It is a mechanism created after the Balkan war that guarantees displaced people to move freely within the European Union with rights such as work and residence permits guaranteed.
Those responsible for the Interior of the European Union will examine this Thursday the situation of the thousands of refugees who have arrived at the community border fleeing the war in Ukraine and if this justifies activation of temporary protection that asks Brussels so that can move freely within the European Union in search of reception, with rights such as work and residence permits guaranteed.
It will be the first debate on a proposal whose details Brussels presented the day before and which advocates activating for the first time in the history of the EU a mechanism created after the Balkan war to speed up protection, but which the bloc never usednor when thousands of migrants arrived in Italy and Greece in 2015 fleeing the war in Syria.
The Commissioner for the Interior, Ylva Johansson, will present a specific proposal, despite the fact that some delegations doubt that it is the most “useful” mechanism to respond to the current scenario. In any case, the Twenty-seven are expected to reach qualified majority for a political agreement that allows the technical development of the measure, although the formal adoption will not take place at this meeting, according to European sources consulted.
The EU estimates that more than 650,000 people have arrived at the border in these six days of war, but Brussels warns that the bloc must prepare for the arrival of “millions” if the war continues.
Who can benefit from this measure?
All displaced persons with permanent residence in Ukraine, regardless of whether they have citizenship, are migrants or refugees.
Displaced persons without a residence permit in Ukraine, such as students or migrants without regulated status, will not receive this guarantee. The EU countries must allow them to cross the border in any case from Ukraine, but it will be with the condition of “transit” to facilitate their “safe return” to their country of origin, according to the community proposal.
What guarantees them?
People from Ukraine are already exempt from the visa requirement to travel to the EU, although this opening is limited to 90 days, so the rule would guarantee them longer-term protection for free movement and other rights, such as the work permitwhich they do not receive when they become tourists.
The objective is to avoid the collapse of the asylum systems of the Member States in the first line of entry, such as Poland and Hungary, and also to allow displaced people to reach other EU countries where they can integrate more easily, for example if they have a family network. Spain, Germany or the Czech Republic were already preferred destinations in the 2014 Crimean conflict.
This mechanism assures them immediate protection but does not replace the international protection or refugee status, more guaranteed, that they could request later. However, these processes are expected to take a long time because the reception systems are already “overwhelmed”.
For how long?
Brussels plans to activate temporary protection for at least one year. The possibility of two automatic extensions of six months each is also contemplated if the crisis continues and the option of maintaining it for one more year with the approval of the Twenty-seven, knowing that the maximum would be three years.
Source: Eitb
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