Travel
Europe’s travel strikes in May and June: When are they and where will be affected?
Workers across Europe are walking out to protest low pay and poor working conditions.
Europe is a hive of strike action right now, with many employees unhappy that sky-high inflation has not been matched by higher wages.
Walkouts are planned all over Europe, showing that it always pays to check before you travel.
Luckily, we have gathered all of the strike information together below.
Read on to find out where and when are walkouts taking place.
If your flight or train is cancelled or delayed, you will be entitled to a new ticket or compensation. Read our guide for the full details.
Italy: Transport strikes happening in May and June
There will be a 24-hour ground handling strike at airports on 4 June.
The action is over employment contracts for handling staff. Unions say pay and conditions have not improved in the last six years.
The good news is that under Italian law flights scheduled to leave between 7-10am and 6-9pm are protected from strike action.
We will add more details on likely impacts of the strike when it is available.
Italy: Nationwide bus, train and tram strike
There is a nationwide, 24-hour general strike on 26 May which will affect bus and tram services as well as metro lines, with significant delays and cancellations likely to take place on the day. At the time of writing, it isn’t yet clear whether local and interregional rail services will also be affected by the walkout.
The strike was called by the Italian union USB (Unione Sindacati di Base) in protest against precarious work contracts and low wages.
France: Travellers warned about ongoing French pension protests
Unions across France have been in an ongoing battle against an increase in the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.
Protests broke out across the country after President Emmanuel Macron decided to push through the change without a parliamentary vote. Rubbish built up in Paris and was set on fire. Protesters have also clashed with police in the French capital.
Trade unions have now announced a new nationwide day of protests on 6 June ahead of the French parliament’s National Assembly on 8 June.
The level of travel disruption on strike days has varied. However, there have been flight and train cancellations and tourist attractions in Paris do sometimes close. So it is worth checking ahead of time if you’ll be travelling on a strike day.
French air traffic control strikes
Air traffic controllers (ATC) have been on strike since March, affecting flights all over Europe, and set to last until 1 June. Low-cost airline Ryanair said that in the first four months of 2023, there were more than 50 days of ATC strikes leading to more than 3,700 cancelled flights and affecting more than 666,000 passengers.
UK: Security staff strikes continue at Heathrow Airport
Security staff at Heathrow are on strike from 25 to 26 May as part of a row over pay. This industrial action almost exclusively affects Terminal 5 and British Airways is the only airline to operate from this terminal.
It is difficult to predict how much disruption the walkouts will cause.
Whereas the organising union Unite say it will cause “mayhem”, Heathrow says it has managed to keep the airport running smoothly during the previous industrial action, involving around 1,400 security staff.
“We anticipate that the airport will be busy during this period, and additional “Here to Help” teams are available to assist passengers,” a statement on Heathrow’s website says.
The airport has advised people to check the status of their flight before travelling. Passengers have been told to arrive no earlier than two hours before short-haul flights and three hours before long-haul flights.
Travellers will also only be able to bring two items of carry-on luggage through security on strike days. Handbags and laptop bags do count but checked baggage isn’t affected.
British Airways is offering passengers the chance to check in hand luggage for free to reduce pressure on security checkpoints.
Scotland: Potential disruption at Glasgow airport
Security staff who work at Glasgow airport have been negotiating a pay rise. They have just rejected what the Unite union called a “derisory” offer of a 5 per cent pay increase.
The union is balloting 400 workers employed by five companies; Glasgow Airport Ltd, ICTS Central Search, OCS, ABM and Falck Fire Services UK on strike action.
“If these companies don’t come back with fair and decent offers then a summer of travel chaos is on the horizon,” warned Pat McIlvogue, Unite industrial officer.
No strike dates had been announced at the time of writing.
Spain: Airline and airport strikes continue into summer
The Spanish Airline Pilots Union (SEPLA) is calling for a fresh wave of strike days for pilots at Air Europa. They will be walking out from 22 to 26 and 29 to 30 May then again on 1 to 2 June. These will take place at all of the airline’s bases of operation and workplaces in Spain.
The union has warned that strikes “will be extended in the coming months if the company refuses to negotiate a fair agreement.”
Pilots represented by SEPLA at other airlines in Spain, including Ryanair and Easyjet, are also considering strike action this summer.
It is part of an ongoing protest against the Spanish Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agency’s application of the ‘minimum services law’. This requires at least 90 per cent of flights to go ahead even when they are taking part in industrial action of pay.
SEPLA argues that the way this law has been applied impedes on the pilots’ constitutional rights to a full strike and protects the interests of Air Europe bosses. Other groups including air traffic controllers and flight attendants could also join the walkouts to put pressure on airlines and the government.
If you know of a big strike happening in your country that we have missed, we’d love to hear from you via Twitter.
Travel
ICC launches outside investigation into its top prosecutor
The International Criminal Court will launch an external probe into sexual misconduct accusations against its top prosecutor Karim Khan.
The external probe will keep alive a case that the court’s internal watchdog had closed within five days.
Karim Khan has categorically denied the accusations that he tried to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship, and the claims come amid reports of an ongoing Israeli intelligence campaign to discredit the court’s prosecution of Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The external investigation was approved this week at a meeting of the court’s oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door deliberations.
It was unclear exactly who would conduct the probe, the people said, noting that possibilities included law enforcement officials from Europe and a law firm. The United Nations’ internal watchdog has also been discussed for such a probe but that could be fraught with conflict-of-interest concerns because Karim’s wife, a prominent human rights lawyer, had previously worked at the agency in Kenya investigating sexual harassment.
Neither Päivi Kaukoranta, a Finnish diplomat currently heading the ICC’s oversight body, nor Khan’s attorney immediately responded to requests for comment.
An AP investigation found that two court employees in whom the alleged victim confided came forward with the accusation in May, a few weeks before Khan sought arrest warrants against Netanyahu, his defence minister and three Hamas leaders on war crimes charges. A three-judge panel is now weighing that request.
AP reported that Khan travelled frequently with the woman after transferring her to his office from another department at the ICC’s headquarters in The Hague.
During one foreign trip, Khan allegedly asked the woman to rest with him on a hotel bed and then “sexually touched her,” according to whistle-blower documents shared with the court’s watchdog and seen by the AP. Later, he came to her room at 3 a.m. and knocked on the door for 10 minutes.
Other allegedly non-consensual behaviour cited in the documents included locking the door of his office and sticking his hand in her pocket. He also allegedly asked her on several occasions to go on a vacation together.
After the two co-workers reported the alleged behaviour, the court’s internal watchdog interviewed the woman but she opted against filing a complaint due to her distrust of the watchdog, according to the AP investigation. Khan was never questioned and the watchdog’s inquiry was closed within five days.
While the court’s watchdog could not determine wrongdoing, it nonetheless urged Khan in a memo to minimise contact with the woman to protect the rights of all involved and safeguard the court’s integrity.
Under Khan, the ICC has become more assertive in combating crimes against humanity, war crimes and related atrocities. Along the way, it has added to a growing list of enemies.
Last September, following the opening of a probe into Russian atrocities in Ukraine, the court suffered a debilitating cyberattack that left staff unable to work for weeks. It also hired an intern who was later criminally charged in the U.S. with being a Russian spy.
Israel has also been waging its own influence campaign ever since the ICC recognised Palestine as a member and in 2015 opened a preliminary investigation into Israel’s actions.
London’s The Guardian newspaper and several Israeli news outlets reported this summer that Israel’s intelligence agencies for the past decade have allegedly targeted senior ICC staff, including putting Khan’s predecessor under surveillance and showing up at her house with envelopes stuffed with cash to discredit her.
An external probe would go further than what Khan proposed when, following the AP report, he called on the ICC’s internal watchdog to investigate the matter and said he would fully cooperate.
Travel
Inundated Pompeii plans a limit of 20,000 tourists a day
The Pompeii archaeological park plans to also introduce personalised tickets in a bid to protect the world heritage site, officials have said.
The move comes after what authorities called a record summer that saw over four million people visiting the world-famous remains of the ancient Roman city, buried under ash and rock following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
The park’s director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said visitors to the main archaeological site now exceed an average of 15,000 to 20,000 every day, and the new daily cap will prevent the numbers from surging further.
“We are working on a series of projects to lift the human pressure on the site, which could pose risks both for visitors and the heritage (that is) so unique and fragile,” Zuchtriegel said.
Starting 15 November, tickets to access the park will be personalised to include the full names of visitors. A maximum of 20,000 tickets will be released each day, with different time slots during the peak summer season.
The park’s management is also trying to attract more tourists to visit other ancient sites connected to Pompeii through a free shuttle bus under the “Greater Pompeii” project, including Stabia, Torre Annunziata and Boscoreale sites.
“The measures to manage flows and safety and the personalisation of the visits are part of this strategy,” Zuchtriegel said.
“We are aiming for slow, sustainable, pleasant and non-mass tourism and above all widespread throughout the territory around the UNESCO site, which is full of cultural jewels to discover,” he added.
Travel
Spain aims to ban golden visas from January – but one country is reintroducing its scheme
The EU is turning its back on golden visas – but one country is reintroducing its scheme.
Getting the right to live and work in another country can be a long and difficult process. But that’s not always the case for those with money to spend.
Golden visas offer the opportunity for wealthy people to essentially ‘buy’ the right to residency – sometimes without even having to live in the country.
And their popularity in the European Union is growing as people look to move away from countries facing instability and political decisions such as Brexit that may limit their safety and rights.
With the unsettled political and social environment in the US in recent years, applications for golden visas from Americans were also projected to increase.
But golden visas are now gradually being phased out across Europe.
Spain has finally secured a legal route to ending golden visas via property investment, with reports suggesting the ban could come into force by January 2025. The ban, which is still being debated, could also affect other investment pathways.
Portugal removed real estate investment as a basis for golden visa applications back in October 2023 in the hope of reducing property speculation.
The Netherlands followed suit, ending its golden visa scheme in January 2024.
But Hungary has bucked the trend by reintroducing its golden visa scheme, with applications open as of this month.
So what exactly are these golden visa schemes and why has the EU raised questions about their safety in recent years?
What is a golden visa?
Residence by investment schemes, otherwise known as ‘golden visas’, offer people the chance to get a residency permit for a country by purchasing a house there or making a large investment or donation.
Any applicants must be over the age of 18, have a clean criminal record and have sufficient funds to make the required investment.
There are also golden passports, known officially as citizenship by investment programs, that allow foreigners to gain citizenship using the same means.
For countries in the EU, this also means gaining access to many of the benefits of being a resident of the bloc – including free movement between countries.
Why is the EU against golden visas and passports?
In 2022, the European Commission called on EU governments to stop selling citizenship to investors.
Though this is different to golden visas, which offer permanent residency rather than citizenship, the call came as part of a move to crack down on this combined multi-billion euro industry. In the wake of the Ukraine war, there were concerns that these schemes could be a security risk.
Brussels also called for countries to double-check whether people sanctioned due to the war were holding a golden passport or visa that they had issued.
In the past, the EU has also said that schemes of this kind are a risk to security, transparency and the values that underpin the European Union project.
In October 2022, the European Commission urged Albania to “refrain from developing an investors’ citizenship scheme (golden passports)”. Such a scheme would “pose risks as regards security, money laundering, tax evasion, terrorist financing, corruption and infiltration by organised crime, and would be incompatible with EU norms,” it warned in a report. The country has since suspended its plans to introduce a golden visa.
Threats also come from outside the bloc. Also in October 2022, the European Commission proposed a suspension of Vanuatu‘s visa waiver agreement due to golden passport risks. This is because the scheme enables nationals of third countries to gain Vanuatu citizenship, which then earns them visa-free access to Schengen zone countries.
Which other countries have scrapped their golden visa schemes?
In February 2022, the UK government scrapped its golden visa scheme that allowed wealthy foreign nationals to settle in the country in exchange for bringing part of their wealth with them. The decision to end the scheme came as part of a move to clamp down on dirty money from Russia.
In February 2023, Ireland also axed its golden visa scheme – the Immigrant Investor Programme – which offered Irish residence in return for a €500,000 donation or three-year annual €1 million investment in the country.
Ireland had already suspended the scheme for Russian citizens in March 2022 as part of sanctions imposed on the country for the invasion of Ukraine. The following month, the European Parliament warned that the programme was vulnerable to tax abuse. The final decision to end the scheme was the outcome of various international reports and internal reviews.
Which EU countries still offer golden visas and what are the requirements?
There are only a few places that still offer golden passports in the EU. One of these countries is Malta. Here, the minimum investment amount starts at €690,000 and offers citizenship for between 12 and 36 months.
Many others, however, still offer golden visa schemes. Here are a few examples of exactly how much it costs to get residence by investment in these countries.
Does Spain still offer a golden visa?
Spain launched its residence by investment scheme in 2013. It allowed wealthy people from outside the EU to obtain residency permits on investing more than €500,000 in real estate or certain types of business.
However, in April, the country’s government said it plans to scrap the real estate route – which accounts for 94 per cent of applications – to reduce pressure on the housing market.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the reform was part of his minority coalition government’s push to make housing “a right, not a speculative business”.
The road to banning the visa has been a long and rocky one, having failed to secure parliamentary support from major opposition parties.
According to local media reports, a ban could be on the horizon in January 2025 but applications made before then are likely to be honoured.
The government says over 15,000 such visas have been issued since the measure was brought into law in 2013 by a previous right-wing Popular Party government as a means to attract foreign investors.
Since Spain announced plans to end its golden visa, Chinese investors have rushed to buy property in the country, a report by Spanish state broadcaster RTVE revealed.
The visa can also be gained by starting certain types of business in Spain, holding company shares or bank deposits with a minimum value of €1 million in Spanish financial institutions, or making a government bonds investment of at least €2 million. The ban could extend to these types of investments, also.
Hungary golden visa scheme
Bucking the trend, Hungary announced plans to reintroduce its golden visa scheme in July 2024, after having ended it back in 2017.
The so-called Guest Investor Program (GIP) offers three routes to residency, including through real estate investment funds (minimum €250,000), purchasing a residential property (minimum €500,000) or donating at least €1 million to a higher educational institution in the country.
The visa is extended to the spouse and dependent children of the applicant and grants visa-free travel in the EU.
Initial applications opened at the end of October, with further real estate investment funds expected to be released by the end of the year.
Italy’s golden visa scheme
Italy is another popular destination for those looking to get residence by investment. Introduced in 2017, its golden visa grants non-EU nationals a residence permit for two years in exchange for an investment in Italy.
The minimum investment here is €250,000 which must be done through an Italian limited company. Those holding these visas can also include their family in the application and benefit from a special tax regime.
Once those using the scheme have lived in Italy for 10 years, they can be eligible for citizenship.
Greece’s golden visa scheme
Greece offers golden visas, with one of the quickest processes for gaining residency. Qualifying foreigners can get a permit within 60 days of applying.
It used to have one of the lowest thresholds for investment at just €250,000 spent on property in the country. But the country raised this to €800,000 in September in areas facing severe housing shortages, such as Athens, Mykonos and Santorini.
Elsewhere, it only rose to €400,000 to encourage investment in a wider range of places.
Golden visa holders aren’t required to stay in Greece to keep their visas.
By the end of 2021, the country had seen 9,500 applications for these residence by investment schemes, one of the highest numbers in Europe.
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