Diplomatic tension
The European Union should consider restricting visas for senior officials from African and other states which refuse to take back illegal immigrants from Europe, Germany’s interior minister said on Monday.
Attending an EU meeting in Brussels, Thomas de Maiziere told reporters that the bloc needed to use all the levers at its disposal to ensure countries cooperated with Europe’s efforts to deport those arriving who were not entitled to asylum.
With hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving on Europe’s beaches every year, European governments have grown increasingly irritated at refusals by some African and Asian states to take back people who do not qualify for refugee status but who often destroy their documents to make it harder to deport them.
“If a country is not ready to take its own citizens back, it has to understand that visa policies which allow travel to Europe are not as generous as they used to be, maybe even for the country’s leadership,” de Maiziere said.
Go to video
Paraguayan town celebrates vibrant Kamba Ra'anga festival with masks, fire and tradition
01:47
Chinese city of Xuchang is world's biggest producer of wigs
01:15
U.S. considers adding more African countries to travel ban
01:00
Renewed calls to end plastic pollution on World Environment Day
00:52
Bill Gates says most of his $200 billion fortune will go to Africa over next 20 years
Go to video
Africa’s First Multilingual Small Language Model Gets Even Smaller - Thanks to Top African Innovator