“The hell of women is in full swing” is is one of the most pertinent comments on the decision of the governmentally controlled Polish Constitutional Court to further restrict the anyway very limited public access of women to abortions in Poland. Although the measure had been part of the public discourse for years, the timing for its implementation comes partly as a surprise. What does this tell us about the further prospects for the rule of the Law and Justice party?

In contrast to many declarations that Italy should not be left to face the challenges of mass boat arrivals from North Africa alone, the New Pact's proposals if anything renew the obsolete “Dublin system”.

In Czechia, debates about the EU's New Pact focus only on border protection, return and detention, rather than discussing more relevant proposals on legal migration, integration and inclusion.

In mid-September 2020, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke out strongly in favour of a human and humane approach to the common EU Asylum Policy. Her lofty promises did not, however, survive very long.

On 23 September, the European Commission tabled the “New Pact on Migration and Asylum”. An interview with MEP and migration policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group at the European Parliament, Erik Marquardt, on the future of European asylum and migration.