The European Union relies on voluntary admission when distributing the millions of refugees from Ukraine. On the sidelines of the meeting with his EU counterparts on Monday in Brussels, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) spoke out against a mandatory distribution key: “Clear commitments are needed here, they also exist (…) but we don’t believe in quotas. ”
The German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently said that the goal must be a fixed quota for distribution in Europe. On Monday, Faeser rowed back: “It’s not about fixed quotas today, it’s about a solidarity distribution system,” she said. According to Karner, a mandatory distribution key was not an issue at today’s talks.
Video: ZIB editor Fritz Dittlbacher speaks about the acceptance of Ukraine refugees in EU countries.
The war in Ukraine is a “very special challenge” and it requires the support of European countries, Karner told journalists. Austria has already carried out the first flight evacuations of Ukrainians seeking protection from Moldova and has offered Poland to take in refugees. “That is what is needed now,” stressed the Interior Minister. Specifically, it is initially about taking in 500 displaced persons, said Karner after the meeting.
The Polish Deputy Interior Minister Bartosz Grodecki confirmed the project. “I just got the letter, thank you very much,” said Grodecki. Now 500 people seeking protection from Ukraine would have to be found who would accept the offer. “If it works, the offer will be expanded,” he added.
More than 3.8 million people fled
According to the UN refugee agency, more than 3.8 million of the more than 44 million Ukrainians have left the country since the beginning of the war. More than two million refugees have arrived in Poland alone, 212,000 people seeking protection were counted in Austria, but four fifths of them are still traveling on to other countries. Around 35,000 “displaced persons”, as they are officially called based on the diction in the EU directive, have been registered in Austria so far.
But how should the people then be distributed? Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson proposed an index to make voluntary distribution easier as part of a ten-point plan for more EU coordination. This should take into account how many refugees – not just from Ukraine – are currently in a country in relation to the size of the population. The aim is that EU countries offer each other to take in people when others are particularly burdened.
Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic most affected
A financial equalization of the burden is also in the room. The EU Commission is preparing something about where the money should come from, but it is still being negotiated. According to Karner, Austria is one of the affected countries. According to the Commission, Poland is currently most affected, followed by Austria and the Czech Republic.
Part of the ten-point plan of the EU Commission and the French Council Presidency is also better control of the transport of refugees in the EU, more protection for children and an EU-wide system for registering people.
For Karner, the plan “goes in the right direction in the essential parts”. In the run-up to the registration of refugees, he called for “a common European system in the medium term so that this data can be imported”.
Monday’s meeting was the second crisis meeting of interior ministers since Russia’s war against Ukraine began on February 24. The Ukrainian Interior Minister Denis Monastyrski was temporarily connected to the meeting via video. At the beginning of March, the EU states decided to offer all Ukrainians protection quickly and unbureaucratically. However, the large number of refugees poses challenges for the international community.
Source: Nachrichten
