EU Member States could give the green light on Thursday 3 March in Brussels to activate the 2001 directive on immediate temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Sunday 27 February. The issue was tabled by EU ministers as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Monday 28 February that more than 500,000 people had already fled Ukraine.
The Commission should therefore propose the activation of this instrument and, according to the French Minister, “very strong support” was already noted on Sunday during an extraordinary meeting in Brussels, even if Poland has not yet deemed it necessary to activate this tool.
A recourse to this instrument would, in any event, be a first for the EU, as the Commission had even thought, at the end of 2020, with its ‘Migration and Asylum Pact’, of simply abolishing this never-used directive.
The Pact proposed an alternative regulation on solidarity in times of crisis (mass influx of people) and force majeure.
The Member States and the Commission had in fact refused to use this tool in 2011, during the Arab Spring, and then at the height of the war in Syria, considering that the conditions were not met and preferring, in 2015, to rely on compulsory relocation solutions.
With a potential arrival of 4-7 million Ukrainians in the EU, according to the Commission, the situation is however different today.
It also considers that this tool could be an answer to a practical problem that will arise with Ukrainian refugees. Ukrainians have a visa liberalisation regime for short-stay travel of only 90 days.
Practicalities
This directive of 20 July 2001 on “minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States in receiving such persons and bearing the consequences thereof” was drawn up after the influx of Kosovans into Germany during the war in Kosovo in 1999.
In practice, it allows people to receive protection for 6 months, renewable several times over a two-year period, and an additional year of protection can also be decided following this initial period.
‘Temporary protection’ is a procedure of an exceptional nature which ensures, in the event of a mass influx or imminent mass influx of displaced persons from third countries who cannot return to their country of origin, immediate and temporary protection for these persons, “in particular if there is a risk that the asylum system will be unable to deal with this influx without causing effects which run counter to its proper functioning, in the interests of the persons concerned and other persons seeking protection”, says the 2001 text.
The activation process is initiated by the Commission or at the request of a Member State, which submits the decision to the EU Council for adoption by qualified majority. The European Parliament shall be informed of the decision. And in its decision, the EU Council notes the situation of a massive influx of displaced persons and specifies the groups of people to whom ‘temporary protection’ applies.
The decision also mentions the reception capacities communicated by each Member State. People with this protection can also work in the EU, receive training, and children have access to the education system of the Member States. It is also possible for them to apply for asylum while under this immediate protection status.
Hybrid threats
On Sunday, the Member States’ interior ministers also wanted to ensure that the EU’s external borders would remain adequately protected and controlled, particularly to counter the risk of hybrid threats, which was of concern to them at the end of 2021 with Belarus.
The Commission will therefore present guidelines in the next few days so that external border controls can still be carried out in these exceptional circumstances.
Link to the directive: https://aeur.eu/f/ji (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)