EU to simplify admission of Ukrainian refugees

type:
News

, Topic:
Migration

, Date:
01 March 2022

The EU home affairs ministers agreed on Sunday to admit war refugees quickly and unbureaucratically. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser: “All our countries are united in agreement.”

Source:
picture alliance / AA | Dursun Aydemir

At the initiative of the French Council Presidency, all the EU home affairs ministers came together in Brussels on Sunday for a special meeting to discuss the consequences of the war on Ukraine: from its impact on the security situation, to possible cyber attacks, to dealing with Russian disinformation. But the meeting mainly focused on the situation of Ukrainian refugees, an issue on which all the EU member states firmly agreed.

Before the meeting, Federal Minister Faeser had called for rapid humanitarian aid and an unbureaucratic response. After the meeting, she said, “Today, all members of the European Union agreed for the first time to take in war refugees quickly and without complicated bureaucratic procedures.“

No lengthy admission process; immediate protection for up to three years

The legal basis created in the aftermath of the wars fought in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s will now be applied for the first time. The European Commission announced that it will propose the necessary rules before the EU home affairs ministers meet again on Thursday. 

Specifically, all the EU member states will apply the same simplified procedure for admitting war refugees. People fleeing Ukraine will not have to undergo a lengthy asylum application process. They will be granted temporary protection in the EU for up to three years.

Federal Minister Faeser: “In view of the threat from Russia, Europe has come closer together today. Every EU member state is willing to take in war refugees from Ukraine. That is Europe’s firm response to the terrible suffering that Putin has caused by criminally attacking the country. We stand by the people of Ukraine and are sending this strong signal of solidarity with them.”