Refugees – Photo © European Union 2023
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Council agreed Thursday to extend until March 2025 the temporary protection for people fleeing from Russia’s war against Ukraine, providing certainty for 4 million Ukrainian refugees currently living in the EU.
The temporary protection mechanism was activated on 4 March 2022 only a few days after Russian armed forces launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine and it was automatically extended by one year.
Temporary protection is an EU emergency mechanism which is activated in exceptional circumstances of mass influx. The EU directive on temporary protection was adopted in 2001, in the aftermath of the large-scale displacement experienced in Europe due to the armed conflicts in the Western Balkans, in particular from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The system provides immediate and collective (i.e. without the need for the examination of individual applications) protection to displaced persons who are not in a position to return to their country of origin.
The objective is to alleviate pressure on national asylum systems and to allow displaced persons to enjoy harmonised rights across the EU. These rights include: residence; access to the labour market and housing; medical assistance; social welfare assistance; access to education for children.
Following today’s political agreement, the Council will have to formally adopt the decision to extend the temporary protection. This will happen once the legal scrubbing and translation in all EU languages has taken place.
