Ukraine war: Faeser for binding distribution of refugees

How should the many Ukraine refugees be distributed in the EU? The EU interior ministers discussed this. The result disappointed Federal Interior Minister Faeser. In the daily topics she regretted that the adopted index was not binding.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser was disappointed that no binding regulation on the distribution of the millions of war refugees from Ukraine was decided at the EU interior ministers’ meeting. In an interview with the daily topics However, she welcomed the introduction of a voluntary index intended to reflect the burden on the member states.

“The index is made up of how many people the countries have currently taken in and how many in the past year in relation to the respective population,” explained the minister. This is a very realistic size. “I think it’s good to make the index binding,” said Faeser. She announced that she would continue to do so.

The SPD politician emphasized that in the run-up to the meeting in Brussels she had already campaigned for the application of such a principle of solidarity. In the middle of the month, she told the news magazine “Spiegel” that the goal must be “a distribution of the Ukraine refugees within Europe according to fixed quotas”.

“Wish for a binding solution”

In view of the uncertain duration of the war, Faeser was skeptical that a voluntary basis for taking in refugees would be sufficient within the EU: “I believe that at some point it will have to become more binding. That’s why I called for commitment today,” she said. But not everyone saw it that way. “The more refugees come, the greater the desire for a binding solution.”

Faeser put in the daily topics clear that she wants to continue bilateral negotiations. In this context, she referred to talks with the governments in Paris and Warsaw. Buses were jointly organized to bring people from Ukraine from Poland to neighboring countries. “The Poles thanked them again for that,” said Faeser. She wants to continue to act pragmatically in this sense. The main thing now is to support the neighboring countries financially. These would carry a great burden.

The EU Commission has therefore presented a ten-point plan with which it intends to give the member states more support. EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson promised to divert a total of 17 billion euros from EU funds. Moldova, a non-EU country that is heavily burdened, should also benefit from this.

According to the UN, more than 3.86 million people have left Ukraine since the beginning of the war at the end of February. More than two million of these war refugees have arrived in Poland, and 272,338 refugees have been registered in Germany so far. However, since there are no fixed border controls, the number of refugees in Germany is likely to be significantly higher. At the beginning of March, the EU states decided to offer all Ukrainians protection quickly and unbureaucratically.

In it, Chancellor Olaf Scholz reminded the other EU countries. So far, many of those seeking protection have mainly arrived in the countries bordering Ukraine and also in Germany, he said. But now it must be a question of other countries also taking in some of the people who do not know exactly where to go. Poland and Germany had jointly taken the initiative here.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson, who was visiting Berlin, said her country would not again become one of the most important host countries for war refugees. In 2015, twelve percent of the refugees in the EU were taken on. “We can’t do that again on this scale,” she added, referring to the Ukraine refugees.

“2015 will not repeat itself”

During the great refugee movement in 2015 and 2016, the EU states argued about taking in many people. Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in particular were opposed to a quota distribution at the time. But in view of the war in Ukraine, the mood is different this time, Federal Interior Minister Faeser estimated daily topics the situation after the meeting in Brussels. “2015 will not be repeated. The EU countries work closely together.”