Reform UK proposes welfare ban for EU citizens with settled status
Party's £50bn savings plan would require renegotiating the Withdrawal Agreement and could strip rights from over 700,000 EU nationals on Universal Credit
Monday, 17 August 2026Europe · Analysis
Independent · Brussels & Berlin
Topic · Thing
Asylum and migration policy across the European Union, including the Pact on Migration and Asylum and the Schengen area's internal controls.
Party's £50bn savings plan would require renegotiating the Withdrawal Agreement and could strip rights from over 700,000 EU nationals on Universal Credit
Former prime minister and Renaissance leader bets that a summer spent meeting voters at markets, ports and vineyards can erode Edouard Philippe's lead for the centrist vote ahead of the April 2027 presidential election.
The Pact on Migration and Asylum took effect in June alongside a tougher returns law, yet no mechanism exists to measure when migration flows exceed a member state's ability to integrate newcomers.
Italy's prime minister suspends Schengen with Spain and adopts tougher tone on borders to protect her right flank ahead of a possible spring election.
A surge of 72,000 migrants into the Spanish enclave in late July killed at least 75 people and revealed how quickly member states fracture when one faces external pressure.
Magnus Brunner says regularising 500,000 undocumented migrants sends the wrong signal, as ministers meet to contain fallout from 72,000 arrivals in the Spanish enclave.
Around 50,000 Moroccan migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave in late July, leaving 88 dead and handing far-right parties across Europe a potent campaign issue ahead of a cluster of national votes in 2027.
A France 24 investigation examines pressure on courts, media and abortion access, while the government balances migration crackdowns with half a million new work visas for labour-hungry employers.
The Pact on Migration and Asylum enters force on Friday, introducing border screenings, a revamped Eurodac database and a solidarity mechanism that has already fractured over Hungary and Slovakia's refusal to participate.
New asylum rules allowing offshore processing and child detention become operational on 12 June while the Commission readies first formal meeting with Afghan authorities since 2021.
Provisional trilogue deal speeds up returns, lets member states build detention hubs in third countries, and draws comparisons with US and UK hardline policies.
Pauline Hanson's party hits 31 per cent in primary vote while government and traditional opposition both lose ground after May budget
A Taliban delegation led by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi will meet European Commission and EEAS officials in June to discuss increasing returns of Afghan nationals, even as the bloc refuses to recognise the regime.
MEPs voted 389 to 206 to advance legislation allowing rejected asylum seekers to be sent to centres in third countries, with penalties for those who refuse relocation.
Democrats 66 leader forms minority coalition with VVD and CDA after October election, facing vote-by-vote negotiations on €19bn defence spending and asylum reforms.
D66, CDA and VVD will govern with 66 seats, ten short of a majority, after October election ended PVV-led coalition.
May local elections will measure Reform UK's poll lead and Labour's resilience, while the King's Speech, ECHR negotiations and a high-stakes China trip define Starmer's second year.
From Jaywick to Berlin, mainstream leaders are losing ground while a new US strategy explicitly targets European immigration policy and 'political correctness' with diplomatic pressure and endorsements.
France's National Rally leader tells BBC he shares White House warnings of 'civilisational erasure' but insists his party seeks national sovereignty, not subservience to Washington, as Le Pen's legal battle clouds the 2027 presidential race.
Interior ministers backed plans for offshore centres to hold rejected asylum seekers, longer detention powers and returns to third countries deemed safe, despite legal doubts from France and Spain.
From Honduras to Brussels, the US president is treating foreign policy as an extension of domestic culture war, backing right-wing candidates, attacking EU climate laws and funding conservative networks across the continent.
The Belgian capital has surpassed the country's own 2010-11 record as 14 parties fail to form a coalition, leaving a €1.6bn budget hole and frozen investments across a city that hosts the EU and NATO.
Nigel Farage's party would rewrite the withdrawal agreement to save £6.4bn annually, cut foreign aid to £1bn and triple the NHS surcharge for visa applicants, drawing warnings of a trade war from both main parties.
Nearly 40 percent of voters undecided as five parties contest lead in election triggered by migration dispute that brought down two-year government
Geert Wilders' Freedom Party leads polls but every major rival has ruled out coalition talks, setting the stage for months of complex negotiations after the collapse of the last right-wing government.
With 27 parties competing and no prospect of a majority, the Netherlands faces months of negotiation after a campaign dominated by housing shortages and migration policy.
Independent progressive candidate backed by left-wing parties defeats Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys in election marked by record spoiled ballots and widespread anger at the centre-right coalition.
ECB president tells Jackson Hole that foreign workers supplied half of eurozone employment gains since 2022, but governments are restricting entry under far-right pressure.
In two months Labour has signed a bilateral treaty with Brussels, a nuclear coordination pact with France and a mutual defence treaty with Germany, all while ruling out single market return.
Prime minister trims cabinet to 21 ministers, creates economic super-ministry and promotes foreign minister Sikorski as deputy in rightward shift to counter PiS and Confederation gains.
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