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Status: 10.11.2021 7:36 PM

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Grandi, has criticized the European Unions handling of refugees. Violent replays and asylum scams can be observed time and time again. An EU based on the rule of law should have done better.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, accused the European Union of violating the law in dealing with refugees. In some places, violent pushbacks have been seen, including beatings of refugees and migrants, Grandi said in a speech at the European Parliament in Brussels. Refugees and migrants are sometimes stripped naked and thrown into rivers or left to drown in the sea.

Youve seen Attempts to evade asylum obligations by paying other countries to absolve you of responsibility. He criticized the European Union based on the rule of law must and can be better, as he criticized the United Nations High Commissioner before MEPs.

In his speech, Grandi also spoke about the current situation on the Belarus-Poland border. He said it was unacceptable for countries to encourage dangerous travel for vulnerable people.

Between 2,000 and 4,000 migrants are currently stranded in the border area between Belarus and Poland. Soldiers from both countries are stationed in the area. Observers fear that the situation will worsen.

The European Union accuses Belarus Governor Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately smuggling migrants from the Middle East to the European Union countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in order to respond to this. Brussels sanctions decisions To practice.

The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, has also criticized the pushbacks. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Johansson said such an approach should not under any circumstances be normalized or codified. ARD studio Brussels. The European Union must abide by its values:

We are not Lukashenko, we are the European Union and we have to show that.

At the same time, Johansson urged EU countries to protect their external borders and prevent unauthorized border crossings. We do not have open borders, the EU commissioner stressed. However, it must be ensured that migrants can apply for asylum in a country at border posts.

Europamagazine, 10.11.2021

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Grandi accuses the European Union of violating the law - Socialpost

France has reportedly held up free trade talks between the European Union and New Zealand, dampening hopes a deal may be reached in the coming months.

The 27 trade ministers of the European Union (EU) are set to meet overnight in Brussels and will discuss the union's ongoing trade negotiations, which includes a deal with New Zealand.

Aris Oikonomou/AP

French President Emmanuel Macron has reportedly sought to delay EU-NZ free trade negotiations.

The Financial Times reported Thursday that France had persuaded the EU to delay negotiations with both New Zealand and Chile until after the countrys presidential election in April 2022. The EU ambassador to New Zealand was unavailable for comment.

The Government has been keen to progress trade negotiations with the EU, which formally began in 2018. Trade Minister Damien OConnor headed to Europe in a hastily arranged trip in September to speak with EU counterparts.

READ MORE:* Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern postpones trip to Europe until 2022* NZ-UK trade deal: New Zealand pushed back on British contractors entering the country* Market access, investment rules hold up UK-NZ FTA as Trade Minister Damien O'Connor heads on trade trip

OConnor, in a statement, said he was aware of the reports of France seeking to delay the negotiations.

I also understand that there is widespread desire in the EU to get this deal with New Zealand done, he said.

OConnor said both the EU commission leadership and EU countries had assured New Zealand officials that the EU is keen to get a high quality and comprehensive FTA to a conclusion.

But the EUs offer of market access, or the level of tariffs and quotas that will be placed on New Zealands goods at the EU border, was not yet sufficient.

We do need a revised and commercially meaningful market access offer from the EU that addresses New Zealands key exports, he said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had also been mooting a trip to Europe, due to occur next week, in hope of progressing the negotiations. However, this was postponed until 2022, with a spokeswoman citing a range reasons, including the best timing of negotiations.

French President Emmanuel Macron, when meeting Ardern in 2018, appeared to express support for a free trade deal between the EU and New Zealand.

However, a report in Bloomberg two weeks ago said France had sought to freeze negotiations, and the Financial Times report, quoting unnamed officials, said Macron feared a surge in lamb imports from New Zealand.

Concern that New Zealands agricultural products might flood the domestic market were also raised during the recent United Kingdom-New Zealand free trade negotiations. A in-principle free trade deal between the UK and New Zealand was reached last month.

Former trade negotiator Charles Finny said the Government had been pushing to get a free trade deal with the EU across the line prior to the French election, and the prospect of a delay would not surprise me at all.

It has been one of the reasons why we wanted to make rapid progress earlier this year, and tried to get the agreement, either finalised or agreed in-principle by about now.

This would be very much a complicating factor.

Finny said French agricultural interests, more so than the UK's agricultural industry, had been resistant to allowing New Zealands meat and dairy products better access to French markets.

The French farmers have proven to be more effective in their lobbying efforts over the last 40 years.

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France reportedly holds up NZ-EU free trade negotiations due to upcoming elections - Stuff.co.nz

MINSK, November 11. /TASS/.Minsk is ready for dialogue with the EU on resolving any sensitive issues, including the return of migrants, Belarusian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Anatoly Glaz said.

"Hundreds of times we very specifically declared our readiness for a mutually respectful dialogue in order to resolve any issues, including sensitive ones. If necessary, we can reiterate this position again," he told a TASS correspondent on Thursday.

Earlier, Reuters citing EU diplomats reported that the European Union is considering the possibility of holding talks with the UN and Belarus on the repatriation of migrants that had flocked to the Polish-Belarusian border via Grodnos airport.

The migrant crisis on the Belarusian border with Latvia, Lithuania and Poland where the migrants have been flocking since the beginning of the year, sharply aggravated on November 8. Several thousand people approached the Polish border from Belarus and would not leave the area. Some of them attempted to enter Poland by destroying a barbed-wire fence. EU countries have accused Minsk of the intentional escalation of the crisis and have called for sanctions. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated that the Western countries themselves were to blame in this situation since people were fleeing the war in their homelands because of the Wests actions.

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Minsk ready for dialogue with EU on resolving any issues, including return of refugees - TASS

United Kingdom nationals travelling to Europe have been recently warned that sometime next year, they will start facing long queues at the borders due to the biometric checks that the European Union intends to impose soon.

The European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) and the Entry-Exit System (EES) are set to become effective in mid-2022. The first is a document that third country citizens under the EU visa-free regime, including here UK nationals, will have to obtain before travelling to the Schengen Area.

The second, on the other hand, is an automated IT system for registering travellers from third countries, both short-stay visa holders and visa-exempt travellers, each time they cross an EU external border.

UK transport bosses fear that Brits will face longer waiting times, in particular, when using the ferry ports and the Channel Tunnel.

During a meeting of the UK Lords Committee on Tuesday, November 2, during which the Justice and Home Affairs Committee debated on the two new EU border management systems, the ETIAS and the EES, the head of EU exit for the Dover Harbour Board Tim Reardon said that not only the waiting lines would be longer, but travellers would also have to step out of the vehicles in order to complete the controls.

There is no way of doing a biometric control without getting everyone out of the vehicle Thats the one thing on our site which cannot happen because youre in the middle of live traffic It would be equivalent to asking people to get out of their car at a motorway toll booth. Its fundamentally unsafe, and it cant happen, Reardon said during the debate.

There is no such thing as an e-gate for a car, and there is no such thing as an e-gate process for people travelling as a group theyre all one-at-a-time processes, Reardon added.

The strategy director and company secretary for Eurostar, Gareth Williams, was also present at the meeting. According to him, August could, in particular, become a worrisome period, as thats when the highest number of Brits travel to France.

If we take the peak of August, which is where we have the most number of likely first-time travellers on peak trains its up to 80 per cent of people who will have to go through the system, Williams said, trying to point out the gravity of the issue.

The EES system is set to become operational in the first half of 2022. However, SchengenVisaInfo.com has recently reported that the system may be delayed further in the second half of the year, which means that the functionalisation of the ETIAS will also be delayed.

Yet, the eu-LISA, which is the EU Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT, has already started recruiting the staff to work at the systems and has also opened ETIAS registration procedures for air carriers, sea carriers, and international carriers transporting groups overland by coach.

The registration enables carriers to receive all information necessary for the preparation of their respective systems and business processes in order to consult the EU IT systems managed by eu-LISA, as the latter is regulated in the EES and ETIAS legislation, the Agency had announced while opening the registration procedures.

Once both systems start operating, about 1.4 billion travellers, citizens of over 60 world countries, who can travel visa-free to the 26 Schengen Area countries in Europe, will have to apply for a travel authorisation before reaching the territory of any of these countries.

See the article here:
Brits Travelling to EU Could Face Long Border Queues From Next Year Due to Upcoming Biometric Checks - SchengenVisaInfo.com - SchengenVisaInfo.com

The Executive Vice-President at the European Commission could not contain his laughter when asked if the bloc is "missing" the UK during a COP26 panel. Philippa Nuttall from the New Stateman asked: "Laurence Tubiana said this morning the EU is not doing enough at COP and she doesn't understand why. Are there differences between EU member states that are causing this lack of ambition or are you missing the UK being part of the EU delegation?"

Mr Timmermans was left in stitches at the question, throwing his head back as he laughed before regaining his composure.

The European Commissioner said: "Well, Laurence Tubiana sings the same song at every Cop so I'm not surprised she says this.

"Secondly, she says she doesn't see it but there are many things in life that perhaps you don't see that are still happening.

"I am very proud of my team of negotiators who are negotiating on every single subject right now.

"I'm really very proud of all the ministers here, very actively trying to find solutions to all the problems.

READ MORE:Every member of the SNP that has a second job

"The European Union, its member states, its Parliament - everyone is very active here to try and bridge difference and find solutions."

It comes as more than 230,000 applications have been made to the EU Settlement Scheme after the deadline passed, new figures suggest.

EU citizens and their families were asked to apply by June 30 in order to carry on living and working in the UK, after freedom of movement ended following the Brexit transition period.

According to provisional Home Office figures, 236,840 applications were received after the deadline and up to the end of October.

Since the scheme launched in March 2019, more than six million applications (6,287,700) have been submitted.

More than three million of those (3,068,700) were granted settled status, allowing them permanent leave to remain.

A further 2.4 million (2,460,900) have been permitted pre-settled status, meaning they need to reapply after living in the country for five years to gain permanent residence.

The Home Office said 8% of the applications were from "repeat applicants" (472,220) - suggesting an estimated 5.5 million people had applied to the scheme before the deadline.

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Some 180,500 applications were refused, 103,900 were withdrawn or void, and 94,000 were deemed invalid - where the Home Office decides someone is not eligible to apply or has failed to provide sufficient proof of residence.

The applications received after June 30 will include a mix of late submissions, those from family members, and requests to move from pre-settled to settled status, the Government department said.

It is not known how many people in the UK are eligible for the scheme but could remain in the country undocumented.

Anyone who is yet to apply effectively lost their lawful immigration status after the deadline. This could prevent them getting a new job or moving house until their status is confirmed.

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EU Commissioner bursts out laughing when asked 'Do you miss UK in the bloc?' - Daily Express