Social Europe

  • EU Forward Project
  • YouTube
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

Ukraine: the risk of ‘refugee fatigue’

Joanna Hosa and Gabrielė Valodskaitė 10th January 2023

To counter Russian disinformation and take on populist parties, European politicians should shape the debate around Ukrainian refugees.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European countries have made tremendous efforts to support refugees. They are hosting an estimated 7.9 million people who have fled the conflict. A total of 4.7 million have registered under the European Union’s temporary-protection directive, which allows refugees to live, work, study and gain access to the full range of benefits in their host countries. Alongside this, many EU citizens have welcomed Ukrainians into their homes.

Yet as the conflict shows no sign of ending, governments prepare for a long war and Europeans struggle with soaring prices, refugee fatigue is beginning to set in. It has even turned into acts of outright hostility and demonstrations over the cost-of-living crisis. A new wave of refugees escaping a harsh winter and the impact of Russia’s energy terrorism could sharpen feelings further, eventually leading to more protests and anti-refugee or anti-EU parties doing well in elections.

Low profile

European leaders have largely kept a low profile on the issue. Yet while they implement refugee-friendly policies, they are overlooking the need to maintain public support for choices over Ukrainians’ access to labour markets and social benefits. This vacuum risks being filled by disinformation about refugees supposedly receiving preferential treatment to the detriment of local residents.

Indeed, Russia’s disinformation machine is already hard at work pouring such falsehoods into social media. The Kremlin has a clear interest in dividing European societies and turning public opinion not only against those fleeing the war but against supporting Ukraine altogether.

European governments need to take control of the narrative on Ukrainian refugees before the messages of populist parties and Russian disinformation campaigns go mainstream. If, for instance, the head of Germany’s main centre-right party, Friedrich Merz, is able to accuse Ukrainian refugees of ‘welfare tourism’ (a comment for which he later apologised), it hurts not only refugees but also undermines EU policy and hands a win to Russia’s trolls and propagandists.

Positive stories

Political leaders should address this question in three main ways.



Don't miss out on cutting-edge thinking.


Join tens of thousands of informed readers and stay ahead with our insightful content. It's free.



Shore up public support: leaders should work to show that help for refugees is not to EU citizens’ detriment. They should start by providing clear information about how much financial support refugees are receiving, what portions of this come from national funds and how much from the EU, and in what ways the support affects EU nationals. Such analysis will show that it is a small amount compared with the totality of public spending. 

Governments need to be proactive about this, such as by embarking on an information campaign. They could co-operate with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to produce ‘social media’ content to inform viewers about the daily lives and needs of refugees. They should also ensure they create space for dialogue in which citizens can express their concerns. They could use this space to underline what is at stake—making sure that Europeans understand both the gravity of war and the reasons for helping Ukrainians and that countering Russia’s aggression means assisting the Ukrainian population in numerous ways, including within EU states.

Share positive stories of migration: migration is already highly politicised and all too controversial in Europe. But the EU needs migration—from Ukraine and elsewhere. As well as upholding the moral case for supporting Ukrainian refugees, European leaders can also point to the benefits the new arrivals can bring in terms of the EU’s economy.

For example, they could highlight that many Ukrainian refugees have tertiary education or sought-after skills and could therefore help fill labour shortages across various sectors, including in the hospitality and food industries. Communications should also focus on the success stories of Ukrainians who have already been working in the EU for some time.

Indeed, Ukrainian refugees often stress that they do not want to be victims in their host countries: they want to stand on their own feet and contribute to the community. Amplifying Ukrainians’ voices in this way would provide a powerful counterpoint to the attack lines already circulating online.

Find new ways to fight disinformation: the EU’s current approach to fighting Russian disinformation is too reactive. The bloc largely pursues a ‘debunking’ method of fact-checking individual stories online—which, naturally, comes only after a false claim has begun to circulate.

Initiatives such as EUvsDisinfo, a key project of the European External Action Service, illustrate this approach. In 2022, it regularly exposed the messages the Kremlin was feeding into the European sphere, ranging from denying war crimes to vilifying Ukrainian refugees. Nevertheless, such activities fail to effectively prevent disinformation from entering or shaping the public discourse.

While fact-checking activities are crucial, the EU is missing out on more pre-emptive strategies, such as digital-skills training for people who could be susceptible to false information. The EU cannot possibly keep up with the immense Russian propaganda effort through ‘debunking’ alone—not least as it has only a handful of people tasked with responding to the Kremlin’s firehose of falsehood.

Steps in the right direction include the EU’s ban on the Moscow-funded media channels RT and Sputnik from its territory, which helps stop a significant amount of the Kremlin’s propaganda from entering the public sphere. Such outlets remain however able to exploit loopholes in the ban. A more systematic and long-term approach is needed.

For example, in 2021 the European Media and Information Fund supported numerous projects intended to combat disinformation by deploying strategies ranging from the use of artificial intelligence to digital-competence training. Interest was overwhelming (the total sum requested was triple that budgeted), illustrating the lack of financial support for media-literacy programmes and research on combating disinformation in Europe. The EU should also increase financial support for independent fact-checking and monitoring, while also working to ingrain media-literacy training in European educational systems and among vulnerable groups that lack digital skills.

Shaping the narrative

The winter is far from over and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will still have high hopes he can turn the season to his advantage. He is banking on continual air strikes and blackouts to break Ukrainians’ will, high prices to weaken European resolve and a new wave of refugees to seriously erode sympathy for Ukraine.

European leaders should not allow the Kremlin to instrumentalise refugees. Instead, they need to take responsibility for shaping the narrative, and soon.

This was first published by the European Council on Foreign Relations

Joanna Hosa
Joanna Hosa

Joanna Hosa is a policy fellow with the Wider Europe programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations. She has held a range of positions at the European Commission, the European Union Institute for Security Studies, the Open Society European Policy Institute, the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office and the International Federation on Human Rights.

Gabriele Valodskaite
Gabrielė Valodskaitė

Gabrielė Valodskaitė is the Wider Europe programme assistant based in the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, she was a research assistant at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, working on projects examining the EU’s asylum and migration policy.

Harvard University Press Advertisement

Social Europe Ad - Promoting European social policies

We need your help.

Support Social Europe for less than €5 per month and help keep our content freely accessible to everyone. Your support empowers independent publishing and drives the conversations that matter. Thank you very much!

Social Europe Membership

Click here to become a member

Most Recent Articles

u421983467 9c73 b24a0b674750 1 The West’s Defence Now Depends on Trump’s Mood SwingsStefan Stern
u4219834674735ecb6fd43 0 The Dark Side Of The Boom In Last-Mile LogisticsSilvia Borelli
u421983467e464b43d2 1 Why European Security and Sovereignty Depend on Its Digital SectorMariana Mazzucato
u42198346c3fba71fa474 0 As Temperatures Rise, European Workers Face a Looming ThreatMarouane Laabbas-el-Guennouni
u42198346741 4727 89fd 94e15c3ad1d4 3 Europe Must Prepare for Security Without AmericaAlmut Möller

Most Popular Articles

u4219834647f 0894ae7ca865 3 Europe’s Businesses Face a Quiet Takeover as US Investors CapitaliseTej Gonza and Timothée Duverger
u4219834674930082ba55 0 Portugal’s Political Earthquake: Centrist Grip Crumbles, Right AscendsEmanuel Ferreira
u421983467e58be8 81f2 4326 80f2 d452cfe9031e 1 “The Universities Are the Enemy”: Why Europe Must Act NowBartosz Rydliński
u42198346761805ea24 2 Trump’s ‘Golden Era’ Fades as European Allies Face Harsh New RealityFerenc Németh and Peter Kreko
startupsgovernment e1744799195663 Governments Are Not StartupsMariana Mazzucato
u421986cbef 2549 4e0c b6c4 b5bb01362b52 0 American SuicideJoschka Fischer
u42198346769d6584 1580 41fe 8c7d 3b9398aa5ec5 1 Why Trump Keeps Winning: The Truth No One AdmitsBo Rothstein
u421983467 a350a084 b098 4970 9834 739dc11b73a5 1 America Is About to Become the Next BrexitJ Bradford DeLong
u4219834676ba1b3a2 b4e1 4c79 960b 6770c60533fa 1 The End of the ‘West’ and Europe’s FutureGuillaume Duval
u421983462e c2ec 4dd2 90a4 b9cfb6856465 1 The Transatlantic Alliance Is Dying—What Comes Next for Europe?Frank Hoffer

S&D Group in the European Parliament advertisement

Cohesion Policy

S&D Position Paper on Cohesion Policy post-2027: a resilient future for European territorial equity

Cohesion Policy aims to promote harmonious development and reduce economic, social and territorial disparities between the regions of the Union, and the backwardness of the least favoured regions with a particular focus on rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition and regions suffering from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps, such as outermost regions, regions with very low population density, islands, cross-border and mountain regions.

READ THE FULL POSITION PAPER HERE

ETUI advertisement

HESA Magazine Cover

With a comprehensive set of relevant indicators, presented in 85 graphs and tables, the 2025 Benchmarking Working Europe report examines how EU policies can reconcile economic, social and environmental goals to ensure long-term competitiveness. Considered a key reference, this publication is an invaluable resource for supporting European social dialogue.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Ageing workforce
The evolution of working conditions in Europe

This episode of Eurofound Talks examines the evolving landscape of European working conditions, situated at the nexus of profound technological transformation.

Mary McCaughey speaks with Barbara Gerstenberger, Eurofound's Head of Unit for Working Life, who leverages insights from the 35-year history of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS).

Listen to the episode for free. Also make sure to subscribe to Eurofound Talks so you don’t miss an episode!

LISTEN NOW

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Spring Issues

The Spring issue of The Progressive Post is out!


Since President Trump’s inauguration, the US – hitherto the cornerstone of Western security – is destabilising the world order it helped to build. The US security umbrella is apparently closing on Europe, Ukraine finds itself less and less protected, and the traditional defender of free trade is now shutting the door to foreign goods, sending stock markets on a rollercoaster. How will the European Union respond to this dramatic landscape change? .


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss European defence strategies, assess how the US president's recent announcements will impact international trade and explore the risks  and opportunities that algorithms pose for workers.


READ THE MAGAZINE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. The background to this is the implementation of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which has led to a reorientation of minimum wage policy in many countries and is thus boosting the dynamics of minimum wages. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50 % of the average wage. However, for Germany, a structural increase is still necessary to make progress towards an adequate minimum wage.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Social Europe

Our Mission

Team

Article Submission

Advertisements

Membership

Social Europe Archives

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Miscellaneous

RSS Feed

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641