Hopes are high among EU officials that the bloc’s 27 home affairs ministers will strike a deal on Thursday that would strengthen solidarity mechanisms by expediting asylum procedures and possibly forcing countries that refuse to accept migrants to financially compensate others.
Ministers meeting in Luxembourg will discuss the highly sensitive EU migration pact, which has been under negotiation for years amid bitter disputes between Mediterranean countries that receive the highest number of migrants and others, including Hungary and Poland, that have refused to share the burden – especially when the migrants are coming from Muslim-majority countries.
The EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson struck an optimistic note on arrival, saying it was an “extremely important day” to resolve what has “been a marathon” issue for Europe.
“Of this marathon, we have maybe 100 meters left. So, we are so close to actually find an agreement today,” Ms Johansson said. “I expect the member states to be able to do the final extra meters to reach the agreement.”
“There is a big chance that we can have a very important breakthrough,” she said.
Her optimism echoed by Spain's home affairs minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gomez, who said that he was "sure" that an greement would be reached.
Sweden's minister of migration Maria Malmer Stenergard also said that "there is no acceptable reason to not walk the last mile, and it will never be easier."
Yet Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser cautioned that "the compromise on the table is very difficult for Germany."
"I feel there is a common understanding which could lead to an agreement, but not at any price," she told reporters.
France's interior minister Gerald Darmanin said that his country was ready to compromise but there was "still work to do this morning."
There will be no need for a unanimous vote as decisions will be made by qualified majority but the position of Italy, which receives a large number of migrants via the Mediterranean Sea, will be crucial. A vote without Italy “is possible but not desirable”, said an EU diplomat.
The proposal, which has been hammered out by the EU council’s Swedish presidency, suggests “an obligatory solidarity mechanism” for the first time, said a second EU diplomat.
The exact conditions under which this mandatory financial compensation would be made are under discussion. Ms Malmer Stenergard said that the figure currently under discussion was €20,000 per asylum seeker.
There are further discussions about sending migrants who fail the asylum process back to so-called safe countries, but those countries should have what diplomats have described as a “connection criteria” with the person’s home country. These criteria remains to be defined.
Border procedures would additionally be modified to expedite returns, with local government authorities setting up a separate process for asylum seekers from countries with an acceptance rate that is lower than 20 per cent. These people would go through a faster process that would also aim to accelerate their return to their home country.
Some countries including Germany have reportedly been pushing for families with children to be exempted from this expedited process. It remains unclear if a significant number of countries share that point of view.
Ms Johansson earlier this week said that it was “not acceptable” that people from countries such as Albania, Pakistan or Turkey be treated in the same way as people fleeing active war zones such as Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan.
Charity Oxfam has criticised the plan, saying it would perpetuate the EU's failed approach, which had produced overcrowded and inadequate migration camps on the edges of Europe.
“These proposals will not fix the chronic deficiencies in the EU asylum system. Instead, they signal the EU's desire to barricade Europe from asylum seekers,” it said.
Company%20Profile
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The specs: Macan Turbo
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 639hp
Torque: 1,130Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 591km
Price: From Dh412,500
On sale: Deliveries start in October
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
'Nope'
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LAST-16 FIXTURES
Sunday, January 20
3pm: Jordan v Vietnam at Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai
6pm: Thailand v China at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
9pm: Iran v Oman at Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Monday, January 21
3pm: Japan v Saudi Arabia at Sharjah Stadium
6pm: Australia v Uzbekistan at Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
9pm: UAE v Kyrgyzstan at Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tuesday, January 22
5pm: South Korea v Bahrain at Rashid Stadium, Dubai
8pm: Qatar v Iraq at Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
THE SPECS
Range Rover Sport Autobiography Dynamic
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 518bhp
Torque: 625Nm
Speed: 0-100kmh 5.3 seconds
Price: Dh633,435
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%20specs%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%204cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E261hp%20at%205%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E400Nm%20at%201%2C750-4%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10.5L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C999%20(VX%20Luxury)%3B%20from%20Dh149%2C999%20(VX%20Black%20Gold)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%20four-cyl%20turbo%20%2B%20mild%20hybrid%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E204hp%20at%205%2C800rpm%20%2B23hp%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E320Nm%20at%201%2C800rpm%20%2B205Nm%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E9-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7.3L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENovember%2FDecember%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh205%2C000%20(estimate)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
South and West: From a Notebook
Joan Didion
Fourth Estate
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
The%20Super%20Mario%20Bros%20Movie
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
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