Introduction “The first activation of the Temporary Protection Directive: Ukraine”

  • Francisco Javier Donaire Villa Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18543/ced.3246
Keywords: European Directive of Temporary Protection, Ukraine, displaced persons, massive influs

Abstract

The Russian military invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 2022 re-sulted in one of the most rapid and massive population displacements in Europe since the Second World War. In a matter of a few weeks, several million people were forced to leave their homes in Ukraine, seeking refuge in neighbouring countries and (other) EU Member States. Faced with this emergency, as early as in March 4, 2022, but no less than twenty years after the adoption of the legal instrument applied, the EU activated for the first time the Directive 2001/55/EC, on the temporary protection of displaced people in cases of massive influx to the Member States. Moreover, the swift decision was unanimously taken by the Council (on a proposal issued by the Commission), whereas according to the Directive only a qualified majority is sufficient. The sudden arrival of millions of people exceeded the capacities of many Member States, thus generating situations of overcrowding in reception centers and social ser-vices. The challenge of ensuring that all displaced persons received an equivalent level of protection and assistance, regardless of the host country, also arose. The massive dis-placement of people from Ukraine to the EU has given rise to a policy of open borders and immediate reception and protection to these people. But such response has also had a temporary nature which was probably unforeseen when the mechanism was activated, in the face of the nowadays prolonged duration of the triggering conflict. The three papers of this special issue deal with all these matters, reviewing the Eu-ropean legal framework as well as its normative and administrative implementation, mainly in Spain, but also including elements of comparative law. The EU primary law on the temporary protection is examined (in both diachronic and synchronic perspec-tive, as well as its interpretation and application by the EU Court of Justice). The EU secondary law is discussed as well: the Temporary Protection Directive and other legal texts recently approved within the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. The three studies also survey the Spanish legislation transposing the Temporary Protection Directive, as well as its EU Council Implementing Decision. Quantitative and qualitative elements of the effective application of these are considered: focusing on Spain (including aspects linked to the internal distribution of competencies between the State, the Autonomous Communities and Municipalities), but also comparing with other EU Member States.

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Author Biography

Francisco Javier Donaire Villa, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain

Associate Professor of Constitutional Law (with National Habilitation) at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, ANECA Accredited as University Professor, and practising Lawyer. Former Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Social and Legal Sciences at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Author of more than a hundred scientific publications (including books, journal articles, book chapters and translations of legal books and constitutional judgments from Germany and Italy). He currently is the Director of the National R&D Project ‘The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice in Uncertain Times: Future and Legal Challenges’, and was Co-PI of the National R&D Project ‘Future and Legal Challenges of the European Economic and Monetary Union’. Winner of 4 Research Prizes and Awards: 2nd Prize in the Financial Studies Prize for Constitutional and Administrative Law 2009, Art and Law Prize 2011 (co-authored), Eduardo García de Enterría Prize for European Legal Studies 2019, and Accesit of the Financial Studies Prize for Constitutional and Administrative Law 2024 (co-authored). Jury member in three editions of the Prize of Studies in Management and Public Administration (Junta de Extremadura, Consejería de Presidencia). He has been Professor at the Diplomatic School of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and visiting Professor of Doctorate and Master’s Degrees at the University of Baja California and at the National Human Rights Commission (Mexico, in both cases), at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, at the Universidade Federal do Pará (Brazil) and at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno (Bolivia). He has been a Master Theses Tutor in the Master’s Degree in Constitutional Law at the Menéndez Pelayo International University and the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies, and a speaker at several editions of the Summer Courses at the University of the Basque Country and at the Cross-border Conferences at the Université de Pau et Pays d’Adour (France). He has carried out research stays at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and at the Scuola Universitaria Superiore Sant’Anna Pisa (Italy).

Published
2025-03-28
How to Cite
Donaire Villa, Francisco Javier. 2025. “Introduction ‘The First Activation of the Temporary Protection Directive: Ukraine’”. Deusto Journal of European Studies, no. 72 (March), 23-25. https://doi.org/10.18543/ced.3246.
Issue
No. 72 (2025): Primera activación de la Directiva de protección temporal: Ucrania
Section
Introduction

 

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