The EU should help Ukrainian refugees return home
Starting the process of rebuilding Ukraine’s economy now – rather than after the war ends – would strengthen the country’s capacity to resist Russia and support its economic recovery and EU integration
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AFTER Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022, millions of Ukrainians found refuge in the European Union (EU), with Germany and Poland alone taking in about one million refugees each. But this was always meant to be a temporary solution. The protracted war of attrition that is now underway in Ukraine demands a different approach.
The answer is not greater integration into host countries. Ukrainians are already integrating in Germany and elsewhere, but as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly emphasised, Ukraine needs its people back both to contribute to the war effort and to ensure that the country’s population does not plummet – bringing the economy’s prospects down with it.
Already, many Ukrainian businesses report that labour shortages are a key factor limiting their activities, and the Ukrainian population is set to decline sharply – from more than 40 million before the war to approximately 31 million in 2035, according to one projection.
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