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ERBIL, Iraq Iraq repatriated a second wave of more than 600 migrants from Belarus on Friday after they gave up, at least for now, on a disastrous attempt to try to reach the European Union via its eastern borders.

Two Iraqi Airways charter flights landed before dawn in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, then went on to the national capital, Baghdad. At the Erbil airport, a few dozen relatives waited quietly for their family members to emerge, then rushed forward to embrace them tearfully.

One of the returning migrants, Shaho Omar, 27, said he and his friends had been trying to reach Germany and then go on to Britain. But they abandoned their plans after hearing that at least 27 migrants died on Wednesday in a failed attempt to cross the English Channel from France to Britain aboard a flimsy inflatable boat.

What happened to them could have happened to us that shocked us, he said, adding that rough treatment by the Belarus border police and the free flight home offered by Iraqi authorities had persuaded him and others to leave.

The police took our money, they took our phone. They took our food and then came back later and offered to sell it back to us, Mr. Omar said, referring to the Belarusian officers. We didnt even have enough money to buy it back.

Thousands of Iraqis, many of them Kurds, have been caught up in a new migrant crisis in Europe. E.U. officials accuse Belarus of precipitating the crisis by loosening its visa rules in the summer and encouraging desperate asylum seekers to go to the borders of the European Union, then pushing them across in an attempt to punish the bloc for imposing sanctions on Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, the autocratic Belarusian president.

Mr. Lukashenko, who has led the country for three decades, threatened the European Union in May to flood its member states with migrants after it imposed sanctions on him following the forced downing of a plane carrying a Belarusian dissident.

Once they reached Belarus, many of the migrants became stranded in the forests of the region without shelter from the cold, food or water. At times, they were thrust into dangerous confrontations as they tried to make it into Poland, Lithuania or Latvia, all members of the European Union.

Mr. Lukashenko told migrants at the Belarusian border with Poland on Friday that his country would help them go home if they wanted to, but would not force them. Addressing them directly through an interpreter, he said Belarus would provide them with warm clothing and food if they chose to stay.

ReadMore onthe Belarus-Poland Border Crisis

It was his first public appearance at the border since the start of the crisis. He visited a facility providing migrants with food and spoke to Red Cross workers at the camp.

Some migrants have reported being deported from Belarus against their will, including Iraqis sent to neighboring Syria.

In Iraq, the transportation ministry said it had repatriated 608 people on two flights on Friday and has now brought back a total of 1,038 Iraqis from the Belarusian capital, Minsk, after an initial evacuation flight on Nov. 18. But it is not clear how many of the migrants remaining in Belarus will agree to leave voluntarily, with some saying they might want to stay after they borrowed thousands of dollars to pay smugglers to get there.

Iraqs foreign ministry said it has scheduled two more evacuation flights from Minsk on Friday night to Erbil and Baghdad, which would bring the total number of voluntary returnees to almost 2,000 people.

The Iraqi migrants say they are desperate to escape a country where they dont see a future, where jobs are scarce and corruption is widespread. In the semiautonomous Kurdistan region, political and economic power is tightly held by two main political dynasties.

Mr. Omar, a Kurd, came from the northern city of Kirkuk, which sits at the heart of Iraqs northern oil fields and is a disputed territory historically claimed by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. He said life was difficult there for Kurds after the Iraqi army retook the city from Kurdish forces four years ago and that he planned to find a different route to Europe and try again after working to save up money.

If I find a better and safe route, I will definitely try again, he said. For now there are no routes thats why I came back.

Mohammed, a friend of Mr. Omar, said the Belarus police in recent days had not been actively sending migrants at the border into Poland, but instead had tried to provoke them into storming the border. Like several others among those returning, he asked to not be identified by his full name for fear of repercussions from Iraqi or Kurdish authorities.

Their main goal was to turn us into beasts, said Mohamed, who is also from Kirkuk. If a person doesnt have any food or a place to sleep, they will storm Poland.

Another migrant, Anjam Azad, from Erbil, said he saw Belarus police getting a group of more than a dozen young men in the forest to make ladders from tree branches to try to scale a fence at the Belarus border with Poland.

Ahmed, 22 and also from Erbil, said he still planned to try to get to Britain, but would wait until summer and try the sea route from Turkey to Greece. Dressed in a black jacket with the hood up, he leaned on a crutch as he spoke.

He said his leg was broken when he was beaten by Belarusian forces and attacked by guard dogs near the border. But he could not seek medical treatment for his injuries because his visa had expired, he added.

I will still try to go back through the Aegean Sea, he said, referring to the smuggling route from Turkey to Greece. Even after all I went through, I will go back because its worse here.

He lowered his voice and leaned in to whisper when asked why he had left.

You know who this place is for, he said, alluding to the powerful families who control the Kurdistan region. It is not for us.

Up to 15,000 migrants remain in Belarus, the European Commission estimated on Tuesday, with about 2,000 near the European Unions borders, adjacent to Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. Since the beginning of the year, Poland has registered more than 37,000 illegal border crossing attempts, according to Polish border guards.

Hundreds are still trying to cross every day. On Thursday, Polish police said that 230 migrants had broken through a border fence with the assistance of Belarusian border guards on Wednesday night, but had been sent back. More than 300 were been apprehended trying to cross on Tuesday.

About 100 men being held at a facility for detained migrants who crossed the border rioted on Thursday, demanding to be released, according to Polish media reports. Polands border guards said Thursday night that the situation had been brought under control.

The media reports said that the group came out of the building where they were being held, shouting freedom and that they wanted to reach Germany. They tried to break through a fence and also smashed windows at the facility and started fires.

About half of the 600 people being held at the facility, which is at a military training ground in the village of Wedrzyn, are Iraqis. The center there was in the process of preparing a flight to Iraq to repatriate a few dozen men who had not been permitted to remain in Poland.

President Andrzej Duda of Poland told reporters on Thursday that the Belarusian regime had changed its method. He said the authorities had relocated migrants to heated warehouses, and were letting migrants try to cross the borders in smaller groups during nighttime.

Monika Pronczuk contributed reporting.

See more here:
Iraqis Return From Belarus, but Some Say They Will Try Again to Reach the E.U. - The New York Times

Brussels, November 25

Concerned by the misuse of political advertising to undermine elections, the European Union on Thursday unveiled plans to help people better understand when they are seeing such ads online and who is responsible for them.

The proposals, aimed at ensuring fair and transparent polls or referendums, would also ban political targeting and amplification techniques used to reach a wider audience if they use sensitive personal data like ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation without a citizens permission.

Digital advertising for political purposes is becoming an unchecked race of dirty and opaque methods, European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova said. A myriad of data analytics and communication firms work daily with our data to try to figure out the best way to convince us to buy something or vote for someone or not to vote at all.

She said people must know why they are seeing an ad, who paid for it, how much, what micro-targeting criteria were used. New technologies should be tools for emancipation, not for manipulation.

The commission, the EUs executive branch, hopes that the 27 member countries and the European Parliament will have debated and endorsed the proposals in national law by 2023, in time for Europe-wide elections the following year.

Companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter would face fines if they failed to comply.

Facebook, which has faced heavy criticism for its lack of transparency on political ads, welcomed the move.

We have long called for EU-wide regulation on political ads and are pleased that the Commissions proposal addresses some of the more difficult questions, in particular when it comes to cross border advertising, the company, which recently renamed itself Meta, said in a press statement.

Under the plan, political ads would have to be clearly labelled, and prominently display the name of the sponsor, with a transparency notice that explains how much the ad cost and where the funds to pay for it came from. The material would have to have a direct link to the vote or poll concerned.

Information must be available about the basis on which a person, or group of people, is being targeted by the advertisement, and what kind of amplification tools are being used to help the sponsor reach a wider audience. Ads would be banned if such criteria cannot be met.

Jourova told reporters that the sensitive data that people decide to share with friends on social media cannot be used to target them for political purposes. She said that either companies like Facebook are able to publicly say who they are targeting, why and how or they will not be able to do it.

The system would be policed by data protection authorities in each of the EU member countries. National authorities would be required to impose effective, proportionate and dissuasive fines when the rules are broken.

The plans also received a cautious welcome from industry.

Currently each state has its own approach for political ads, so more guidance at the EU level would help promote EU-wide efforts, which is particularly important for smaller companies, said Victoria de Posson, senior manager at The Computer & Communications Industry Association.

But she said that clarification is needed on definitions and targeting requirements and wants the EU to consult industry and civil society representatives to ensure that the new legislative framework sets effective rules and shared responsibilities among stakeholders, thus making the law work better in practice. AP

Continued here:
European Union to limit political ads, ban use of certain personal info - The Tribune

The EU has published a draft law that would blacklist airlines and travel operators that fly people to countries on its borders as part of attempts to destabilise the bloc, in its latest response to the crisis at the Poland-Belarus border.

The proposal does not specifically mention Belarus, whose authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, is accused of engineering the arrival of thousands of people at the Polish border, where a desperate humanitarian situation has played out in recent weeks.

Companies could be banned from flying through the EU and landing and refuelling at EU airports, regardless of whether their involvement in attempts at destabilisation was intentional or not. The proposal closes a gap in EU sanctions laws, which are country-specific.

The EU recently agreed to extend sanctions against Belarus, but it can only target Belarusian companies rather than foreign airlines involved in bringing people to Minsk from the Middle East.

Ylva Johansson, the EU home affairs commissioner, said the law was needed in response to an unprecedented situation. She said Lukashenko was trying to sell tickets to the EU, charging people 10,000-20,000 for a one-way trip to Minsk and onward travel to the EU border.

We see the need to reach out directly to those travel companies which unintentionally, most of the time are being part of a state-sponsored smuggling scheme orchestrated by a desperate and non-democratic regime, Johansson said.

European Commission officials believe much of the value of the law lies in the power to deter companies from getting involved in such schemes. Hopefully we dont need to use it, Johansson said, adding that it had taken airline companies some time to understand how they are being used.

Turkish Airlines and Iraqi Airways restricted flights to Minsk after EU officials began talks with Middle Eastern governments on the issue.

Speaking to the European parliament, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the situation on the EUs eastern border was not a migration crisis, but an attempt by an authoritarian regime to try and destabilise its democratic neighbours.

These migrants are being cheated by terrible false promises. We have to fight against this and thats why we wish to establish a blacklist for all modes and means of transport on the basis of international legislation.

She urged MEPs to support the proposals to make sure they were approved quickly.

The proposal also has to be approved by EU ministers.

Belaruss interior ministry announced that more people would leave the country on Tuesday, after 122 left on Monday.

Lukashenko admitted in a recent interview with the BBC that it was absolutely possible that Belarusian state troops had helped people cross the border into Poland, although he denied being responsible for the crisis.

Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis who have managed to cross the border and reach the Polish city of Biaystok have told the Guardian they bought visa travel packages from agencies that appeared to be closely connected to the Belarusian authorities.

Since the crisis began, about 7,500 people from the Middle East have reached Lithuania, Latvia and Poland via Belarus, and 8,000 have arrived in Germany from Belarus via Poland, according to EU officials.

Last month Polands parliament passed a law allowing border guards to return asylum seekers across the border without hearing their asylum claims.

Johannson, a Swedish Social Democrat responsible for the EUs migration policy, said the commission had issues with the Polish law. We think there are elements of this law that are not compliant with the EU acquis, she said.

Under the Geneva conventions, refugees cannot be penalised for illegal border crossings.

People stuck in the no mans land between the EU and Belarus have spoken of being pushed between both countries, denied entry to Poland and return to Belarus. Asked about widespread reports of pushbacks, Johansson said this was not EU policy. We are not allowing pushbacks. We will not allow pushbacks.

She added: We should not legalise pushbacks, but its also important to say member states are obliged to prevent unauthorised entries. Sometimes the debate is a bit black or white. We have to do both. We do not have free entry to the European Union We have to protect our external border but we have to do it in a way that is compliant with European values.

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EU threatens to blacklist airlines linked to border influx - The Guardian

The Council of the European Union adopted two proposals for digital assets on Wednesday, aiming to create regulatory frameworks for crypto assets focused on consumer protection and mitigating cyber threats.

Both the Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) are part of the Council's digital finance package. That package also contains the Council's overall strategy related to crypto asset regulation and a proposal on distributed ledger technology. The intention is to create unified rules of the road for crypto in the EU to foster innovation with investor protection throughout member states, rather than allowing a fragmented approach to form in which standards differ from nation to nation.

"A dedicated and harmonised framework is therefore necessary at Union level to provide specific rules for crypto-assets and related activities and services and to clarify the applicable legal framework," read a proposal in the package. "Such harmonised framework should also cover services related to cryptoassets where these services are not yet covered by Union legislation on financial services."

The MiCA creates a framework for the issuance and services related to transferrable crypto assets, mainly calling on firms to be transparent in their operations through white papers submitted with any prospectuses and mandating that marketing be "fair" and "clearly identifiable" as ads. Any central bank digital currencies or tokens issued by other public authorities are exempt from the framework, as are tokens that function like loyalty points, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or tokens representing physical assets or services. The proposal is also clear that the regulations will apply to natural or legal persons, not the tech itself.

The DORA creates information and communication technology risk management mandates. In addition to mandating testing of these systems to stave off cyber risks, it creates a uniform reporting framework for any incidents. It also empowers European regulators to take a closer look at a firm's use of third-party service providers used for information or communication technology.

The Council will enter into negotiations with the Parliament on the proposals, and once they reach a provisional agreement, both institutions will formally adopt the regulations.

For more breaking stories like this, make sure to follow The Block onTwitter.

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Council of the European Union moves forward on two crypto proposals - The Block Crypto

After years of tense relations between Rome and Paris, the agreement is expected to boost cooperation. But is it enough to change the power centre within the EU?

Tense relations between Italy and France almost two years ago were described by France as ''the worst of its kind since World War Two'' - when former Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini declared war on France in 1940.

The most recent tumult between the two countries included the then Italian deputy prime ministers Matteo Salvini of the right-wing Northern League and Luigi Di Maio of the populist, anti-establishment Five Star Movement verbal attacks on French President Emmanuel Macron and Di Maio's meeting with the Gilet Jaune (Yellow Vests) protest leaders. Paris recalled its ambassador in retaliation.

The countries have obviously not always seen eye to eye but in recent times tensions have focused largely on European Union migration.

The Quirinale Treaty is expected to be signed between the countries on November 25, signalling a new chapter in relations with President Macron and current Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

According to Teresa Coratella and Arturo Varvelli, researchers of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the Franco-Italian pact is a mutual need to overcome divergences and improve internal cooperation.

''The objective is to contribute together to a stronger EU as a geopolitical and sovereign actor able to promote its priorities and defend its interests challenges by the Great Powers Competition,'' Coratella and Varvelli told TRT World.

The agreement comes as countries are taking stock of economic dynamics within the EU as well as the developments of the Green Deal which could have an impact on both countries.

Main agendaThe 60-page Treaty is aimed at advancing industrial and strategic cooperation between the two countries. In this sense, it resembles the Franco-German Elysee Treaty ratified in 1963.

''It covers many strategic dossiers, however, the agenda is still very secret and kept quite secret, which are part of the Italian and French domestic and foreign agenda,'' said Coratella and Varvelli. They also indicated that topics may include traditional issues such as migration, Europe, defence, foreign affairs and other areas like pandemic-related geopolitical developments.

The NextGenerationEU recovery plan for sustainability, ecological transition and economic development may also be a part of the treaty.

Bodo Weber, a Senior Associate of the Democratization Policy Council (DPC), said that the treaty comes at a turning point for the EU, considering the intermediate period in Germany with the end of the Angela Merkel-era and ahead of France's EU presidency next year.

''The treaty aims to formalise bilateral cooperation and relationship between Italy and France and putting an end to the previous Italian government 5-Star's continuous tensions with France,'' Weber added.

Draghi and Macron have known each other for quite some time since the Italian premier was appointed as the president of the European Central Bank in 2011.

Their relations have developed in recent months as the Italian premier has a pro-EU bent compared to the previous anti-EU government and is interested in finding a stronger role for Italy within the EU.

They have common perspectives on policy issues relating to Libya, China and Russia, and are also aligned on EU monetary policies.

German involvement

In this regard, some claim that the treaty may shift the power balance within the EU particularly with the departure of German Chancellor Merkel after over 16 years in power.

But according to Coratella and Varvelli, this agreement symbolises a new juncture between France and Italy with German involvement.

''Once the new German government will be settled, it will be involved in the Franco-Italian cooperation,'' they said while adding that this is a natural process and is a common Italian attitude towards Berlin based on balance and tradition.

For Weber, this seems to be an initiative to create a bridge between southern and northern Europe the so-called frugal states considering their different political positions on EU funding and future fiscal policies.

''If France-Italy cooperates closer then, it would mean close cooperation with other South-Western member states like Spain and Portugal.''

''I think the officials from both sides try to make clear that this is not an initiative that is trying to weaken the position of Germany,'' he said while adding France has a certain interest in filling the defence gap of the EU leadership during this period of governmental change in Germany.

Although there is speculation about whether Germany can continue the domination spearheaded by Angela Merkel, Weber argues that with its new coalition government it can still compete.

''I don't think the French-Italian relations will remain without tensions in future within the EU and I'm pretty sure that even under the new government, and with the new German Chancellor, we'll see the continuation of strong German role,'' he said, highlighting the most traditionally pro-EU party, the Greens' prominent role in defining the future of the coalition government.

Nevertheless, it is certain that the Rome-Paris cooperation will have a particular influence on the EU.

''We have now a renewed consolidated political axis between Rome and Paris which of course will have implications on EU dynamics which however should be seen in a positive way,'' said Coratella and Varvelli, asserting that strong Italian-French-German relations would mean a stronger Europe.

Source: TRT World

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Will the France-Italy deal shift the European Union's balance of power? - TRT World