Posted 28 февраля 2022,, 16:09

Published 28 февраля 2022,, 16:09

Modified 24 декабря 2022,, 22:38

Updated 24 декабря 2022,, 22:38

EU countries and England are ready to compete with each other for the admission of Ukrainian refugees

EU countries and England are ready to compete with each other for the admission of Ukrainian refugees

28 февраля 2022, 16:09
Фото: tagesschau.de
The European Union is preparing to accept millions of Ukrainian refugees. How many there will be, no one can say. At yesterday's interior ministers' meeting, the European Commissioner for Refugees said the EU expects between 4 million and 7 million people to seek asylum on the western border.
Сюжет
Refugees

Yelena Ivanova

Europe wants to help Ukrainians

The European Union says that they will accept all refugees, no matter how many come and ask for help. Through Sunday, 256,000 people crossed the EU's eastern border, mostly women, children and the elderly. Only Poland accepted 200,000 refugees. The UN and charitable organizations say that there will be an order of magnitude more refugees - up to seven million people. But how many people actually ask for asylum depends on how the situation on the battlefield develops. If Russian troops advance further into Ukraine, there will be significantly more refugees.

In the meantime, one thing is clear - the situation will be much more serious than in the summer of 2015 at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis. Until today, writes Deutsche Welle, the EU countries have not been able to agree on a mechanism for distributing refugee flows in such cases. The migration policy of individual countries remained a bone of contention in the European Union. Everything changed last Thursday.

German Interior Minister Nancy Feser called what is happening in Europe a "paradigm shift". "Trouble has come to Europe, and this has led the EU countries to change their thinking", - said the German politician.

Now everything is different than 7 years ago, the neighbors are in trouble. The vast majority of Ukrainian refugees stay with relatives and friends in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Polish authorities say refugee shelters are empty.

Refugees from third countries, such as Africans who studied at Ukrainian universities, are also entitled to protection. So far, everything is difficult with them - there are reports that the Polish border guards mocked them or sent them back to Ukraine. This will end, they said in Brussels. All those fleeing the war will be accepted.

The Poles accept all Ukrainians without exception, without even asking the EU for help, at least for now. The Germans help with the logistics. A couple of weeks ago, one could only dream of such cooperation - then the Poles were rapidly building a fence on the border with Belarus in order to protect themselves from the refugees sent by Alexander Lukashenko.

Now the EU has no problems with refugees from Ukraine, because they have biometric passports, and according to an agreement between the Schengen countries and their eastern neighbor, Ukrainians can stay without a visa for 90 days. The EU is gearing up for Day 91, Home Affairs Commissioner Johannson said. To this end, for the first time, a law on mass asylum will be applied in order to extend the stay in Europe for all those who have arrived without bureaucratic obstacles. Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite believes that this is not enough. It is necessary now to develop a mechanism for the distribution of refugees and rules for resettlement from Ukraine in order to help the wounded, women and children move to Europe. It is necessary to prepare for the next weeks of hostilities.

Ukrainians can help Europe

Now in Europe everyone wants to help their neighbors in trouble. But Ukrainians can help Europe. As you know, there is a catastrophic shortage of workers. Already now in Europe only in health care there are not enough 2 million workers, writes "Handelsblatt". For example, by 2030 in Germany alone there will be up to half a million medical staff vacancies in healthcare. Ukrainians may well help to at least reduce this deficit. There is also a shortage of workers at construction sites. There are not enough engineers, IT specialists, workers in the tourism industry, hotels and restaurants on the continent. There are very few doctors left in rural areas. There are many such examples, and not only in Germany, but throughout the European Union. Ukrainians, due to their high qualifications, will easily fill these gaps, especially since before the war many citizens of Ukraine worked at the same construction sites. In addition, unlike the refugees of 2015, there is little that separates the inhabitants of Ukraine and Europeans from each other, except for the language. Already, countries are competing with each other. For example, Portugal has introduced a simplified visa and tax regime for software developers. Sweden offers 9,000 euros per month for some professions. There is a shortage of 50,000 truck drivers in France. There are 900,000 vacancies across the country that cannot be filled.

The day is not far off when a real struggle will unfold for Ukrainian refugees in the European Union. And it's not even about cheap labor - it's just about labor.

The situation with Ukrainian refugees is tragic, but in Europe they are already thinking that the inhabitants of a neighboring country will not only become a burden on the social system of the EU countries. And many of the rest will be able to realize themselves. But what about the Motherland?

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