The European Commission admits to extending the temporary protection of Ukrainians in the European Union (EU) until March 2025, at a time when more than 1.3 million employment contracts have already been signed with people from Ukraine.
“What is at stake now is the discussion about how long we should extend the Temporary Protection Directive, which can be extended until March 2025. Of course, we all hope that the war will end soon, but this is a possibility and the European Commission stands ready to take that decision if necessary”said today the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson.
At a press conference in Brussels on the day a report is published on the integration into the EU of people fleeing the war in Ukraine following the Russian invasion, the official also defended a discussion on “how to support and help people who want to return to Ukraine and those who want to stay in the European Union”, which would mean “creating a legal basis” to welcome those people who want to stay in the community block.
The European Commissioner for Social Rights, who also addressed the press on that occasion, Nicolas Schmit stated that “at the beginning of this year, the public employment services in the Member States reported that more than 1.3 million employment contracts had been signed with people from Ukraine”.
“However, many people in Ukraine work in jobs below their skill level,” noted the European Commissioner for Guardianship, attributing this to “language barriers and sometimes the lack of recognition of qualifications”.
“We will continue to work with Member States to solve this problem,” he assured.
Nicolas Schmit also recalled the portal launched last October to match employers with job seekers fleeing war.
So far, 16 million Ukrainians have entered the EU, of which 11 million have already returned, one million to other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States and four million are still in the EU bloc.
Faced with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, millions of people sought refuge in the EU and neighboring countries.
In March last year, the EU activated the Temporary Protection Directive, which has so far never been used and was adopted in 2001 following the large-scale displacement in Europe caused by armed conflicts in the Western Balkans, in particular those from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
Source: DN
