16, June 2018
French president calls for unified European response to refugee crisis 0
French President Emmanuel Macron has criticized Europe’s handling of the influx of refugees to the continent, calling for a collective European response to the worsening crisis.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Italy’s new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday, Macron said “the proper response is European, but the existing European response is not adapted” to the times.
Macron criticized Europe over its failure to fulfill its role with regard to Italy as the first European country on the migration route from North Africa.
The French president called for greater protection of European borders, noting that “the existing system does not work.”
Europe’s refugee crisis escalated earlier this week after Italy and Malta turned away Aquarius rescue ship carrying 629 refugees and kept it waiting in international waters between the two countries for over 30 hours with limited food and drink supplies and in bad weather conditions, facing potential death.
Spain eventually offered to take in the ship amid safety fears due to deteriorating weather conditions and offered its port in Valencia as a place for the asylum seekers to land in Europe.
Following the incident, UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi urged the EU to sort out its “shameful” refugee policy.
Macron later rebuked Italy for “irresponsibility” over the matter. Italy’s new populist administration censured what it referred to as “hypocritical lessons” from countries such as France on refugees, publicly displaying one of the most serious disagreements between two EU member states.
Italy also summoned France’s ambassador over the issue.
After their meeting on Friday, Macron and Conte seemed to have settled their diplomatic row, with the Italian premier saying, “We are in perfect agreement.”
Macron urged the Italian premier to work with France, Germany and Spain on resolving refugee issues instead of siding with an anti-immigration “axis” recently proposed by Austria’s right-wing Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
“I hope deeply that France and Italy will work hand-in-hand, together, to propose and contribute European solutions, in particular with partners like Spain and Germany,” Macron said.
The French president warned that such an axis was a reminder of Europe’s darkest times — when Germany and its allies were called the Axis powers during World War II– and noted that only a head of state can speak on behalf of a country.
“Italy has a head of government, France has a head of state, Germany has a head of government. If countries are to agree on something, it should be at that level, because only they answer to their people,” Macron said.
Germany’s interior minister had said earlier this week that his country should form the anti-immigration “axis” with Austria and Italy. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned EU countries on Wednesday against pursuing a unilateral policy with regard to the refugee crisis and called on the bloc’s member states to overcome their differences and take a unified approach over the issue.
The Italian premier appeared to dismiss joining forces with the anti-immigration “axis” and said that he “agreed with the words of my friend Macron” with regard to the need for an EU-wide approach to reforming immigration rules.
“I would like an axis of the willing that includes all the European countries,” he said.
Conte underlined the need for the formation of European-run immigration offices outside the continent for assessing asylum requests in an attempt to prevent “voyages of death.”
Europe has faced its worst refugee crisis since World War II. The continent has been hit since 2014 by an unprecedented influx of refugees fleeing conflict-ridden zones in North Africa and the Middle East, in particular Syria.
Over the past five years, more than 600,000 refugees have reached Italy by risking their lives on rickety human smuggler boats in the sea. Some 500,000 of them are still staying in the country.
According to the UN migration agency (IOM), over 3,000 refugees lost their lives died crossing the Mediterranean in 2017.
The majority of refugees from Africa take the sea route from Libya to Italy to reach Europe, while some others depart from Morocco to Spain.
Source: Presstv
16, June 2018
Congo-Kinshasa: Kabila, going, going, gone 0
Democratic Republic of Congo’s parliament will, at President Joseph Kabila’s request, hold a special session to consider legislation providing legal protection for former presidents, lawmakers said.
The announcement could be a further sign that Kabila intends to step down after an election in December despite speculation that he is trying to circumvent term limits that forbid him from running again.
Kabila to contest or not
Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala told Reuters this week that Kabila would not be a candidate, the clearest declaration yet from a senior government official on the matter.
But Kabila himself has refused to publicly commit to leaving office and some of his supporters have in recent weeks floated a legal rationale that would allow him to stand again.
“At the request of the president of the republic, an extraordinary session will be convened,” lower house speaker Aubin Minaku told deputies on Friday at the close of the latest parliamentary session.
“We will examine several items including the law on the status of former chiefs of state, the designation of a new member of the constitutional court and the law on the tax to promote industry,” he said.
It was not immediately clear when that session would take place.
Protecting Kabila to facilitate transition
Under the constitution, former presidents already receive broad immunity from prosecution as senators for life.
Modeste Mutinga, a senator from an opposition party, introduced legislation in 2015 to reinforce those protections in an effort to encourage Congo’s first ever democratic transition.
It stipulates that former presidents and their aides will not be liable for arrest for common law violations committed in the exercise of presidential functions. It also provides for bodyguards for ex-presidents and increases in their pension.
However the bill never came up for a vote.
“As the initiative for taking up this law during the extraordinary session comes from those who blocked the law, we think that this time we are really going to examine (it),” Mutinga told Reuters.
Kabila’s tumultous reign
Kabila succeeded his assassinated father as president in 2001. He was required by the constitution to step down in December 2016 but the election to replace him has been repeatedly delayed.
Since then, security forces have killed dozens of anti-Kabila protesters while surging militia violence has raised the spectre of a repeat of civil wars around the turn of the century that cost millions of lives.
The special session will also select a new Constitutional Court justice to replace Felix Vunduawe Te Pemako, who was named president of a separate court this week.
Last month, Kabila and parliament named two close Kabila allies to the court in moves analysts say could be geared either at securing a judgment that allows him to run again or bolstering the chances that his preferred successor will win.
REUTERS