EU leaders pledged, on Thursday 24 March in Brussels, to continue their efforts to host the 3.7 million refugees who have fled Ukraine and called on the European Commission to make new proposals to support them and ensure that funds already made available for refugees arrive as quickly as possible.
Acknowledging that this crisis “represents a significant challenge to the infrastructure and public services” of the countries hosting these people, especially in countries bordering Ukraine, they asked the Commission to work on “additional proposals” to strengthen this financial support.
Particular attention must also be paid to the most vulnerable refugees, with the European Council calling for special vigilance against child trafficking.
The issue of Ukrainian refugees, but also of humanitarian aid for Ukraine, was the subject of a “long debate” with US President Joe Biden, an EU source said. The EU27 discussed with him how to support the frontline countries, but also how to help civilians, especially to get out of the country.
Earlier in the day, the US President announced that the US will be able to accept 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, mainly for family reunification.
In the run-up to the EU summit, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki supported the request for new EU funding. “We are trying to work out appropriate solutions and there has to be a new budget”, he said, urging the EU to be as generous as it was during the migration crisis in 2015 and 2016.
“We cannot limit our support for refugees only to the money which is already included in some other budgets of the EU. We have to think outside the box. The situation is completely new”, added the Polish Prime Minister, whose country is taking care of more than 2.5 million refugees.
At the end of the first day’s work, the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander de Croo, nevertheless indicated that no mechanism for the distribution of Ukrainian refugees was being discussed at the moment. “There is a lot of appreciation for what Poland and the countries in the region are doing”, but there is “no support mechanism or distribution mechanism, at least for the moment”, he added.
Ensuring the arrival of humanitarian aid
On Thursday, the European Council also called on Russia to ensure an “uninterrupted flow” of humanitarian aid and to “immediately” create humanitarian corridors to other parts of Ukraine, particularly Mariupol, in accordance with international law.
“We urge Russia to facilitate unhindered humanitarian access and permanent safe passage for civilians”, Mr Biden and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had declared in an earlier joint statement.
The US has announced $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
See the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/yc (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with the editorial staff)