Germany, France and Ireland pushed for quick adoption of emergency measures, granting immediate protection to refugees fleeing war in Ukraine, as EU interior ministers met on Thursday to discuss the issue.
“I hope that there is this agreement in principle today,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in Brussels.
“I actually assume that there will be.
“This will allow the proposal to be formally adopted in the very next days,” said her French counterpart Gérald Darmanin, who was chairing the meeting under France’s EU presidency.
“Ministers will discuss a proposal by the European Commission to give refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine special status in the European Union.
“The aim is to create a quick procedure for people leaving Ukraine to apply for protection status in any EU member state.”
This would remain valid for one year but could be extended for two further years, pending a decision by member states.
Ukraine already had a visa arrangement with the bloc allowing its citizens to enter and remain in the EU for up to 90 days.
The proposal aimed to avoid the lengthy national procedures required to process large numbers of displaced people once this 90-day period has passed.
The idea was to avoid overwhelming the systems of member states hosting the most refugees, such as neighbouring Poland.
The directive also allowed for controls on EU member states’ borders to be relaxed to make evacuations easier.
“This is a way for us to allow citizens to come, to not have to go through a difficult and lengthy process, to get on with their lives while this unimaginable war is happening,” said Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
Ylva Johansson, EU Home Affairs Commissioner unveiled the proposal at a crisis meeting of EU interior ministers on Sunday, three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched its invasion of Ukraine.
A ministerial agreement on Thursday would pave the way for technical work needed to finalise the decision.
This could progress “very quickly,” an EU diplomat said before the meeting.
The directive was originally designed following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s but never used.
More than one million refugees had fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began a week ago; nearly 550,000 refugees are in Poland, the UN’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR) chief Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday night.
Hungary, Slovakia and Romania were also hosting large numbers.(dpa/NAN)
