiations stalled when Italy refused to agree on what standard would apply to refugee reception centers at high loads.  

The Swedish EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson (S), who is responsible for internal affairs within the Union, has recently expressed hope that the countries will agree on a pact.  

British Home Secretary Suella Braverman gives a speech at the Tory Party's annual conference. Stefan Rousseau / AP  

The Tory Party's refugee policy is sawed off - by its own minister  

Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman criticizes the migration policy that her own Tory party has pursued in recent years, The Times reports. In a speech in connection with the party's conference in Manchester, she warns that a "hurricane" of migrants could come to the country, and emphasizes that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been behind a shift to a stricter refugee policy.  

She also says that there are "more people in poor countries who would like to live in the UK than could ever be accommodated".  

According to Braverman, previous governments have failed to maintain a good migration policy for fear of being labeled as racist.

Dimitris Kairidis. Petros Giannakouris / AP  

 

The demand from Greece: Increase pressure on passive home countries  

 

Greece demands that non-European countries that refuse to take back rejected migrants should be sanctioned by the EU, writes the AP news agency. 

 

Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis believes that the EU must increase the pressure on the countries that are cold-hearted towards their own citizens. 

 

- These must have their financial support withdrawn. Europe has the authority to pursue that issue, he says.  

 

The possibility of imposed sanctions has been discussed in the final stages of the negotiations held on a common asylum and migration pact for the entire EU.