European Union

In July 2025, Greece took a radical, if unsurprising, decision to ban people irregularly arriving on its shores by boat from North Africa from claiming asylum. The government presented the asylum ban as a decisive measure against an increase in arrivals on the southern Greek islands of Crete and Gavdos. The new Greek asylum ban is a textbook breach of EU rules neither unprecedented nor isolated. It comes as a fresh symptom of the deteriorating state of the EU’s Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and of the rule of law that sees governments across the continent openly flout straightforward refugee protection standards, disregard the courts, and get away with it.

Civil society players have been working hard for years to safeguard the fundamental rights of people seeking asylum in Europe. This has made them the target of an aggressive policy of deterrence, endangering both refugees and solidarity work itself.

By taking over the presidency of the Council in the second half of 2020, the German government would have had the opportunity to show leadership in the crisis. But many promises were not kept and the time for real action in such important policy areas as migration and climate policy was missed. Why couldn't Germany deliver?

"Don't listen to grand words: after the coronavirus pandemic, everything will be the same again soon”, some claim. Is it true?

Inmitten der größten Krise der EU übernimmt Deutschland die EU-Ratspräsidentschaft.

Disinformation is out of control as malicious actors seek to capitalise on the Covid-19 pandemic. To date, EU schemes to tackle disinformation have focused on self regulation, but there are widespread concerns about how the EU is managing the crisis. 

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 disease has brought about an extraordinary situation. Although the past decades have brought numerous challenges like terrorism or the climate change, the global spread of a disease for which there is neither a cure nor vaccination available is something that political leaders have no experience in tackling.

Not only has the new coronavirus catapulted us out of our everyday lives, but the way the EU is handling the Covid-19 pandemic has made its inability to take action in times of crisis painfully apparent. Just as people are stranded at airports and railway stations, any hope that Europe is capable of pulling together has also been stranded in the last few weeks.