Europe Immigration News

The European Union has agreed to negotiate agreements with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia making it much easier and cheaper for their nationals to obtain visas to travel to the EU. All of these countries have expressed interest in joining the European Union, but for various reasons have not met criteria to become accession states, yet.

Top European Union officials this week agreed on new plans aimed at boosting the bloc's efforts to keep illegal migrants from poor African countries from entering via the southern borders.

Late in the evening of 30 November, more than 30,000 asylum-seekers were granted general amnesty by the recently elected Dutch parliament, according to recent news reports.

Seventy-five Dutch lawmakers voted in favor of the motion, while 74 MPs voted against it.

Job centers should be set up in Africa with "work mobility" packages for would-be immigrants, the European Commission said yesterday, as it unveiled radical plans to try to manage the flow of migration into the EU.

After years of heated public debate on immigration and fears of mounting ethnic tensions all Dutch parties have hardened their stance on immigration and sentiments previously blasted as far right are now mainstream.

During campaigning for the November 22 parliamentary elections, immigration has been conspicuously absent as an election issue as the governing Christian Democrats (CDA) and their main rival, the PvdA labour party, battle it out over traditional themes like over healthcare reforms and taxes.

Bulgaria is a Balkan country with spectacular mountains and a coastline on the Black Sea, which was part of the Ottoman Empire for approximately 500 years. The population was recently 7.8 million, but has gone down to 7.5 million or lower over the past year or two, due to high levels of emigration and a low birth rate.