Every week The Briefing takes you across the continent with just one click

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Every week The Briefing takes you across the continent with just one click.

Every week The Briefing takes you across the continent with just one click 14f6f54e0ccb4b05

‘I don’t have anything.’ The plight of asylum-seekers left in the dark

By Euronews Brussels bureau

“We don’t have a house, we live on the street. We don’t have work. We don’t have money. We don’t have clothes, shoes, food.”

These are the words of Abd al-Wahid, a young Afghan man who has spent the last three months living in makeshift tents along the Brussels Canal, not far from some of the city’s most visited tourist attractions. He is one of over 250 asylum-seekers who have set up camp right outside the reception centre known as Le Petit Chateau – in English, The Little Castle –, where they endure the harsh conditions of the freezing winter.

“I can’t shower. It’s just a problem,” Abd al-Wahid says.

His story illustrates the conundrum of Belgium’s migration system, which according to national authorities is overburdened by a steady rise in asylum applications, leaving migrants in the dark about their future.

The country has created 9,000 reception places since September 2021, for a total of 34,000 rooms that are believed to be at maximum capacity. The inability to provide decent conditions to all those who arrive in search of humanitarian reception has resulted in scenes of despair and destitution as those recorded by a Euronews team at the Brussels Canal.

“It’s very hard because I don’t have anything. I don’t have a house. I don’t have money. I don’t have work,” Mohammed, a 30-year-old man from Somalia, told our colleague Christopher Pitchers.

After traversing Africa to get to Libya, Mohammed made the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean in a small boat with his family. He is now stuck in a no man’s land, having waited for six months to begin a new life somewhere in Belgium.

“Money is really important. When you work it is better. I don’t know how I can go to work when I don’t have a house,” he said.

The office of Belgium’s Immigration Minister Nicole de Moor insists there is “certainly political will to provide shelter” and that priority is always given to families and unaccompanied minors.

“We should not expect an immediate trend reversal in terms of the numbers of asylum seekers. Without structural reforms, our asylum system cannot withstand a large influx of people seeking protection,” a spokesperson from the ministry said.

A total of 36,871 people applied for international protection in Belgium last year, a 40% increase compared to 2021. This means the country received an average of 3,000 requests per month. Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, Burundi and Eritrea were the main countries of origin.

With public authorities overwhelmed, NGOs have stepped up their assistance operations on the ground. The associations, who are equally under-resourced, believe they have been forced to complete the task left unattended by the government.

“There is currently no political will to find a solution to this problem,” Dr Jean-Paul Mangion, a medical coordinator at the Belgian mission of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), told Christopher.

“It’s not simple and it’s not an easy problem to solve because even if you created new places (for accommodation), they would quickly get filled up by the new incoming persons. There are a number of bottlenecks within the asylum system, which need to be taken care of.”

But this story is not unique to Belgium: almost eight years after the migration crisis, the European Union still lacks a unified migration policy that can provide an effective response to the question of reception and relocation. The legal fragmentation leaves member states to fend for themselves, even when their goals become incompatible with each other.

“I believe it's a good country,” Abd al-Wahid says about Belgium. “But we have a big problem. We don’t have a place to live.”

The day after Euronews filmed the camp along the Brussels Canal, local authorities announced an emergency plan of relocation and cleaning trucks were driven to the scene to dismantle the makeshift tents.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

THE FRONTLINE Russia unleashed on Thursday morning a massive missile barrage on cities across Ukraine, killing at least six people and targeting energy infrastructure. It’s the first attack on such a scale in three weeks. The day prior, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was in Kyiv where he reiterated Russia’s invasion was a violation of international law. Also this week, bombshell media reports offered new theories to explain the mysterious Nord Stream sabotage. In Luxembourg, the EU’s General Court removed the mother of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of Russia’s Wagner Group, from the bloc’s sanctions. And in Beijing, China’s new Foreign Minister struck a hard line against America.

KREMLIN-INSPIRED Following massive protests and international condemnation, Georgia’s ruling party decided to withdraw a controversial bill that would have forced media outlets and NGOs that receive 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents.” The draft legislation, seen as Kremlin-inspired, had raised serious concerns about Georgia’s (already stalled) bid for EU membership.

REPEATED WARNINGS The director of the EU Agency for Railways says the odds of a “human error,” like the one said to have caused the head-on crash that killed 57 people in Greece, could have been “drastically reduced” had the country implemented an automatic safety system. “During the last few years, we have always seen that Greece has ranked amongst the bad pupils,” Josef Doppelbauer told Euronews. “It is certainly problematic that the money has not been spent as planned.” In Athens, Greece’s newly-appointed transport minister issued an apology to quell the country’s widespread anger.

PRUDENT SPENDING With the economy still reeling from the Ukraine war, the energy crisis and record-high inflation, the European Commission has confirmed it will delay sanctioning member states whose public deficits exceed the 3% threshold until next year. However, the executive is determined to bring the fiscal rules back in full force as of January 2024. This is what it means.

‘REFLEXES DIE HARD’ When NATO ambassadors meet to discuss the Ukraine war, only six out of the 30 representatives seated around the table are women. In interviews with Euronews, female diplomats and experts explain what it’s like to work in the male-dominated world of military affairs. “We're making progress, but some reflexes die hard,” said France’s Muriel Domenach.

Every week The Briefing takes you across the continent with just one click 59f912f8fa91e499

‘SAVING DEMOCRACY’ The protests against Israel’s judicial overhaul arrived this week in Brussels in a direct plea for EU intervention. The proposed reform would allow a simple majority in parliament to override Supreme Court rulings, eroding essential checks and balances. “It’s actually very, very scary,” Amnon, one of the protesters, told Euronews. “We are in a crucial moment of saving democracy.”

LIBERAL TRIUMPH Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, has seen her political standing vastly reinforced after her liberal party came on top in Estonia’s parliamentary election. The incumbent secured 31.24% of all votes, giving her a strong mandate to form the new coalition government. In a post-election analysis, David Mac Dougall explains why Kaja Kallas won and how the far-right fell short of expectations.

BREAKING THE SILENCE Spain has some of the most progressive laws on gender-based violence across Europe. Still, last year, another 50 women were murdered by their partners, a number that has remained consistent over the last few years. Civil society organisations say a lack of resources hampers law enforcement. In the latest episode of Euronews Witness, Julián López travels to Southern Spain and speaks with survivors of domestic violence who dare to break the silence.

ALSO IN SPAIN The country’s powerful feminist movement is deeply split over two new pieces of legislation: the ‘transgender law’ and the so-called ‘only yes means yes,’ Laura Lach reports.

HEAT THREAT Extreme weather is changing the face of Europe’s top holiday destinations. Euronews Travel helps you plan your next trip in this new reality.

Every week The Briefing takes you across the continent with just one click E9737ac2cd9f0d63

IT'S IN THE NUMBERS

An Egyptian fisherman who was facing a sentence of 4,760 years in a Greek prison has ended up with a “lighter” sentence of 280 years instead after being found guilty of smuggling nearly 500 people from Libya to Greece in November 2022. Activist groups have condemned the court’s decision, saying that the 45-year-old fisherman – who was one of the migrants aboard the ship but was also steering the vessel – is being used as a scapegoat by Greek authorities.

EDITOR'S CHOICE

Brussels has a new, hot debate: Are e-fuels green enough to save the combustion engine from extinction?

Every week The Briefing takes you across the continent with just one click 54d0b0ef16c2dc77

As part of its ambitious quest for climate neutrality, the European Union had decided to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars as of January 2035. Despite the criticism and opposition the measure attracted, both the EU Council and the European Parliament struck a deal to push it through. But in a last-minute surprise, Germany mounted a campaign to spare e-fuels from the phase-out and ensure the combustion engine will live on after the 2035 deadline. With the final vote stuck in discussions, policymakers in Brussels are now pondering the pros and cons of e-fuels, an emerging technology that combines hydrogen and carbon dioxide, and the viability of their presumed green credentials. Jorge Liboreiro spoke to both sides of the debate to figure out how much we should trust e-fuels.

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