The European Union has offered the same aid to those who fled the war in Syria and those who have left Ukraine because of the Russian invasion at the end of February, European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas said on Friday.
“We have offered everyone (Ukrainian refugees) a temporary protected status that gives them full and immediate access to care, housing and employment services just one week after the outbreak of the war,” Schinas told journalists in Istanbul.
When questioned about the EU's treatment of refugees in 2015, when Europe received more than one million people, mostly fleeing the war in Syria, the vice-president of the EU executive assured that Brussels had applied “exactly the same approach”.
“I think we have met and I don't see any double standards in that regard,” he said.
Despite this, Schinas stressed that the current humanitarian crisis was “unique” from the point of view of Europeans.
“On this occasion, we have Member States bordering Ukraine, so the influx is coming directly into the European Union,” but “the fundamentals remain exactly the same,” he said, recalling that Syrians who fled their country also had the opportunity to apply for asylum on European soil.
In 2016, however, the EU signed an agreement with Ankara that provides for the return of the Greek islands to Turkey of “irregular migrants” and financial support to Ankara for the reception of refugees. Turkey currently hosts nearly five million refugees on its territory, according to an official count: 4.1 million according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), mostly Syrians.
In the case of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24, more than 3.1 million people have already fled the country, according to a count by that UN agency published on Thursday, of which more than two million were in Poland at 8:00 GMT on Friday, according to the Polish authorities.
“We will ensure that the protection we have offered (to Ukrainian refugees) becomes a universal principle within the EU,” said the vice-president of the European Commission.
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