Newsletters

For Athens and Skopje to succeed in 2018 where their predecessors failed both governments need a mutually beneficial breakthrough they can defend in front of their domestic audiences. They need to help each other to deliver.

The current policy debate on migration and asylum in the key European capitals remains deeply confused over both values and instruments. Without clarity of thought no effective and humane policy will ever emerge.

Bosnian leaders and international officials in Sarajevo have warned that unless there is an urgent change in the state election law Bosnian democracy might come to an end in October 2018.

For the ECtHR to protect its reputation PACE, the institution which chooses its judges, must itself be transparent and committed to the highest standards. If nobody pays attention, if PACE is run by networks indifferent to democracy, then the prestige and credibility of the Court risks suffering as well.

The dominant clichés are that Bosnia is riven by ethnic hatred; that therefore political stability can only ever be fragile; that the constitutional arrangement which ended the war in 1995 reinforces communal tensions; and that the country remains perpetually on the verge of violent collapse.

There are no partnerships with migrants' home countries that make sense or have an impact; there is no coherent system for legal migration to replace irregular migration; efforts to fight smugglers appear helpless, even pathetic at times. 

Eine schnelle Verbesserung der Lage ist möglich – und bedarf gleichzeitig großer Anstrengungen. Dafür werben wir: eine Politik, die Menschen die Möglichkeit eines sicheren, legalen Weges öffnet, Abschiebungen einschränkt, Leben rettet, und die Qualität von Asylverfahren an der europäischen Außengrenze erhöht.

We were convinced from the outset that Europe needs a credible guardian of red lines on basic human rights. It matters hugely, therefore, when such a human rights organisation can be corrupted. 

We suggest how to reform a dysfunctional accession process; and when to bring it to an end. We seek to dispel illusions, restore clarity and propose ways how the European Union and the Council of Europe might better protect fundamental human rights.

The choice – and thus the future legitimacy of the Council of Europe – is now in the hands of 33 men and women and, if they fail to act, in the hands of those of the whole of PACE or even other institutions of the Council of Europe.

If PACE wants to restore its credibility, and get to the bottom of this affair which threatens its legitimacy, this must not be allowed to happen.

The European Union urgently needs a credible policy on asylum and border management. It must combine effective control of external land and sea borders with respect for existing international and EU refugee law.

A political earthquake took place in Strasbourg this week. What happens next will determine the future of Europe's leading human rights body.

At this moment, PACE is shaken by news of a serious scandal, following evidence that votes on key human rights issues have been manipulated for years. 

In this follow-up to Caviar Diplomacy, we take a closer look, four years later, at the progress that has been made on miring the Council of Europe in a swamp of corruption.

ESI published an update on the state of implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement on refugees in the Aegean: what has worked, what has failed, and what is to be done. 

Viktor Orban has exploited the confusion and insecurities around the European refugee crisis, and the weakness of mainstream political leaders, to further expand his influence in EU capitals and in Brussel

Today, the road to a credible EU policy on asylum passes through Lesbos.

The current dramatic shortage of resources means that for all practical purposes the right to an individual review of asylum applications has already vanished for the vast majority of those who arrive in Greece today. 

The history of relations between Bosnia and the EU since 2000 shows that whenever Bosnian institutions were seriously challenged by the EU to co-ordinate, they were able to do so – often to the surprise of their European counterparts.