The “unprecedented showing of solidarity” EU member states have made towards refugees from Ukraine has provided a “chilling reality check of Europe’s double standards,” say experts at Chatham House.
While borders have opened and social security is being extended to Ukrainians, Greek coastguards and Spanish police continue to engage in illegal “pushback” policies to repel asylum seekers from their shores, the think tank said.
Poland, which has so far welcomed 3 million refugees from Ukraine, continues to block entry to thousands of asylum seekers from the Middle East and Central Asia, leaving them trapped in a forest along the border with Belarus or detained in centres to which few have access.
EU agreements with countries outside the bloc allow for an outsourcing of asylum processing while “detention, and lengthy asylum procedures await the few asylum seekers who manage to enter Europe from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa,” said the think tank.
“With Europe’s grim history of restrictive asylum policies, it is wishful thinking that the warm welcome to Ukrainians will extend to all asylum seekers. The EU solidarity to displaced Ukrainians illustrates the deeply politicised — and often discriminatory — nature of providing refugee protection,” commented Chatham House associates Emily Venturi and Anna Iasmi Vallianatou.
More than 10 million people have fled their homes in Ukraine — 6.5 million displaced within Ukraine and 4 million escaping to neighbouring countries — since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
The European Union is already facing its largest refugee crisis since the Second World War, which it has reacted to with widespread solidarity towards the people fleeing Vladimir Putin's war and has set an “important precedent” on how to treat refugees, said the policy experts.
“Unlike the usual — often media-fuelled — narratives of refugee ‘invasions’ into Europe, the waves of women and children leaving Ukraine prompted a surge of humanitarian action but they are also a chilling reality check of Europe’s double standards.”
The last time a significant number of refugees were at once on the move within Europe was in 2015, when 1.3 million people, mainly fleeing the war in Syria but also Iraq and Afghanistan, came to the continent seeking asylum.
While Germany and Sweden took in a significant proportion of the refugees at the time, a rising tide of nationalist and far-right policies across the UK and Europe have created increasingly hostile environments for asylum seekers.
On a visit to the UK this week to discuss ways to make the Russian president accountable for alleged war crimes in Syria, the chief of the White Helmets search and rescue group, Raed Al Saleh, said that all “refugees should be treated equally regardless of their race, ethnicity or religion, because they have equal rights”.
On Wednesday, the UK Home Office confirmed that 25,500 visas had been issued to Ukrainians since the war in the country began over a month ago.
This figure includes 2,700 visas issued to people who want to enter the country as refugees under the Homes for Ukraine scheme and 22,800 permits under a separate family initiative.
By comparison, the UK resettled 20,000 Syrian refugees over a six-year period during the peak of the decade-long war.
A further 666 are coming to Britain under a separate sponsorship route but there was never a family visa offered for Britons wishing to sponsor Syrian relatives.
The Chatham House experts said that “despite entrenched discriminatory precedents”, the unity shown over Ukraine could help “reshape and refocus political efforts” on asylum and responsibility sharing among EU member states.
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
