— Israel News (@IsraelNewsNow) November 27, 2015
EU human rights official says Europe should import Muslim invaders more efficiently
A European human rights official says refugees should be resettled on the continent directly from camps near conflict zones — already the policy of Britain.
Nils Muiznieks, human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe, said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press that since 99 percent of Syrian refugees and about two-thirds of those from Afghanistan are granted international protection in Europe anyway, it was a "chaotic and inefficient policy" to make them take long journeys by land and sea while relying on human traffickers.
Muiznieks, whose visit to Hungary focused on migration, also said that while he had initially opposed mandatory European Union quotas to relocate migrants, he now favored the scheme because otherwise countries showed no inclination to participate.
Muiznieks said that "voluntary solidarity has not worked so we need rules-based solidarity."
Does everyone now realise what is happening #invasion pic.twitter.com/vIlfht3ZYo
— David Jones (@DavidJo52951945) November 26, 2015
Greece
Greece has seen a rebound in the number of crossings by migrants to its islands near the coast of Turkey despite growing difficulties in crossing the Balkans to reach central and northern Europe.
The International Organization for Migration said Friday that the number of people crossing daily topped 5,000 on Wednesday after dropping to just 155 on Sunday.
The surge comes despite ongoing protests at the Greek-Macedonian border. Hundreds of migrants are stranded there in worsening weather after Macedonia blocked access to citizens of countries that are not being fast-tracked for asylum in the European Union.
On Thursday, hundreds of migrants clashed with Macedonian riot police at the border as they tried to force their way through the cordon.
The Netherlands
The Dutch government has brokered a deal with municipal and provincial authorities to house thousands of migrants who have been granted refugee status.
The agreement announced Friday involves building accommodation for 14,000 refugees. The aim is to provide housing for people granted asylum by Dutch authorities so that they can move out of temporary asylum seeker centers and free up room there for the thousands of migrants pouring into the Netherlands each month as part of the huge flow of people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Local governments also agreed to create thousands of new emergency accommodation places for asylum seekers in coming months in empty office blocks and other buildings.
The central agency responsible for registering asylum seekers says that the number of migrants arriving in the Netherlands this year already has surpassed the combined total for 2013 and 2014. Through the end of October, some 47,000 people had applied for asylum this year.
The arrivals are dividing the Dutch public, with opponents regularly protesting at public meetings to discuss housing asylum seekers while an organization that helps refugees reported this week that it had registered more than 10,000 new volunteers in just over two months.
Austria
Austrian police are reporting a sharp drop in the number of refugees crossing into the country over the route that begins in Greece and traverses the western Balkan nations.
Thousands a day have been coming in from Slovenia over the Spielfeld and Bad Radkersburg border points in recent weeks. But police say no migrants have entered Austria at those two main crossings for two days.
Trains and buses continue bringing migrants into Austria over other points, but the numbers are down. Police spokesman Michael Masaniger says only 900 people arrived by bus and train by late Friday afternoon, with no more than 400 more expected the rest of the day.
Police say the reduction in numbers may have to do with the onset of cold weather and the fact that some Balkan countries are letting people through only selectively.
Muslim migration crisis tests Sweden's lofty aim of 'equality for all'
Aneta Moura, who emigrated to Sweden from Greece 43 years ago, says the last ethnic Swede has moved off her street in Malmo's Rosengard neighbourhood and youths with nothing to do hang out on the streets at all hours.
"I no longer know any of my neighbours," laments 81-year-old Moura.
Growing segregation between ethnic Swedes and immigrants is emerging as a major concern in Sweden, a country that has for decades prided itself on its egalitarian ideals and where most low-skilled jobs have been eliminated in a bid to do away with much of the "class society" that went with them.
The country's inability to integrate immigrants is pre-occupying the Swedish public and policymakers now that Sweden is taking in record numbers of refugees who will eventually need to find work to become fully-fledged active members of society.
Many wonder what kind of jobs these new immigrants -- many of whom are uneducated, some even illiterate -- will be able to hold down in Sweden's knowledge-intensive labour market.
Moura, who came to Sweden to work in its booming factories half a century ago, says the loss of manufacturing jobs has made it harder for newcomers to integrate.
"We have a lot of youths standing on the streets all night right where I live," she said.
The Scandinavian country has long been Europe's top destination for asylum seekers per capita, with a record 190,000 applications expected this year.
As the country's public services strain to cope with the influx, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven this week announced a drastic tightening of Swedish asylum rules to stem the flow of migrants.
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Muslim migration crisis resurrects German anti-immigration party
Europe's refugee crisis has resurrected Germany's AfD anti-immigrant party, which aims to enter three new state parliaments next year by luring conservative voters angry with Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door asylum policy.
The Alternative for Germany party holds its annual congress this weekend in Hanover, where it will outline its plan to bring order to what it calls the "asylum chaos."
After imploding over a bitter leadership struggle in July, the AfD placed third nationally, at 10.5 percent, for the first time this month in a survey for pollsters INSA.
"The refugee crisis has brought the AfD back from the dead," said Manfred Guellner, head of Forsa, another polling institute.
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