European Union
New omicron variant stokes world fears, triggers travel bans
The discovery of a new coronavirus variant sent a chill through much of the world Friday as nations raced to halt air travel, markets fell sharply and scientists held emergency meetings to weigh the exact risks, which were largely unknown.
A World Health Organization panel named the variant “omicron” and classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the delta variant, the world’s most prevalent. The panel said early evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection.
In response, the United States joined the European Union and several other countries in instituting travel restrictions on visitors from southern Africa.
The White House said the U.S. will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries in the region beginning Monday. It did not give details except to say the restrictions will not apply to returning U.S. citizens or permanent residents, who will continue to be required to test negative before their travel.
Medical experts, including the WHO, warned against any overreaction before the variant that originated in southern Africa was better understood. But a jittery world feared the worst nearly two years after COVID-19 emerged and triggered a pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people around the globe.
“We must move quickly and at the earliest possible moment,” British Health Secretary Sajid Javid told lawmakers.
There was no immediate indication whether the variant causes more severe disease. As with other variants, some infected people display no symptoms, South African experts said. The WHO panel drew from the Greek alphabet in naming the variant omicron, as it has done with earlier, major variants of the virus.
Read: EU wants to stop flights from southern Africa over variant
Even though some of the genetic changes appear worrisome, it was unclear if the new variant would pose a significant public health threat. Some previous variants, like the beta variant, initially concerned scientists but did not spread very far.
The 27-nation European Union imposed a temporary ban on air travel from southern Africa, and stocks tumbled in Asia, Europe and the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,000 points. The S&P 500 index was down 2.3%, on pace for its worst day since February. The price of oil plunged nearly 12%.
“The last thing we need is to bring in a new variant that will cause even more problems,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn said. The member nations of the EU have experienced a massive spike in cases recently.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said flights will have to “be suspended until we have a clear understanding about the danger posed by this new variant, and travelers returning from this region should respect strict quarantine rules.”
She insisted on extreme caution, warning that “mutations could lead to the emergence and spread of even more concerning variants of the virus that could spread worldwide within a few months.”
Belgium became the first European Union country to announce a case of the variant.
“It’s a suspicious variant,” Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said. “We don’t know if it’s a very dangerous variant.”
It has yet to be detected in the United States, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert. Abroad, the variant “seems to be spreading at a reasonably rapid rate,” he told CNN. And although it may be more transmissible and resistant to vaccines than other variants, “we don’t know that for sure right now.”
Read:South African scientists detect new virus variant amid spike
Showing how complicated the spread of a variant can be, the Belgian case involved a traveler who returned to Belgium from Egypt on Nov. 11 but did not became sick with mild symptoms until Monday, according to professor Marc Van Ranst, who works for the scientific group overseeing the Belgian government’s COVID-19 response.
Israel, one of the world’s most vaccinated countries, announced Friday that it also detected its first case of the new variant in a traveler who returned from Malawi. The traveler and two other suspected cases were placed in isolation. Israel said all three were vaccinated, but officials were looking into the travelers’ exact vaccination status.
After a 10-hour overnight trip, passengers aboard KLM Flight 598 from Capetown, South Africa, to Amsterdam were held on the edge of the runway Friday morning at Schiphol airport for four hours pending special testing. Passengers aboard a flight from Johannesburg were also being isolated and tested.
“It’s ridiculous. If we didn’t catch the dreaded bugger before, we’re catching it now,” said passenger Francesca de’ Medici, a Rome-based art consultant who was on the flight.
Some experts said the variant’s emergence illustrated how rich countries’ hoarding of vaccines threatens to prolong the pandemic.
Fewer than 6% of people in Africa have been fully immunized against COVID-19, and millions of health workers and vulnerable populations have yet to receive a single dose. Those conditions can speed up spread of the virus, offering more opportunities for it to evolve into a dangerous variant.
“This is one of the consequences of the inequity in vaccine rollouts and why the grabbing of surplus vaccines by richer countries will inevitably rebound on us all at some point,” said Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at Britain’s University of Southampton. He urged Group of 20 leaders “to go beyond vague promises and actually deliver on their commitments to share doses.”
The new variant added to investor anxiety that months of progress containing COVID-19 could be reversed.
“Investors are likely to shoot first and ask questions later until more is known,” said Jeffrey Halley of foreign exchange broker Oanda.
In a sign of how concerned Wall Street has become, the market’s so-called fear gauge known as the VIX jumped 48% to a reading of 26.91. That’s the highest reading for the volatility index since January, before vaccines were widely distributed.
Speaking before the EU announcement, Dr. Michael Ryan, head of emergencies at the WHO, warned against “knee-jerk responses.”
“We’ve seen in the past, the minute there’s any kind of mention of any kind of variation and everyone is closing borders and restricting travel,” Ryan said. “It’s really important that we remain open and stay focused.”
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed and strongly discouraged any travel bans on countries that reported the new variant. It said past experience shows that such travel bans have “not yielded a meaningful outcome.”
Yet the U.S. announced restrictions on visitors from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi, hours after governments took similar steps.
The U.K. banned flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries at noon on Friday and announced that anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be asked to take a coronavirus test.
The Japanese government announced that Japanese nationals traveling from Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho will have to quarantine at government-dedicated accommodations for 10 days and take COVID-19 tests on the third, sixth and tenth days. Japan has not yet opened up to foreign nationals.
Fauci said U.S. public health officials were talking Friday with South African colleagues. “We want to find out scientist to scientist exactly what is going on.”
The WHO’s technical working group says coronavirus infections jumped 11% in the past week in Europe, the only region in the world where COVID-19 continues to rise.
The WHO’s Europe director, Dr. Hans Kluge, warned that without urgent measures, the continent could see an additional 700,000 deaths by the spring.
Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels, Colleen Barry in Milan, Pan Pylas in London, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Mike Corder in The Hague, Dave McHugh in Frankfurt, Carley Petesch in Dakar, Andrew Meldrum in Johannesburg and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
EU wants to stop flights from southern Africa over variant
The European Union said Friday it is planning to stop air travel from southern Africa to counter the spread of a new COVID-19 variant as the 27-nation bloc is battling a massive spike in cases.
“The last thing we need is to bring in a new variant that will cause even more problems,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that she “proposes, in close coordination with the member states, to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region.”
A new coronavirus variant has been detected in South Africa that scientists say is a concern because of its high number of mutations and rapid spread among young people in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province.
Read:South African scientists detect new virus variant amid spike
Germany said von der Leyen's proposal could be enacted as soon as Friday night. Spahn said airlines coming back from South Africa will only be able to transport German citizens home, and travelers will need to go into quarantine for 14 days whether they are vaccinated or not.
Germany has seen new record daily case numbers in recent days and passed the mark of 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday.
A fourth spike of the coronavirus is hitting the 27-nation EU especially badly, with governments scrambling to tighten restrictions in an attempt to contain spread. The flight ban proposal came in the wake of similar action from Britain on Thursday.
The U.K. announced that it was banning flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries effective at noon on Friday, and that anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be asked to take a coronavirus test.
U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said there were concerns the new variant “may be more transmissible” than the dominant delta strain, and “the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective” against it.
The coronavirus evolves as it spreads and many new variants, including those with worrying mutations, often just die out. Scientists monitor for possible changes that could be more transmissible or deadly, but sorting out whether new variants will have a public health impact can take time.
Currently identified as B.1.1.529, the new variant has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong in travelers from South Africa, he said.
Read:Can new variants of the coronavirus keep emerging?
The World Health Organization’s technical working group is to meet Friday to assess the new variant and may decide whether to give it a name from the Greek alphabet.
The World Health Organization says coronavirus infections jumped 11% in Europe in the past week, the only region in the world where COVID-19 continues to rise. The WHO’s Europe director, Dr. Hans Kluge, warned that without urgent measures, the continent could see another 700,000 deaths by the spring.
The EU's emergency brake mechanism has been set up to deal with such emergencies.
Where the epidemiological situation of a third country or region worsens quickly, in particular if a variant of concern or of interest has been detected, member states should adopt an urgent, temporary restriction on all travel into the EU. This emergency brake should not apply to EU citizens, long-term EU residents and certain categories of essential travelers, who should nevertheless be subject to appropriate testing and quarantine measures, even if fully vaccinated.
Such restrictions should be reviewed at least every two weeks.
EU envoy hosts special school children at his residence
Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley on Monday hosted special children with different abilities at his residence and enjoyed their cultural performances putting emphasis on their inclusion in society.
A new book titled “Amar Nam Runa” (My Name is Runa) was also launched at the event and reading of the book is expected to lead to more inclusive and open society.
The book tells the real life story of Runa depicting how she grew up and what are the difficulties she faced and what is the current way of living life for her.
Also read: Will follow next polls very closely amid Bangladesh’s growing importance globally: EU
“The book is about the life experience of a girl with disabilities and of appeal for new school building,” said EU Ambassador Whiteley.
Additional €12 mn to be provided for Rohingyas, host community: EU
European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic has said the European Union (EU) decided to increase their humanitarian assistance by an additional €12 million – €10 million for the Rohingyas and host community in Bangladesh, and €2 million will go to Myanmar for displaced people in Rakhine State.
During his visit, Lenarcic shed light on the Rohingya crisis and the prospect of the return of the Myanmar nationals to their homeland.
"This requires the additional engagement of the international humanitarian community, including the donor agencies and the government of Bangladesh to continue to provide support to the Rohingya community," said the European Commissioner, adding that the EU will do its part.
He appreciated Bangladesh's progress in disaster preparedness and assured continued support from the European Union (EU).
"I'm looking forward to our continued cooperation. In this area also, Bangladesh can count the solidarity of the European Union," he said in a video statement Wednesday night on his Bangladesh visit.
Read: EU lauds Bangladesh’s leadership on climate front
Czech president hospitalized; Could affect forming new govt
Czech President Milos Zeman was rushed to the hospital on Sunday, a day after the country held parliamentary election in which populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis' party surprisingly came in second and Zeman has a key role in establishing a new government.
The Czech presidency is largely ceremonial but the president chooses which political leader can try to form the next government. Earlier Sunday, Zeman met with Babis, his close ally, but the prime minister made no comment as he left the presidential chateau in Lany, near Prague.
On Saturday, the centrist ANO (Yes) party led by Babis, a populist billionaire, narrowly lost the Czech Republic’s election, which could spell the end of the euroskeptic leader’s reign in the European Union nation of 10.7 million people.
A liberal-conservative three-party coalition named Together captured 27.8% of the vote, beating Babis’ ANO, which won 27.1%. In a second blow to the populists, another center-left liberal coalition received 15.6% to finish third.
The winning coalition won 71 seats while its third-place partner captured 37 seats to have a comfortable majority of 108 seats in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament, and they pledged to work together. Babis's party won 72 seats, six less than in the 2017 election.
But Zeman earlier indicated he would first appoint the leader of the strongest party, not the strongest coalition, to try to form the government. That would give Babis a chance to give it a try to find a majority for his possible new government.
Read: Amid pandemic, Czech intensive care ward is still half-full
If he fails, as expected, and his latest government doesn’t win a mandatory confidence vote in the house, Zeman could ask him to try to create a new government again.
That has happened before. With no deadlines for the president’s move, the country faced a long term of political instability from the October 2017 election until July the following year, when Babis’ second Cabinet finally won the confidence vote.
“It would be no surprise if the election’s loss wouldn’t become reality for Babis for the following months,” said analyst Petr Just from Metropolitan University Prague.
But unlike in 2017, this latest election produced a clear winner. Petr Fiala, the leader of Together and its candidate for prime minister, urged Zeman to accept the election results.
“The opposition has gained a clear majority in the lower house,” Fiala said. “The Constitution clearly says that a government needs support of a majority. We’ll see what steps President Zeman is to take but it’s essential that he cannot ignore that.”
In his only post-election comment, Zeman congratulated the election winner and all elected lawmakers.
If Zeman is not able to act due to his illness or other reasons, the prime minister and the speakers of both houses of parliament will take over his presidential powers. If that happens, the new speaker of the lower house selects the premier. The parliament has to meet within 30 days of the election to select the speaker and other officials.
In other election results, the anti-migrant and anti-Muslim force in the Czech Republic, the Freedom and Direct Democracy party, which wants the country to leave the EU, finished fourth with 9.6% support, or 20 seats. In another surprise, the Social Democrats and the Communists, the country’s traditional parliamentary parties, both failed to win seats in parliament for the first time since the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993.
Read: UK rises to 35 coronavirus cases, Czech Republic sees 1st 3
Prague’s military hospital confirmed that Zeman was transported there Sunday. Zeman, 77, is a heavy smoker and drinker who has suffered from diabetes. He has trouble walking and has been using a wheelchair.
“The reason for his hospitalization are the complications that accompany the chronic disease for which we treat him here,” said Dr. Miroslav Zavoral, the director of the clinic. He declined to elaborate.
Jiri Ovcacek, the president's spokesman, later said his current stay in hospital doesn't threaten the country's post-election negotiations and his Constitutional duties. He said Zeman has asked to receive media monitoring on a daily basis.
Zeman was previously admitted on Sept. 14 for what his office described later as a planned examination. The office said the president was only dehydrated and slightly exhausted. Zeman was released after eight days, his longest hospital stay.
He spent four days in the same hospital in 2019 for similar reasons.
Climate change: EU to step up support for Bangladesh
The European Union (EU) will assist Bangladesh in its ongoing effort to tackle climate change, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission's European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, said Friday.
Appreciating the role of the Bangladesh government, he said: "The EU will continue to increase its cooperation in the days to come."
Frans said this at a bilateral meeting between the EU and Bangladesh led by the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Md Shahab Uddin in Italy's Milan.
Read: Climate crisis no longer a looming crisis: Mia Seppo
The environment minister told the EU that Bangladesh is playing a significant role in the international arena on climate change.
Also, he sought the EU's cooperation in all sectors, including technology transfer, capacity building, renewable energy and implementation of adaptation activities, to tackle climate change.
Read: Bangladesh, UK issue collective call for ‘ambitious action’ against climate change
Additional Secretary (Development) A Shamim Al Razi and Director of the Department of Environment Md Ziaul Haque were also present at the meeting.
Ensuring global access to Covid vaccines EU’s priority: Teerink
Head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh Ambassador Rensje Teerink has said ‘Team Europe’ will share with low- and middle-income countries at least 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2021, mainly via Covax.
"Ensuring access to safe and affordable Covid-19 vaccines around the world is a priority for the EU," she told UNB while giving an overview of what the EU is contributing under Covax.
The Ambassador said Team Europe (the EU, its institutions and all 27 member states) is on track to exceed this goal, with 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines foreseen to be shared with the countries that need them most, by the end of 2021.
Also read: EU looking closely at Bangladesh: Teerink
Teerink said Covax has so far delivered 122 million doses to 136 countries.
GSP+ probably to be way forward in post-LDC period: EU Ambassador
Head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh Ambassador Rensje Teerink has said Bangladesh, with the graduation, needs to follow the core issues related to the GSP Plus in detail because “GSP Plus will probably be the way forward”.
She said the current GSP regulation only applies to human and labour rights conventions but the new regulations will be extended to environmental protection and good governance issues.
The Ambassador was delivering her keynote speech at a virtual dialogue titled “Bangladesh-European Union Relations: Prognosis for the Future” premiered on Thursday.
Read: Rohingya issue not to disappear from agenda despite new global challenges: EU
Cosmos Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Cosmos Group, hosted the dialogue as part of its ongoing Ambassador’s Lecture Series.
The opening remarks were delivered by Cosmos Foundation Chairman Enayetullah Khan. The session was chaired by Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, renowned scholar-diplomat and former Advisor on Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh Caretaker Government.
Distinguished Fellow at Centre for Policy Dialogue Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, former BGMEA President and Chairperson of Mohammadi Group Dr Rubana Huq, founder Chairman of Policy Research Institute Dr Zaidi Sattar and Prof at International Relations Department of Dhaka University Imtiaz Ahmed and Honorary Advisor Emeritus, Cosmos Foundation Ambassador (Retd) Tariq A Karim comprised the panel of discussants.
The EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) gives developing countries a special incentive to pursue sustainable development and good governance.
Eligible countries have to implement 27 international conventions on human rights, labour rights, the environment and good governance. In return, the EU cuts its import duties to zero on more than two thirds of the tariff lines of their exports.
The EU Ambassador said the current GSP regulation will expire on December 31, 2023 but there will be a grace period beyond 31st of December, 2023.
Ambassador Teerink said some progress needs to be made on labour rights issues as they are not yet there. “This is really important. We always advocate for Bangladesh.”
The EU provides possibly the best possible deal in duty-free quota-free (DFQF) market access for products particularly for the apparels. Some 45 percent of Bangladesh's total export goes to the European Union.
Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya sought an extension of the existing DFQF market access for Bangladesh to the European market by nine years beyond the three years of leeway after the graduation.
“We can still enjoy the duty-free quota-free market access after 2026 up to 2029. This has to be extended. It’s a must,” he said as Bangladesh is going to miss out on the LDC category specific preferences and privileges extended by its international development partners.
The economist shared three key points analyzing Bangladesh’s relations with the EU.
These are - an appreciation of EU as a very substantive development economic and humanitarian assistance related part, the future role of EU as a potential actor in the structural transformation of Bangladesh economy particularly in the post-LDC graduation period and the role of EU for creating and enabling global environment for an open economy for Bangladesh to sustain in the future.
Debapriya said there is a proposal at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on behalf of the LDC group to extend the DFQF facility up to 12 years.
“I say three years is very low and 12 years may look very long. But nine years must,” he said, adding that they are asking for an extension of the leeway period reasonably beyond three years.
Rubana Huq said all relevant works are in progress and they are on the right track, just hoping that things will be better.
She talked about the environment and good governance along with the human rights and labour rights and the new GSP which scare the industry because many of them are not linked to what goes on there. “It becomes increasingly difficult for them to be that compliant.”
On product diversification, Rubana said the country concept of Bangladesh, unfortunately, does not support value addition and they still have got stuck in limited products. “Nobody really thinks of sourcing suits from Bangladesh or something better from Bangladesh.”
Read: EU wants to see Bangladesh as “important actor” among Bay of Bengal littorals
Rohingya issue not to disappear from agenda despite new global challenges: EU
Head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh Ambassador Rensje Teerink has said the Rohingya issue will not disappear from the agenda until a lasting solution is found even though the world is now facing challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic and a situation in Afghanistan.
“I don’t have the magic recipe nor do I have the crystal ball to see how this situation will evolve. But I can make sure that it (Rohingya issue) will not disappear from the agenda,” said the outgoing EU Ambassador, noting that the issue is something really close to her heart personally having seen and visited the Rohingya camps many times.
Recognizing a lot of focus on Afghanistan, Ambassador Teerink said that does not mean that the Rohingya issue should disappear. “I will keep on following this.”
Read: EU promises 10mn Covid-19 vaccine doses for Bangladesh
The EU envoy made the remarks while responding to a question at a virtual dialogue titled “Bangladesh-European Union Relations: Prognosis for the Future” premiered on Thursday where she delivered the keynote speech.
Cosmos Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Cosmos Group, hosted the dialogue as part of its ongoing Ambassador’s Lecture Series.
The opening remarks were delivered by Cosmos Foundation Chairman Enayetullah Khan. The session was chaired by Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, renowned scholar-diplomat and former Advisor on Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh Caretaker Government.
Distinguished Fellow at Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, former BGMEA President and Mohammadi Group Chairperson Dr Rubana Huq, founder Chairman of Policy Research Institute (CRI) Dr Zaidi Sattar and Professor at International Relations Department of Dhaka University Imtiaz Ahmed and Honorary Advisor Emeritus, Cosmos Foundation Ambassador (Retd) Tariq A Karim comprised the panel of discussants.
Enayetullah Khan raised the issues like growing US-China conflict, Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and crisis in Afghanistan; and said it seems that the Rohingya refugee issue is almost fading away from people’s minds.
Terming the Rohingya issue a very “complex and complicated” one, he said without cooperation from the three important countries – India, China and Japan – he does not think the Rohingya issue can be resolved.
Khan wanted to know from the EU Ambassador what the EU can do to help Bangladesh resolve this problem created by Myanmar.
In reply, Ambassador Teerink said first of all a political solution of course needs to be found in Myanmar itself, but it is very tragic to see that a coup happened in Myanmar on February 1 making it difficult to reach out to Myanmar. “It is really an enormous setback. That is the reality we need to face.”
Looking at the reality of the dynamics at the UN Security Council, the Ambassador said they have unfortunately seen the situation there and it has not been very positive.
She recognized that Bangladesh is reaching out to India, China and Japan to continue discussions with those countries as their partners. “It is always on the agenda.”
The EU has also been providing significant funding for lifesaving assistance to Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh's Cox’s Bazar district through international NGOs and the UN.
The 25 August 2021 marked the fourth anniversary of the mass fleeing of over 740,000 Rohingya from Myanmar, following major outbreaks of violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees currently live in Cox's Bazar district and Bhasan Char; and over 150,000 in other countries of the region.
Decoupling the Rohingya issue from economic interests,
Prof Imtiaz said there are two things -- pandemic and Rohingya -- that are now major concerns for Bangladesh, and these two central things are involved with the political economy of Bangladesh.
EU ministers meet to discuss Afghanistan, refugees
European Union justice and home affairs ministers were meeting Tuesday to discuss the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and how Europe will deal with the flow of refugees and migrants it is expected to produce.
The meeting comes the day after the last U.S. forces flew out of Kabul’s international airport, ending America’s longest war.
The 27-nation bloc is looking for ways to prevent a repeat of a 2015 refugee crisis fueled by Syria’s civil war. The arrival in Europe of well over a million migrants that year led to infighting among EU member nations over how best to manage the influx. A new wave of migrants from Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate tensions.
The EU is likely to provide funding to house refugees in countries bordering Afghanistan to prevent them heading for Europe.
“It’s important that we are in a position where we can avoid a humanitarian crisis, migratory crisis and a security threat from Afghanistan,” European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said before the ministers’ meeting.
“But then we need to act now and not wait until we have big flows of people at our external borders or until we have terrorist organizations being stronger,” she added. “So that’s why we need to act now to support people in Afghanistan, in the neighboring countries, and work together with international organizations.”
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz made clear that his country won’t back a system for distributing refugees from Afghanistan across the EU.
Asked about proposals for all EU countries to share the burden of taking in refugees, Kurz told reporters in Berlin that Austria had already taken in a “bigger than proportionate share” of migrants since 2015.
Read: Taliban guard airport as most NATO troops leave Afghanistan
Austria already has the fourth-largest Afghan community worldwide, he said before a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Merkel said that, for her government, the focus now is on how to help between 10,000 and 40,000 Afghans who are entitled to come to Germany with their close family members because they had worked for the German military or aid organizations.
“We need to see how many actually want to leave the country and how many don’t,” she said. “That will depend very much on the circumstances the Taliban create in the country.”
Accommodating Afghans in countries close to their homeland will also be difficult.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi met his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, in Islamabad on Tuesday and said Pakistan has hosted more than 3 million Afghan refugees in previous decades and lacks the capacity to absorb more.
The EU’s focus on accommodating migrants close to Afghanistan will not please rights groups.
Amnesty International said in a letter to Johansson that the EU and its member nations “must refrain from extremely damaging responses that put emphasis on keeping the EU’s border ‘protected’ and proposing or adopting measures that shift the responsibility for the protection of refugees to third countries.”
The human rights group said the EU should give Afghans who reach Europe “access to the territory and to fair and effective asylum procedures and adequate reception conditions” and also consider all Afghan women and girls as “prima facie refugees” due to the risks they would face in Afghanistan.
Read: Bangladesh observing Afghanistan situation, in touch with stranded citizens
American forces helped evacuate over 120,000 U.S. citizens, foreigners and Afghans after the Taliban regained control of the country, according to the White House. Coalition forces also evacuated their citizens and Afghans. But foreign nations and the U.S. government acknowledged they didn’t evacuate all who wanted to go.
According to some EU estimates, around 570,000 Afghans have applied for asylum in Europe since 2015.
Asylum applications by Afghan nationals have climbed by a third since February as it became clear that the United States would pull troops out of Afghanistan. More than 4,648 applications were recorded in May, according to the EU’s asylum office. About half of the applications tend to be successful.