More than a month into the war in Ukraine, a total of 4,069 refugees have requested temporary protection in the grand duchy, foreign minister Jean Asselborn (LSAP) said during a press conference on Monday. Of those, 1,040 have been processed with the immigration office treating 80 to 100 applications a day, Asselborn said.
At this speed, it will take another six weeks for all applications to be processed.
The influx of refugees has meanwhile slowed down, Asselborn said, with 350 individuals applying for temporary protection last week, compared to over 1,000 the week before.
But the images coming out of Ukraine as the Russian army retreats from the area around Kyiv could cause more people to leave the country, Asselborn said. “It can barely be believed,” he said of pictures from Bucha, where more than 400 people are reported to have been killed.
I wonder how low he will stoop
The Kremlin has denied that civilians were killed in Bucha and has claimed that pictures showing corpses strewn in the streets are fake. “I wonder how low he will stoop,” said Asselborn of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
News of the massacre could push the EU towards more sanctions. Nato will be meeting this week Wednesday and Thursday while the EU’s economy and finance ministers get together on Tuesday ahead of a foreign affairs ministers meeting on 11 April.
“A dynamic is being created” for a fifth sanctions package, Asselborn said. In light of the Baltic states stopping their imports of Russian gas, energy sanctions could once again be on the table.
“We must be extremely humble,” the minister said of Luxembourg’s position, explaining that the country has no direct link with Russia but imports its gas and oil from other EU countries that do. But Luxembourg would stand in solidarity with further sanctions, the minister said.
Finding housing
Of the more than 4,000 people who have arrived from Ukraine in Luxembourg, just over 1,600 are staying in facilities operated by Luxembourg’s national welcome office (ONA). The majority are women and children.
Luxembourg has mobilised more than 2,100 beds to accommodate refugees from Ukraine, with many communes helping by renting hotels, youth hostels, camping sites or making available vacant offices and other facilities.
A hall at Luxexpo housing around 300 people must be vacated by 11 April. A centre foreseen in Contern, however, won’t be able to open in time over health and safety concerns. Luxembourg emergency services carry out checks of all facilities before they can open and said that ventilation must be improved in addition to installing additional emergency exits and other security measures.
Given the refurbishments, it could take until the end of the year for the site to be ready, Asselborn said, with materials shortages creating more difficulties.
We’re speaking about people. We cannot move them every other week
In the meantime, a former EU translators’ office in Kirchberg will be transformed into housing. And a hall is being erected in a car park near the European Court of Auditors, where around 500 people will be able to stay before being moved to more permanent lodgings.
“We’re speaking about people. We cannot move them every other week,” Asselborn said, adding that the ONA is working on making the transition as smooth as possible.
The welcome office has hired 40 additional staff with the Red Cross and Caritas--who provide many support services--also recruiting. “It’s a challenge to find enough people,” Asselborn said. “We’re doing everything we can.”
The slow-down in refugees arriving in Luxembourg is allowing the country to catch up. At the height of the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, Luxembourg welcomed 2,447 asylum seekers in one year. Should there be another wave of arrivals soon, “we will quickly be at our wits’ end,” Asselborn said.