【Text/Observer Network Ju Feng】
For the sake of a group of Ukrainian refugees who are "in a dilemma" between Britain and France, this pair of "old wrongdoers" has made another unpleasant scene.
On March 6, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin called on the British side to solve the visa issue of Ukrainian refugees who wanted to enter the UK as soon as possible, lamenting that the British side's approach was "inhumane". But Home Secretary Priti Patel rejected the French allegations outright, saying "the British government has not repatriated anyone at all." ”
According to the Financial Times, Dalmanin told CNews TV that 400 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in the northern French port city of Calais, 150 of whom have been told by the British side that they cannot travel to the UK.
According to Dalmanin, since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict, about 2,500 Ukrainians have come to France, and some refugees want to go to Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
Ukrainian refugees await entry into Romania. Video screenshots
According to the UnHcrhcr, so far, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has left 1.5 million people fleeing Ukraine. The United Nations warned that the war could displace 5 million people and that the situation in Ukraine could create "Europe's biggest refugee crisis of the century."
According to the "The Local" news network earlier, France, as a member of the European Union, accepts Ukrainians without visas according to the "ninety-day principle". It is very difficult for these refugees to enter the UK because the British government, which has left the EU, requires a visa to enter the country, and the visa application process is very long.
"The Local" quoted French media earlier as saying that last Monday (February 28), a Ukrainian family of nine traveled from the port of Calais to the United Kingdom, but they were repatriated without visas, and they are currently staying in hotels.
"It's an extreme situation now, and we have to stop this bureaucratic formalism," Dalmanin said, "and I have a good relationship with Patel, and she'll fix it, but it has to be done as soon as possible." ”
Dalmanin said that although the French side had suggested to Patel to open a special consulate in Calais, the British side still let them apply for visas in Paris or Brussels.
The red icon is the French port city of Calais taken from the map
AFP also obtained a letter from Dalmanin to Patel. In the fiercely worded letter, France's interior minister denounced his British "peer-to-peer" approach as "extremely inappropriate" and "inhumane" and left the refugees "in pain."
In this crisis, Dalmanin writes, it is imperative that your embassy representatives should immediately wholesale visas to reunite [the refugees and] their families.
However, Home Secretary Patel insisted that the UK had not refused any visa applications from refugees who wanted to travel to the UK to reunite with their families. If the UK did refuse to do so, she explained, then "hostile factors" could make a big fuss about it.
Refugees on the border between Ukraine and Poland pictured by foreign media
Patel said the British side had not allowed any refugees to return to Calais. "Let me clarify the French government's statement: the British government did not turn anybody around or turning anybody back to anyone."
Patel said british government staff were working in the port of Calais to help Ukrainian families fleeing their homes travel to britain. "So it's inaccurate that we didn't provide any assistance."
Yesterday (March 6), the Uk Home Office said that in all the application centres, "about 50 visas for Ukrainian refugees have been approved". Patel said Britain was "doing everything in its power" to expedite the visa approval process.
But according to the Financial Times, Ukrainian refugees have successfully submitted 5,535 online applications online, and 11,750 refugees have started but have not yet completed their applications.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, many European countries have prepared to meet the flood of refugees. U.S. White House spokesman Psaki said on February 24 that the United States is ready, but it is estimated that most people still want to go to European countries.
The EU reached a "historic" resolution in just four days. On March 3, the European Union agreed to immediately provide protection and rights for Ukrainians fleeing the war. This is the first time in 20 years that the EU has used protection clauses to accommodate Ukrainian refugees.
British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab told LBC on March 4 that consideration was being given to confiscating the properties of Russian "oligarchs" to resettle Ukrainian refugees. "If we have evidence and legal basis, then we will do it."
However, EU officials have also sparked controversy over the so-called "quality" of refugees from different countries. On Feb. 25, Bulgarian Prime Minister Petkov said, "These are not the refugees we are used to. Ukrainians, he argues, are "our relatives, our family members," and besides, "these are Europeans, intelligent, educated people."
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