Cultural globalization

Two years after the leftist-led government passed much-hyped legislation allowing children who have been born to migrant parents in Greece to obtain Greek citizenship, it is estimated that only half of the 58,000 applications have been approved by the authorities.

The European Union's executive will decide on Tuesday to open legal cases against three eastern members for failing to take in asylum-seekers to relieve states on the front lines of the bloc's migration crisis, sources said, quoted by Reuters.

An adviser to the European Court of Justice says the court should dismiss lawsuits filed by Hungary and Slovakia challenging a European Council decision that the countries have to mandatorily take in hundreds of asylum-seekers.

The number of refugees and migrants waiting to be granted asylum or deported came to 62,407 on Tuesday, according to data released on Wednesday by the Greek Defense Ministry's Coordinating Body for the Management of the Refugee Crisis.

Powerful Australian minister Matthew Canavan on Tuesday became the third politician forced to step aside over a question of dual citizenship, saying he was unaware his mother had taken out Italian citizenship for him when he was 25.

Australian politicians are not eligible to be elected to parliament if they hold dual or plural citizenship. 

The U.N. refugee agency accused Australia yesterday of reneging on an agreement to settle some vulnerable asylum seekers held in controversial offshore detention centres, but Canberra said no such agreement existed.

A lot of Greeks who are thinking of trying their professional luck in Australia often find it difficult to receive concrete information as to what specific skills are required in order to be eligible for consideration. The Australian government is extremely strict in applying its laws regarding immigration and the whole process is based on a point system by releasing occupation lists.

Slovenia needs to speed up asylum procedures and not apply the new law that allows it to close its borders for most illegal migrants. This was stated by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Niels Muehnikes, quoted by Reuters.

EU interior ministers have refused to support an Italian proposal to open up European ports to ships carrying migrants, Euronews reported.

But governments did agree to help the Libyan coastguards do more and step up deportations of failed asylum-seekers.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has warned that Africa’s population explosion will overwhelm Europe unless the continent makes it more difficult for migrants to reach its shores.