War in Ukraine, refugees, inclusion and human mobility

Policy Brief

This Policy Brief analyses the migration profile and problems of reception and integration. It summarises the main EU decisions on the reception of Ukrainian refugees, with reference to the decision to grant them temporary protection. The flows from Ukraine are largely composed of women and children, posing pressing needs for integration into schooling and the labour market, addressing the problems of brain waste and segregation.

These issues are discussed in light of the different geopolitical scenarios and, therefore, with respect to short-term and medium-to-long-term needs. The study highlights the importance for the EU to equip itself with

• a flexible capacity to foresee and respond to migratory flows;
• measures for social and economic integration combined with measures that enable the mobility of people
• the ability to overcome existing discrimination in the treatment of different nationalities

All this requires more solidarity among EU member states and territories.

More generally, the proliferation of protracted crises around Europe calls for a new risk-management policy outside and inside the Union. Growing tensions must be prevented and governed with a progressive policy based on the recognition of human rights, investing in universal welfare and social and territorial cohesion, as well as on the nexus between migration and development in Ukraine.

The Pact on Migration and Asylum should provide more diversified and intertwined safe channels of entry and mobility.