On Friday 12th July, the Finnish parliament adopted the Act on Temporary Measures to Combat Instrumentalised Migration, also known as the “pushback” law. The bill, valid for one year, allows authorities to turn away migrants attempting to enter Finland at its eastern border with Russia, due to their supposed instrumentalisation by Moscow.

Just a few kilometres from Lebanon and Syria, Cyprus has seen an increase in the number of Syrian exiles arriving by boat directly on its coasts in recent months. In spite of a stable total number of asylum seekers, the Cypriot government reacted to these more visible arrivals by announcing tougher reception conditions for asylum seekers in the country. Corina Drousiotou, coordinator and legal adviser at the Cyprus Refugee Council, sheds light on the situation in Cyprus and the impact of recent government measures on asylum seekers.

A Syrian refugee living in Germany, Shaza Al Rihawi is deeply involved in the promotion of human rights. She is a member of several refugee rights organizations and is also working on a research project that seeks to analyze the process of integration of young migrants within the education system and society in Germany. She shares with us her views on public policies for the integration of migrants and refugees and the main challenges they face in the EU, especially women.

Led by the Polish Institute of Public Affairs and coordinated by the Migration Policy Group, the "National Integration Evaluation Mechanism" (NIEM) is a transnational research project aimed at promoting the integration of refugees into European societies. It consists in assessing the impact of legislative and policy developments, but also in identifying challenges and good practices in the project partner countries. France terre d'asile is in charge of the evaluation for France.

Alain Le Cléac'h shares his point of view on the coronavirus epidemic and its consequences on the rights of migrants in France, and on what it implies in terms of European migration policy.

The pandemic seems to have put everything on hold: the arrivals of migrants in Europe, their movement between Member States which have closed their borders, even the exercise of the right of asylum in countries such as France, which have gone as far as to close its registration offices for asylum seekers. And almost the debate on these issues. The decline of the epidemic is a good time to take stock.

The EU Member States have had to face up to the challenge of the reception of asylum seekers for a number of years now. Although supporting them is crucial, there is a huge contrast in the way this actually happens from one country to another. The degree of solidarity shown by governments when it comes to sharing responsibilities fairly within the bloc is also far from uniform.