On Thursday 12 May members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) raised with the European Commission the weaknesses in the implementation of the Temporary Protection Directive and in the access of municipalities and associations to the emergency funds made available by the EU to take care of Ukrainian refugees.
In particular, they wanted to know about the progress of the refugee registration platform, announced for the end of May. The Commission representative, Beate Gminder, explained to them that the work is still ongoing and is now being carried out within the Commission and no longer with the EU-Lisa agency, which was considered too costly for this project.
But the official surprised MEPs by telling them that the Commission currently has no clear view on the number of Ukrainian refugees currently in the EU, many of whom, subject to the 90-day visa-free regime, are moving back and forth between the EU and Ukraine.
They also have “some resistance” to registering with national authorities “for fear of not being able to re-enter the EU if they go back to Ukraine”, said Beate Gminder, encouraging local authorities to convince refugees to register.
As of 6 May, 5.4 million people had fled Ukraine for the EU and more than 2 million have since registered for temporary protection, but “there are significant return movements” to Ukraine. An estimated 1 million have returned to Ukraine to date.
This high level of freedom of movement tolerated for Ukrainians raised questions from MEPs like Birgit Sippel (S&D, Germany), who wondered why the EU did not have the same tolerance for other refugees.
Concerned about the potential lack of control over such movements, she hoped that all refugees would be able to benefit from the same support as that given to Ukrainians, such as language courses, access to schooling or various other services.
MEPs raised other concerns, such as Fabienne Keller (Renew Europe, France), who wanted to know how EU funds are channelled to local authorities and associations that are organising the reception.
She cited in particular the case of Poland, which is in trouble with the Commission over EU funds.
The MEP expressed concern that this money was being released to Member States but was not necessarily getting to the field. Dutch MEP Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA) agreed, reporting on situations in countries bordering Ukraine where communities are not receiving the funds allocated and “there is nothing in housing, employment, schools or social services”.
The Commission provided assurances that the money “should come soon”. “We can only do one thing: issue a call for proposals and then make a selection. I know that a certain weariness is setting in”, she admitted after announcing earlier that “all our budgets are exhausted”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)