New migration laws and a far-right surge

Hi everyone,

Be it the sweeping changes to border policies or new analysis on the mounting support for far-right parties in rural Europe, the past month highlighted yet again how the social and political landscape of Europe is in constant flux. These were just two of the topics we followed closely in recent weeks and this month's newsletter includes insights into these and other issues from across the continent, as well as updates from the Investigate Europe team.

?? Political analysts and opinion pollsters warn of looming victories for the far-right in the upcoming June elections. In the latest instalment of our series of articles ahead of the elections, EU under pressure , we take a closer look at the popularity of these parties among voters in rural Europe. We travelled to communities in Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany to understand what lies behind the growing support for the far-right.?

?? The plan to build a huge lithium mine in central France has triggered a wave of public debate and outcry in recent months. The controversial development featured predominantly in our Mine Games investigation, which explored Europe's new hunt for critical raw materials. Listen here to Investigate Europe's Le?la Mi?ano discuss the issues and what the lithium project might mean for local communities with France's RCF radio station.

?? CIJI, the Collaborative and Investigative Journalism Initiative, in which Investigate Europe is serving as a regional hub, has just announced the 20 new fellows for the Collaborative Journalism Fellowship. The fellowship aims to equip journalists with the skills to conduct cross-border investigations through a five-month programme consisting of online training, workshops, mentoring and networking opportunities.?

?Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more exciting news coming from us soon ??

Please do reach out to us with any feedback and comments or if you have a story that you think needs telling: [email protected]

Your IE Team

Charting Europe

Since the invasion of Ukraine, the EU has adopted 13 sanction packages against Russia. The measures were intended to hit Russian revenues and curtail its war machine. But implementation has proved harder than imagined, and the Kremlin is increasingly finding ways to sidestep restrictions. Not least with its oil. Russia has amassed a 'shadow fleet' of oil tankers to avoid sanctions scrutiny and the G7 price cap. It has found willing buyers outside of now prohibited western markets to sustain its multi-billion-euro trade. This week it was reported that EU officials will try again to stem Russia's oil profits by targeting the so-called shadow fleet as part of a new round of sanctions. The graphic below is from Fuelling War, an investigation produced in partnership with Reporters United in Greece, which explored Europe's pivotal role in the Russian oil trade after the Ukraine invasion. Explore more from the series here .

In Focus

After years of negotiations, the new EU Asylum and Migration Pact was approved on 10 April at the EP plenary session. In light of the 1.14 million asylum applications in 2023, it is more crucial now than ever before to find solutions to the migration crisis facing Europe. This agreement, however, is anything but a solution.

The pact does not change the controversial Dublin Regulation which delegates the handling of asylum applications to the countries of first arrival, meaning that much of the migratory pressure continues to be centred on Greece, Italy, Spain and Malta. Under the new laws, migrants will undergo identity, health, biometric and security checks to determine whether they have asylum status or if they'll be sent back to their country of origin or transit. Co-operation between EU member states will also change. Countries will be able to avoid taking in asylum seekers by providing financial or logistical support to the country of first arrival. The detention of child migrants and unaccompanied minors at Europe's borders is also allowed in certain circumstances.?

Experts and NGOs believe the pact is a step backward which leaves migrants with less rights and facing worse conditions. In February, we revealed how several governments, including France and the Netherlands, had been secretly lobbying for tougher measures in the new laws. See what we uncovered .

What we're reading

?? Dossier has new information on the negligent and abusive activities of nursing home giant Orpea. You may recall that Orpea’s suspicious financial dealings with a Luxembourg holding company was the subject of one of our own investigations two years ago.

??? El País , together with Lighthouse Reports, Financial Times and Unbias The News, investigates the "brain waste" phenomenon. Their analysis reveals how skilled migrants are excluded from the jobs Europe most needs to fill.?

?? The International Journalism Festival in Perugia took place last week and brought together journalists from all over the world. Recordings from the conference are already available and deserve a closer look as they cover the latest trends in journalism, such as the potential uses of AI and strategies for reaching diverse communities.?

Inside Investigate Europe

Maria Maggiore, who covers Italy and the EU for Investigate Europe and is based in Brussels, discusses the cross-border strategy that makes our perspective on EU affairs unique

When we founded Investigate Europe I was about to move to Italy for family reasons. After 20 years I was leaving the European bubble to study problems from a local, micro perspective. IE and the territory, a winning combination! Now I am back in Brussels, from where I follow European affairs, with a constant eye on what is happening in my country, Italy. Returning 'to Europe' with IE's cross-border experience, I have learnt to break out of the national logic of European correspondents: the 'us against them' that one often reads in national articles, where 'us' are the interests of our government, often to the advantage of lobbies and multinationals, often made their own by journalists. As journalists, we approach government positions with a critical, open gaze. We experienced this in our recent work on the Migration Pact, where thanks to a source I discovered that France had pushed for a serious hardening of migrant children's rights. Many states then followed Paris and the new rules passed. We analysed secret minutes of European Council meetings and sifted through the positions of our governments. The picture that emerged was not the one you might hear on television from our ministers. There is an ongoing dehumanisation of migration, to which we are becoming accustomed, so that detention, even of children, no longer outrages us. Even though it was only one article, our reporting may have helped to restore some balance and made some MEPs change their position for the final vote in April.

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