The European Commission today proposed extending temporary protection for people displaced from Ukraine due to the Russian invasion until March 2025, considering it a “necessary and appropriate response to the current situation.”
“The European Commission today proposes a new extension of temporary protection for people fleeing Russian aggression against Ukraine, from March 4, 2024 to March 3, 2025”, a measure that “will provide security and support to more than four million people benefiting from protection throughout the EU,” the institution said in a statement.
Brussels maintains that “the reasons for temporary protection remain and that, therefore, temporary protection must be extended as a necessary and appropriate response to the current volatile situation, which is not yet conducive to the safe and lasting return of people benefit from temporary protection in the EU”. “.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine led to an influx of millions of people seeking refuge in the EU and neighboring countries, some of whom have already returned to the country.
This situation led the EU to activate in March 2022 the temporary protection directive, until then never used despite having been created in 2001 as a result of the large-scale displacements that occurred in Europe due to armed conflicts in the Western Balkans. .
The activation, based on a unanimous decision of the Member States adopted in 2022, was automatically extended by one year.
“Since the activation of temporary protection, barely a week after Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, Member States have shown unprecedented solidarity with the Ukrainian people, not only by welcoming them into their countries, but also by making concrete efforts to facilitate their inclusion in society”, says the community executive.
This proposal from the European Commission will now have to be adopted by the Council.
The Temporary Protection Directive provides immediate protection and access to rights in the EU, including residence rights, access to the labor market, housing, social assistance and healthcare.
It also helps to avoid pressures on national asylum systems, thus allowing European countries to manage arrivals in an orderly and effective way.
Last week, during the State of the Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the institution would extend temporary protection for people displaced by the war in Ukraine, guaranteeing support “as long as it is necessary “. .
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory has plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since the Second World War (1939-1945), as well as the worst refugee crisis on the European continent since the same conflict.
Source: TSF
