The Council of State has validated the refusal to grant foreigners who have fled Ukraine the same “temporary protection” that is granted to Ukrainian refugees, in the absence of a specific decree from the French authorities to extend this mechanism.
Several NGOs defending immigrants have expressed concern about the fate of foreigners who reside in Ukraine but have not been able to benefit from the exceptional protection offered to Ukrainians. This protection allows the latter, for six renewable months, to receive an allowance in France and work there.
Disputing this difference in treatment, the Armenians established in the Ukraine before the war had seized administrative justice, particularly in western France.
A concrete case in Seine-Maritime
In a decision on December 27, the Council of State considered the case of one of them who lived in Ukraine with a temporary residence permit and who fled the Russian invasion to join France in March, where she applied for this “temporary protection”. .
At the end of April, the Seine-Maritime prefect turned him down and granted him a one-month residence permit to examine his situation. This decision was later overturned by the chamber judge, leading the Ministry of the Interior to seize the Council of State.
In its decision, the highest administrative court points out that the European texts adopted after the Russian invasion reserve in principle “temporary protection” for foreigners who resided in Ukraine by virtue of “a permanent residence permit” and could not return to their country. originally. origin “in safe and sustainable conditions”.
“No specific decree” had been taken
According to the Council of State, Member States certainly have the possibility of “extending” this mechanism to foreigners holding a temporary permit -such as that of the Armenian applicant- but they must have adopted a specific decree “designating the categories of persons affected”. .
However, the court notes, the executive took “no decree” of this type to expand this mechanism and, therefore, the administration had the legal grounds to oppose a refusal to the Armenian applicant.
As of late September, France had taken in some 106,000 people who had fled Ukraine since the war began on February 24, according to a recent parliamentary report.
Source: BFM TV
