Editor’s Take: Candid Johansson makes the case for refugee protectionIt is rare for politicians to admit to mistakes. So the remark by EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson in an interview with EURACTIV that the failure of EU ministers to use the bloc’s Temporary Protection Directive to deal with the refugee crisis in 2015 was the ‘wrong decision’, deserves a wider discussion. Lest we forget, the directive’s refugee protection clause was invoked for the first time, with the unanimous support of EU governments, days after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February. There’s little doubt that the EU’s response to the millions of refugees who fled Ukraine since last February has, largely, been a success. The decision on whether to give them temporary protection as refugees would be a test of the EU’s consistency and of Johansson’s words.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 27, 2023 14:03 UTC