EU prepares for millions of refugees from Ukraine
The EU must prepare for the arrival of millions of refugees as they flee war in Ukraine, the bloc’s top home affairs official said today, adding that she expected governments to agree a temporary protection scheme in the coming days.
“Already, almost 1 million are here,” EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said, as people enter the European Union via Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, which all have land borders with Ukraine.
The bloc’s interior ministers were set to agree in principle at a meeting today to automatically grant those fleeing Ukraine a residence permit and access to employment, social welfare and housing for up to three years, they said.
“Putin’s terrible war of aggression has had terrible consequences for people in Ukraine,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser at the Brussels meeting.
“Today it is about all EU members agreeing on a policy to be able to provide help in a non-bureaucratic way.”
