Europe Immigration News

France's minister for overseas affairs provoked outrage on 17 September by saying illegal immigrants were giving birth on French territory to ensure their children had French nationality. By law, a child born on French ground is French, no matter who the parents are.

Francois Baroin called for a debate on France's birthright laws. The move came as a sign that mainstream politicians are starting to follow the anti-immigration trend in France.

Immigrants to Britain and other EU member states will have to swear an oath of allegiance to EU laws and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, rather than the Queen, under a proposal announced by Brussels. The European Commission also announced measures to counter illegal immigration across Europe and others to promote integration of legal immigrants.

Franco Frattini, the European Commissioner for justice and security, proposed an "oath of faithfulness" requiring all immigrants to the EU to swear allegiance to the union.

Seven people have died in a fire in a building housing African immigrants in Paris, officials say, four days after a similar fire killed 17 people.

Last week's deadly fire - also in a building used by African immigrants - provoked street protests in Paris. Fourteen of the 17 who died in that blaze were children.

From the street, the apartment building where Alaye Ba lives with his wife and four children has typical Paris charm: a neat white facade, wooden shutters, lace curtains and a ground-floor cafe.

"I wake up at night sometimes because I'm afraid for my family. This building is not safe," said Ba, a 46-year-old Senegalese immigrant. "If a fire breaks out here, we are prisoners. We will die."

Germany's commissioner for integration says passage of a law requiring immigrants to learn the German language and customs is her greatest achievement.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle, Marieluise Beck said she would have liked the 2004 Immigration Act to go farther than it did in easing settlement in Germany for highly skilled workers, the self-employed and foreign students.

"With the new immigration law, we've cleared the way for Germany to welcome new migrants and to rise to the challenges of integration," Beck said.

Ukraine authorities, anxious to boost their national tourism sector, abolished visa requirements for nationals of the European Union, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and the United States earlier this year.

It seems to have worked. Ukrainian officials say the results so far have been promising: between April and June, the number of visiting EU nationals alone increased by 63 percent, to more than 1.6 million people.