MOSCOW, June 5, Renat Abdullin. Where two years ago they willingly welcomed guests from Ukraine, now they are making their life more difficult and making more and more demands. How and why the position of the EU countries has changed is in the material.
Individual approachThe temporary protection mechanism for refugees from Ukraine was introduced in March 2022. The pan-European directive provided immigrants with the rights to stay, work, and receive medical care. It was also accepted by states that are not members of the EU, but belong to the Schengen area, for example Norway.
Girl with a poster “Refugees are always welcome” on the street of London, UK
The program was later extended until the spring of 2025. However, it leaves broad powers to national governments. And they are taking advantage of this.
So, recently it became known that the already mentioned Norway intends to make the migration flow “more manageable.” There, in more than two years, more than 77 thousand Ukrainians applied for “collective protection”.
The residence permit was granted without an individual assessment of the applicant’s circumstances. The program does not apply to Ukrainians who were living in other countries at the start of the conflict. However, as an exception, they were also allowed to settle in Norway.
Now they will be forced to leave the country. This is about a thousand people. They will also deal with draft dodgers. Conscription for military service and the prospect of participation in hostilities “are not grounds for granting asylum,” the Norwegian Ministry of Justice noted.
Dubious gingerbread Germany also remembered the draft dodgers. Thus, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the German federal state of Bavaria, Joachim Herrmann, believes that it is necessary to stop paying basic benefits (400-500 euros per month) to Ukrainians in Germany who are avoiding conscription into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
A police officer stops a car in search of migrants on the border of Poland and Germany in Frankfurt an der Oder
«We want to support Ukraine with all our might, but we cannot this is also the time, so to speak, to pay bonuses to those who evade military service,” he noted.
In other countries they combine carrot and stick. Since June, the Czech Republic has been launching a pilot project to support Ukrainians who are ready to return to their homeland. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is ready to pay for bus tickets for everyone, and for the sick to travel in an ambulance.
So far, a budget has been allocated for 400 people and 30 patients in need of ambulance transport. If there is demand, funding will continue. There are now about 340 thousand Ukrainians in the Czech Republic.
In turn, the Irish Department of Integration reported that a “significant number” of centers providing housing to refugees from Ukraine will soon close. In particular, 170 residents of the Lough Allen Hotel in County Leitrim were given two weeks to move.
Ukrainian refugees in Brussels
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In December, the government agreed to reduce the weekly benefit: 38.8 euros per adult and 29.8 euros per child instead of 220. This helped: the flow of refugees decreased from 70 people a day (on average) to 30.
Difficult choice Since April, Polish parliamentarians have been actively discussing a bill to change the conditions for supporting immigrants. In May, the document was adopted in the Senate.
As a result, from July 1, the one-time payment of 300 zlotys (about seven thousand rubles) will be cancelled. In addition, the “40+” program is ending, which motivated Poles to host visitors in exchange for 40 zlotys per day per person. “Financing support in the form of accommodation and food for refugees from Ukraine who are in a particularly difficult situation is possible only on the basis of a signed agreement with the relevant voivode or local government body,” the document clarifies.
Ukrainian refugees in Romania
Moldova, which, like Poland, faced a powerful migration flow due to its proximity to Ukraine, warned in January that more than half of its temporary detention centers would be closed by the end of the year. Displaced people are encouraged to look for alternatives: find a job, rent housing, and so on. So far this has not given much effect. In Germany, for example, only about 20 percent of refugees work. The rest are satisfied with the support system, which in Germany is the most generous and less bureaucratic than in other countries.
The problem, European analysts point out, is the “temporary nature” of the EU directive. People are in no hurry to settle in their host countries, send their children to school, or apply for permanent work. After all, if the assistance program is not extended in 2025, you will have to return to your homeland.
Ukrainian refugees in Paris
The situation for Ukrainians may become even more complicated after the elections to the European Parliament on June 6-9. According to polls, right-wing movements — where the idea of full support for Ukraine is often unpopular — have a good chance of strengthening their positions. Then Eurosceptics will have more leverage over EU migration policy not in favor of refugees.