EU

The first case of the new coronavirus in Greece’s biggest refugee camp highlights the need for immediate and radical changes from the Greek government and its EU partners to the reception of people seeking asylum in Europe.

The recovery fund and long-term EU budget agreed today do not match the urgency of our current situation and the challenges ahead, said Oxfam.

EU policies and action have facilitated the containment of tens of thousands of people in Libya, a country where they have been exposed to appalling abuse, say 13 organisations in support of a complaint to the EU Court of Auditors.

The only way to avoid the pandemic devastating lives and livelihoods at an untold scale is for rich countries to mobilise all available resources, said Oxfam in response to a new European Commission plan outlining how the EU will support developing countries in the face of COVID-19.

Rather than protecting vulnerable people from the spread of the coronavirus, the Greek government is using the crisis to absolve itself from its obligations under international and EU law, said Oxfam.

The extreme actions taken by security forces against people seeking asylum and the recent violent attacks against workers for human rights and humanitarian organizations in Greece are an alarming development, said 256 organizations in a joint statement on Friday.

The proposed EU climate law is a good framework for EU climate action over the next decades, Oxfam says. The Commission, national governments and the European Parliament now must enact the law and take swift and decisive action to drastically reduce climate-heating emissions.

European Union member states should urgently relocate unaccompanied children from the Greek islands to safety in their territory, 65 human rights, humanitarian and civil society organisations said in a statement today.

Oxfam welcomes that Europe has begun developing prospects for a real and meaningful partnership with Africa. Ursula von der Leyen’s vision of a truly ‘geopolitical Commission’ must be grounded in European values and result in EU policies that actually work for people in Africa instead of making their situation worse.