EU Home Affairs ministers asked the European Commission on Monday to consider suspension of the Schengen area for up two years, prolonging EU Member States border controls. Under the Schengen Code, Member States can only introduce temporary border controls for two months, for unforeseeable events and six months, for foreseeable events. But under Article 26, […]
Archives for January 2016
Brussels Launches Poland Rule of Law Assessment
Brussels is finally worried about authoritarism in Poland, three months after its new government was formed. The European Commission announced on Wednesday the launch of a “preliminary assessment” on whether Warsaw is undermining the Rule of Law in the country. For the first time in EU history, Brussels has opened an assessment to decide if the […]
Refugee Women in Europe Risk Sexual Violence Says UNHCR Report
Oumo (not her real name), a young woman from sub-Saharan Africa is fleeing persecution that has left her brother-in-law dead and her sister missing. Fearing for her life, she made the dangerous and difficult journey to Europe where she is hoping to find asylum and safety. During her journey to Greece, Oumo was forced to […]
Is 2016 the Year of the Pandemic?
What if ISIS is the least of our worries this year? What if bacteria pose the greatest threat to Europe in 2016? Much like the rise of jihadi chaos, microbial resistance has been steadily, almost silently, expanding. We won’t see the impact of antimicrobial resistance in our everyday lives until it’s too late, until every […]