Karner against mandatory quota for refugee distribution

Karner against mandatory quota for refugee distribution

On Monday, EU interior ministers will discuss how EU states that host refugees can receive financial and material support. “We don’t believe in quotas,” says Austria, while Germany does.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) has spoken out against a mandatory distribution key for Ukrainians fleeing to the European Union. “Clear commitments are needed here, and there are,” Karner said on Monday ahead of a special meeting with his EU colleagues in Brussels on admitting people seeking protection from other EU countries. “But we don’t believe in quotas, it’s about helping people,” he added.

EU interior ministers are discussing how to deal with Ukraine’s massive influx of refugees. The main focus should be on the distribution of the nearly four million refugees so far among EU countries. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently said the goal should be a fixed quota for distribution in Europe. Ukrainian Interior Minister Denis Monastyrski is said to be temporarily connected to the meeting via video.

The meeting is the second crisis meeting of interior ministers since Russia’s war with Ukraine began on February 24. In early March, EU states decided to offer protection to all Ukrainians quickly and without bureaucracy. However, the large number of refugees poses challenges for the international community. In a recent letter to the EU Commission, Faeser and his Polish counterpart asked for more help in distributing refugees to other EU countries, as well as financial support.

35,000 IDPs registered in Austria

According to the UN refugee agency, more than 3.8 million of the more than 44 million Ukrainians have left the country since the start of the war. More than two million refugees have arrived in Poland alone, 212,000 people seeking protection have been counted in Austria, but four-fifths of them are still traveling to other countries. Around 35,000 “displaced persons”, as they are officially called based on the diction of the EU directive, have been registered in Austria so far.

On Monday it will be about how EU countries that host refugees can be supported financially and materially. The travel of refugees after arriving from one EU country to another must also be coordinated. In addition, support for the small country of Moldova, to which many people have already arrived, as well as controls at the EU’s external borders and security issues.

(APA/dpa)