The Temporary Protection Directive (TPD; Council Directive 2001/55/EC) is a 2001

European Union directive A directive is a legal act of the European Union that requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. Directives first have to be enacted into national law by member states before thei ...

providing for immediate, temporary protection for

displaced people Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

from outside the external border of the Union, intended to be used in exceptional circumstances when the regular EU asylum system has trouble handling a "mass influx" of

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

. It was introduced in the aftermath of the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...

, but was not used before 2022. When invoked, it requires EU member states to accept refugees as allocated based on their capacity to host them, following a principle of solidarity and a "balance of efforts" among member states. On 3 March 2022, in response to the refugee crisis caused by the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, EU ministers unanimously agreed to invoke the Temporary Protection Directive for the first time in its history.

Origins

The directive was passed in 2001 in the aftermath of the

. The directive has been in effect since 7 August 2001, but was not invoked until 2022.

Details

The Temporary Protection Directive aims to harmonise

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

policies with respect to

and increase solidarity and collaboration between member states in a

refugee crisis A refugee crisis can refer to difficulties and dangerous situations in the reception of large groups of Forced displacement, forcibly displaced persons. These could be either internally displaced person, internally displaced, refugees, asylum ...

. The directive discusses procedures for triggering and ending temporary protection, rights of people under temporary protection, and special provisions for specific categories of people (survivors of trauma,

unaccompanied minors ''Unaccompanied Minors'' (also known as ''Grounded'' in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a 2006 Christmas film, Christmas comedy film directed by Paul Feig and starring Lewis Black, Wilmer Valderrama, Tyler James Williams, Dyllan ...

, and potential security threats). Temporary protection, which is distinct from

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

, can last up to three years depending on circumstances. People under temporary protection can obtain a

residence permit A residence permit (less commonly ''residency permit'') is a document or card required in some regions, allowing a foreign national to reside in a country for a fixed or indefinite length of time. These may be permits for temporary residency, or p ...

without the complicated bureaucracy normally associated with seeking asylum. They are allowed to work and access

social welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ...

, and are entitled to protection throughout the EU. Children must be allowed to access education the same way as EU residents. To invoke the directive, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

must first make a proposal to member states, and a

qualified majority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

of the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

(generally at least 55% of EU countries, representing at least 65% of the union's total population) needs to vote in favour. The directive is intended to be invoked in the event of a "mass influx" of refugees; the definition of "mass influx" was intentionally left vague and is meant to be defined on a case-by-case basis, in order to allow flexibility in its application. When invoked, the directive compels all member states (except Denmark, which has an opt-out clause) to accept refugees, issue residence permits, minimise

red tape Red tape is an idiom referring to regulations or conformity to formal rules or standards which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to bureaucracy claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to g ...

, and take other steps to assist displaced people. Refugees are to be distributed among member states on a voluntary basis, based on member states' capacity to host them. The directive originally did not apply to Ireland due to its opt-out clause, but on 11 April 2003, the Irish government stated its desire to opt in, which was accepted by the European Commission.Temporary protection if there is a mass influx of displaced people
/ref> However, as of 2016 the Irish government has not

transposed In linear algebra, the transpose of a matrix is an operator which flips a matrix over its diagonal; that is, it switches the row and column indices of the matrix by producing another matrix, often denoted by (among other notations). The tr ...

the directive.

2022 refugee crisis

In March 2022, the

invoked the Temporary Protection Directive for the first time in its history, in response to the refugee crisis caused by the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. The

proposed invoking the directive on 2 March 2022, and EU ministers unanimously agreed to invoke it on 3 March. The decision was unanimous despite the fact that Hungarian minister

Gergely Gulyás Gergely Gulyás (born 21 September 1981) is a Hungarian jurist, politician, the current Minister of the Prime Minister's Office since 2018. He is a member of the Fidesz party and has been a member of the National Assembly (MP) since 2010. Poli ...

had expressed opposition hours before the decision. The Council formally activated the directive on 4 March 2022. The European Commission published guidelines for how member states should implement the directive in light of the crisis, and individual member states have announced specific requirements for how refugees can apply for protected status. It was reported that the directive would include "non-Ukrainian nationals and

stateless people In international law, a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees. However, not all refugees are stateless, and many people who are st ...

legally residing in Ukraine", if they are unable to return to their home countries. Although Denmark is not bound by the TPD, Danish authorities have announced a similar "Special Act Status" for Ukrainian refugees. The legal blog ''

Lawfare Lawfare is the use of legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter individual's usage of their legal rights.''Unrestricted Warfare''p. 55 The term may refer to the use of legal systems and principles against ...

'' said it was surprising that the Council's decision was unanimous, pointing out that Hungary and Poland had opposed burden-sharing measures during the 2015 refugee crisis. ''Lawfare'' said that those countries' support for invoking the TPD in 2022 was probably driven by "popular sympathy for the Ukrainians, and the specter of further Russian westward expansion".

Other proposals for use or repeal

The directive's possible use has occasionally been discussed in the years since it was passed. In 2011, the EU received more than 300,000 refugees, partly due to the

First Libyan Civil War The First Libyan Civil War was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government. It erupted with the Libya ...

. The Italian and Maltese governments argued for using the Temporary Protection Directive, and the European Commission discussed invoking it to address tension between Italy and France over their differing refugee policies. However, the directive was not invoked, partly due to opposition from the German government. Amid the 2015 European refugee crisis, the

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

, some members of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

, and activists called for the directive to be invoked. EU foreign policy official

Josep Borrell Josep Borrell Fontelles (; born 24 April 1947) is a Spanish politician serving as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy since 1 December 2019. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), he served ...

discussed the possibility of invoking the directive in 2021 to aid Afghan refugees following the United States military's withdrawal from Afghanistan. There has been discussion of the directive in the context of

climate refugees Climate migrants are a subset of environmental migrants who were forced to flee "due to sudden or gradual alterations in the natural environment related to at least one of three Effects of climate change, impacts of climate change: sea-level rise ...

, but it is thought that it would probably not be applicable due to the gradual nature of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

Possibility of repeal

In 2020, a proposed regulation stated that the Temporary Protection Directive "no longer responds to member states’ current reality" and should be repealed. John Koo, a lecturer in EU law at

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

, has argued that the directive benefits neither EU member states nor refugees themselves, and that its mechanisms contain problems.

References

External links

Temporary Protection Directive
European Union directives Refugees