Refugee influx sparks rare EU unity

The flood of refugees escaping war in Ukraine for the European Union has sparked a rare show of unity from the bloc's 27 nations after years of disputes over the sensitive issue of migration.

In the space of just a week the EU rushed through a unanimous decision to trigger its protection mechanism granting those fleeing Ukraine the right to stay and work in the bloc for an initial two years.

It was the first time the EU had activated the measure, drawn up in 2001 after the conflicts in former Yugoslavia.

"It's a unique and historic moment and I think we should take pride in this moment," EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson told the European Parliament Tuesday.

"The decision was a unanimous decision, all member states agreed."

The EU's response to the unprecedented influx of over two million refugees in 12 days is a major shift from how it has handled previous crises.

When the same number of refugees arrived throughout the whole of 2015 and 2016 fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan the bloc was deeply split over how to share the burden.

Now some of those countries most opposed to accepting refugees from the Middle East seven years ago are neighbouring Ukraine and on the front line of the current crisis.

Poland has so far welcomed 1.2 million refugees across its border with open arms and 170,000 people have crossed into Hungary.

The raw shock of seeing Russia invade the EU's pro-Western neighbour and the scale of the influx -- the fastest growing in Europe since World War II -- has galvanised the bloc to act with record speed.

But there are also "security issues that go beyond just Ukraine and concern the entire European continent," said Marie De Somer, a migration specialist at the European Policy Centre think tank.

"Any sort of disunity or panic on the part of the EU, will be exploited by President (Vladimir) Putin," said Catherine Woollard, director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles.

Woollard's NGO campaigned unsuccessfully for the activation of the EU's protection mechanism for refugees in 2015.

She says part of the difference is down to the speed and size of the current crisis, which has outstripped arrivals in 2015 when one million people came in the course of a year.

But she also says it is undeniable that the fact most refugees from Ukraine are white and Christian has helped shape the response this time round.

Both the EU's executive and France, which holds the bloc's rotating presidency, hope the current crisis will push forward stalled migration reforms.

The push to set in stone a system for distributing asylum seekers among the EU's 27 nations has failed to make progress since being introduced in 2020 in the face of wrangling and opposition.

"We have to be ready for the next crises," urged French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

But that is far from certain as the EU scrambles to get to grips with the vast flows coming from Ukraine that Brussels warns could reach five million.