EU foreign ministers met in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine with a sixth sanctions package up for discussion.
“If everyone knew that with this Putin would stop this barbarism, then it would be simple. But my feeling is that even if we did it, or had already done it, we would still be in the same situation,” Asselborn (LSAP) said arriving at the meeting.
An oil and gas embargo would have knock-on effects across the entire union with some countries less able to cope with the consequences than big economies like Germany, Asselborn said.
The EU last week agreed on a coal embargo worth €8bn a year. But members of the European Parliament have pushed the EU’s executive to do more, voting overwhelmingly . The EU imported energy worth around €100bn from Russia in 2021. Under the REPowerEU scheme, the bloc has committed to exiting Russian fossil fuels by 2030.
Authorities in Ukraine meanwhile have warned that Putin will step up his attack on the country’s Donbass region to carry home a victory for 9 May, which is celebrated in Russia to mark the surrender of the Nazis in 1945. Putin has branded the attack on Ukraine as an effort to de-Nazify the country.
“It will be a hard battle,” Asselborn said. This could lead to more people fleeing the country after number stabilised over the last couple of weeks.
Temporary shelter in Kirchberg
Around 4,500 refugees from Ukraine have now requested temporary protection in Luxembourg, up from 4,069 at the start of last week. The status has been granted to 1,660 people, up from 1,040 last week. The national welcome office (ONA) is processing between 100 and 120 applications per day.
ONA had to vacate facilities at Luxexpo as the event venue needed the space. “I gave my word and I had to keep this,” the foreign minister said at a press conference on Monday afternoon at a new temporary refugee shelter in Kirchberg.
Room has been made for up to 600 people in tented halls located on the corner of Boulevard John F. Kennedy, Rue Erasme and Rue Tony Rollman. “We try for families to have some privacy, depending on what’s possible,” Asselborn said. Up to 12 people share one tent, which is located within a larger temporary structure.
The shelter was needed after a project to accommodate refugees in Contern fell through over health and safety concerns.
Work at the site began over the weekend with sanitary facilities connected to the sewage system, the site paved over and the tents set up. Over 100 people from the country’s emergency services were involved in setting up the facility. “Without them, we wouldn’t have managed this,” Asselborn said.
In parallel, work has begun to refurbish a former translator’s office next to the EIB in Kirchberg. The first people could move in in six to eight weeks, with hopes that the building will replace the temporary shelter now erected and offer more comfortable lodgings.
“There’s little hope that this, the war, will improve in the next weeks and months,” the foreign minister said.
In total, refugees are being accommodated at 19 facilities across the country with the ministry working with communes to identify larger sites that are available for at least a year. This will help prevent too many shelters being scattered across the country making it more difficult for the ONA, the Red Cross and Caritas to deliver their services.
“It’s as good as it could be,” Asselborn said of the new Kirchberg facilities that are set to open at the start of next week. People from Luxexpo had to be moved to a school sports hall to bridge the gap but this, too, will need to be vacated before school resumes next week Tuesday.