Photo Gallery Pushing Refugees Aside
Border police stand guard next to a fence on the Bulgarian border with Turkey. Bulgaria, the European Union's poorest member, has been overwhelmed by the arrival this year of almost 10,000 refugees. Sixty percent of them are Syrians fleeing civil war and crossing over illegally from Turkey.
Hundreds of refugees and their supporters demonstrate in Hamburg in November 2013. Two months after the deadly shipwreck off the island of Lampedusa, it is now clear that any hopes for change in the EU's asylum policy have been dashed. The presumed new government in Berlin has shown no intention of changing current policy.
Rescue workers in Lampedusa look over bodies retrieved from the sea. The deadly shipwreck off the Italian island killed more than 300 people, sparking an intial conversation about reforming European asylum policy.
Pope Francis called the boating accident a "disgrace," as did European Parliament President Martin Schulz. German President Joachim Gauck asked whether Germany has been too passive an observer in international politics, and whether "our engagement is consistent with the meaning of our country."
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström (left) shakes hands with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (center) and European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fule. Malmström negotiated an agreement between the EU and Turkey, under which Turkish citizens get visa-free travel into Europe in exchange for Turkey accepting people whose asylum applications were rejected in the EU.
