BRUSSELS, Feb 28, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - The European Union on Sunday moved to
coordinate a welcome for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the
Russian invasion, talking notably about offering them temporary protection
status.

  Around 400,000 Ukrainians have crossed into the EU since the start of the
offensive on Thursday, according to an AFP tally. Half of them entered
Poland, its government said.

  A meeting of EU interior ministers raised the possibility of giving
Ukrainians status under an as yet unused 2001 Temporary Protection Directive
that would allow them to live and work in the European Union for up to three
years.

  "A very big majority" of ministers were in favour of rapidly activating
that option, said French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, whose country
holds the rotating EU presidency.

  Under cooperation agreements, Ukrainians with passports bearing biometric
data are allowed to enter the EU without a visa and stay for up to three
months.

  But EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said the bloc needed to be
ready to host them beyond that duration -- and that it needed to prepare for
potentially "millions" of arrivals from Ukraine.

  "It would be the right time to use the Temporary Protection Directive," she
said.

  The directive was originally drawn up for refugees from the conflicts that
wracked the former Yugoslavia, with provisions for handling a massive inflow
of people and measures to distribute them across the EU's 27 nations.

  Belgium was on the forefront of the member states calling for the
protection directive to be applied.

  "At this historical moment we need to take the right decision. Taking the
right decision means... the Temporary Protection Directive being put in
place," Belgian Immigration Minister Sammy Mahdi said.

  For the tool to be used, though, a qualified majority of EU states -- 15 of
the 27 countries representing a total of at least 65 percent of the bloc's
population -- need to back it.

  Johansson said she was preparing a proposal to activate it, which should be
presented to interior ministers at another meeting scheduled for Thursday.