Ukraine asks the EU to exclude men aged 23-60 from temporary protection for refugees
Ukraine has appealed to the European Union to exclude men aged 23 to 60 from temporary protection. This was reported by Deutsche Welle.
EU countries currently support the idea of extending the temporary protection directive for Ukrainians until March 2028. At the same time, some member states advocate for changes regarding the scope of this protection for certain categories of citizens.
This was stated by the Deputy Minister for Migration of Cyprus — the country holding the EU Council presidency — Nicholas Ioannides during the concluding conference after the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting on June 4.
According to him, the discussions demonstrated "unanimity in support of Ukraine." He noted that participants expect to reach an agreement that will simultaneously consider the interests of Ukrainians and not create additional burdens on host countries.
EU Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner reported that one of the proposed changes is to exclude men of mobilization age from 23 to 60 years old from temporary protection. According to him, this also corresponds to the request from the Ukrainian side.
He added that representatives from countries that have accepted the most Ukrainian refugees participated in the discussion, including the Czech Republic, Baltic states, Poland, Germany, and Austria.
The European Commission plans to present proposals regarding the further mechanism of temporary protection for Ukrainians in the coming weeks. The final decision will be made by EU countries by qualified majority.
As previously reported by the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper", Poland is promoting the idea of limiting the EU temporary protection for Ukrainian men of conscription age. However, the European Commission stated that Ukrainians already under temporary protection in the EU will not lose their status.
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