INTERVIEW: Phasing out temporary protection for Ukrainians is a good strategy, EU’s new Ukraine envoy Johansson says

Euractiv sat down with former Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, who is now back in Brussels as the EU’s special envoy for Ukrainians, reporting directly to Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner. Her appointment, confirmed on Tuesday, comes with a one-year mandate and the possibility of extension.

Johansson was the driving force behind the activation of the EU’s long-unused Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) in 2022, which offered immediate refuge to millions fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Recently, the Commission has proposed to extend this protection until March 2027, while laying the groundwork for its eventual phase-out.

What follows is an edited transcript. 

How are you approaching this role?

Well, I feel, of course, honoured by the trust that has been placed in me for this extremely important mission. You know, I was the one who activated the TPD in the first place, so of course, this is close to my heart.

This is part of how we need to support Ukraine and the brave Ukrainians, as well as how we are addressing cooperation and opportunities for people to either return or be integrated into our host societies.

It’s very important that this is also part of how we prepare for the future, hopefully a bright future for Ukraine. One day, there will be peace, and people will be able to return and rebuild their country.

Could you please clarify your specific responsibilities as a special envoy? There will also be considerable coordination with other international organisations.

The ordinary work will be done by DG HOME and all the other stakeholders who already hold these responsibilities.

But for me, it will be about acting as the counterpart to the newly appointed Unity Minister – and also Deputy Prime Minister – Oleksiy Chernyshov, whose responsibility is to maintain contact with Ukrainians abroad.

Of course, I will also work with member states, especially those with large Ukrainian diasporas, by engaging with their responsible ministers or counterparts.

This coordination will be crucial when member states need to implement the TPD. That'll be something I’ll discuss with the member states, as well as with UNHCR, especially, and with the International Organisation for Migration and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development.

Do you think the proposed phase-out is a successful approach? 

Yes, I think it’s a good strategy. Whether it's successful or not is too early to say, because the situation on the ground in Ukraine is changing every hour, and the war is still ongoing. Just last night, Russia hit Kyiv massively.

So it’s not possible to define a single “successful” way of dealing with this. However, I do think the present strategy is a good one, and it's worth working along that line. It's also important to remain open and listen.

That will be my role: to engage in dialogue with Ukraine, with the Ukrainian government, the responsible minister, and the member states. Based on what I learn, I’ll make suggestions to Commissioner Brunner.

In an interview with Euractiv in 2023, you said that not activating the TPD in 2015 was a mistake. As you approach this new role, do you still hold that view? 

Yes, that’s still my opinion. We had this directive for twenty years before we used it for the first time. And I think that was a very long time.

Do you foresee new instances where the TPD might be enacted?

We are much better prepared now for these kinds of situations, so hopefully it won't. But it’s good that we have the directive.

I also hope that, for example, during my term, we’ll be able to move forward on the amendment to the long-term residence permit directive, which is currently stuck in negotiations. Connecting the TPD to other directives, like that one, could be something that needs to be looked into further. But that legislative work won’t be my role.

After having activated the TPD for the first time, do you believe we can learn what works and what doesn’t? After some years and extensions, what do you think we can say now?

Evaluating the TPD is not really within the scope of my current role. But I can say that the TPD was formulated for people fleeing a regime. The Ukrainian situation is different: people are fleeing Russian aggression, not the regime itself. That means we need to work together with the Ukrainian government, which wasn’t really foreseen in the original legislation.

Will we have 'unity hubs' in every single EU country? And do you see interactions between them?

I have discussed this with Chernyshov, who is responsible for setting up the unity hubs in member states from the Ukrainian side. I believe none of them have officially opened yet.

Of course, it’s still very early. But I know that from the Ukrainian perspective, they have almost five million Ukrainians under the TPD, and many others living abroad for different reasons, people who left earlier. They are very eager to maintain contact with Ukrainian citizens and ensure that people can preserve their language, culture, and traditions.

From our EU perspective, these unity hubs could play a very important role in preparing people, hopefully, to return to a brighter future in Ukraine – one that will one day be a EU member.

When it comes to personnel, for example, will we see Ukrainians employed in these Unity Hubs, or will it be mostly associations? How will it work?

Actually, I don’t know that yet. I think there could be differences from one member state to another in how the unity hubs will be set up, but it's too early for me to say.

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