On Thursday 3 March, EU home affairs ministers from the EU27 approved the activation of the 2001 directive on the immediate temporary protection of Ukrainian refugees and their families.
This is “a historic agreement”, said French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson, as the directive, adopted after the wars in the former Yugoslavia, has never been used.
The protection offered by the directive will cover all Ukrainian nationals and their families as well as persons already enjoying international protection in Ukraine and their families.
On Thursday, the Member States’ discussion was more difficult regarding the status of third country nationals legally residing in Ukraine. Several countries, such as Poland, have, in fact, expressed their opposition to the application of this directive to residents of third countries, wishing to reserve it for people with Ukrainian passports.
The Ministers reached an agreement on the basis of a compromise by the French Presidency of the EU Council. Member States will have the possibility of offering third country nationals legally residing in Ukraine a national protection status and not necessarily temporary protection.
A status that is “just as protective”, the French minister assured.
As for third country students fleeing Ukraine, they will be taken care of immediately, will have easier access to accommodation centres and everything will be done to ensure that they can be repatriated to their country of origin, Johansson also explained.
The 2001 directive gives these refugees a number of rights, such as the right to work in the Member States.
Ministers also agreed to allow people with temporary protection to move freely within the EU, by not applying Article 11 of the 2001 directive, which states that “a Member State shall take back a person enjoying temporary protection on its territory if the said person remains on, or, seeks to enter without authorisation onto, the territory of another Member State during the period covered by the Council Decision”.
However, contrary to the Commission’s proposal, the Member States approved a temporary protection for one year, renewable for a total of two years, whereas the Commission had suggested that this temporary residence permit could be renewed for a period of three years (see EUROPE 12902/4).
Complications on the day and ‘political misconduct’
With more than a million people having already fled the country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Commissioner welcomed the fact that the EU27 had been able to reach “a unanimous agreement” on a subject as “toxic as migration”.
But Johansson also agreed that with refugee arrivals from Ukraine potentially reaching “millions”, hosting them will pose “challenges” for European societies.
In any case, the discussions were somewhat tense at the end of the morning when several ministers indicated to the Commission that they wished to give priority to Ukrainian nationals in the scope of this directive.
Some member states, such as Greece, have even criticised the Commission’s overly broad proposal as a “political mistake”, a source said.
Poland and other countries on the front line of the war in Ukraine have also chosen not to ask for help from their partners in hosting refugees for the time being, a situation that has also puzzled some delegations.
The 2001 directive, which has never been used before, will in any case be formally activated as soon as it is published in the Official Journal on Friday 4 March.
For his part, Darmanin also said he was in contact with his British counterpart to discuss how to allow Ukrainian refugees who arrived in northern France to join their families in the UK.
Link to the adopted compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/lw (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)