EU-Neighbourhood Policy

The famous wit Mary McCarthy once remarked, ‘If someone tells you he is going to make a “realistic decision”, you immediately understand he has resolved to do something bad.’

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung commissioned a study by Political Capital entitled “Focus on Hungary: Refugees, Asylum and Migration”. The authors of the study analyse the Orbán Government’s rhetoric and policy measures with regard to refugee, asylum and migration issues. 

It was once quipped to me that you can tell a lot about the state of a country by the effusiveness of its name ─ compare the ‘Federal Republic of Germany’ with the dictatorial ‘German Democratic Republic’, or the ‘Republic of Korea’ with the autocratic, dynastical ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’.

Right-wing populist and extremist parties did disturbingly well in the 2014 election to the European Parliament and in a series of national elections. It was time to pick up the gauntlet, rise to the challenge and work on counter-strategies.  

When the euro crisis was at its peak, European media largely ignored the situation in Portugal, even though the small Iberian country with a population of just over 10 million suffered massive economic and fiscal difficulties.

On 15 June, Marine Le Pen, together with Geert Wilders and MEPs from five other parties, announced the creation of their new far-right political group.

More than eight years since the outbreak of the global crisis and five years into the eurozone crisis the Union looks widely divided.

The question that has to be asked after the election is if Spanish politicians will make up their minds to sign a government agreement or if there will be a snap election. The next days will be crucial for Spain and hopefully we will have the answer very soon.

Across Europe, democracies are increasingly under pressure from right-wing parties and movements that often combine radical anti-immigrant and Islamophobic positions with populist rhetoric. Those movements differ strongly in their party programmes, ranging from Eurosceptic to overtly racist but share a disdain for the existing political institutions.

2015 is a hallmark year for migration to the EU. It is the year when the impasses of European migration policy manifested themselves in an explosive fashion. The massive influx of Syrian refugees into European territory resulted in the collapse of the European border and the European political project was once again put into question. The "hot summer of migration" triggered the reshaping of European policy, which nonetheless continues to be trapped in the dilemma of border security versus humanitarianism.