The EU countries are discussing the possibility of not extending the future extension of temporary protection to Ukrainian men of military age.
Euractiv writes about this with reference to internal documents of the EU Council.
The proposal comes amid discussions on the future of the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive, which allows Ukrainians to live and work in Europe without having to go through national asylum procedures. The mechanism was introduced after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and is currently in effect until March 2027.
The EU wants to narrow the circle of people covered by the mechanism. They plan to exclude men of military age or people who left Ukraine illegally from the list. At the same time, such restrictions are proposed to be applied only to new applicants who will apply for temporary protection status.
Some EU governments are concerned that “a growing proportion of new arrivals are men of military age”. Several countries believe that the mechanism should be reviewed “also in the interests of Ukraine” — both to support its resistance to Russian aggression and for the future reconstruction of the country.
What preceded
Last year, the European Commission approved recommendations for the gradual winding down of the Temporary Protection Program for Ukrainians. These recommendations provide for uniform conditions for all EU member states for the future, when the situation in Ukraine becomes safe to live in.
The EU has agreed to gradually move from temporary protection to other legal residence programs in the EU. For example, the blocʼs member states believe that the EU should offer Ukrainians residence permits issued in connection with their employment, study or family reunification.
Also among the proposals are voluntary return programs that would operate for a limited period of time. Within these programs, participants would be granted temporary protection rights (for example, related to housing, healthcare, and education).
Another proposed campaign concerns so-called study visits, which allow Ukrainians, without losing their temporary status, to visit Ukraine in order to independently assess the conditions for return. The conditions for these study visits should be agreed upon between EU countries.
What is the EU Temporary Protection Program?
The EU Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) is a special mechanism that allows people fleeing en masse from war or other major crises to quickly obtain the right to live legally in European Union countries, bypassing the lengthy asylum procedure.
For Ukrainians, it was first activated in March 2022 after Russiaʼs full-scale invasion. Before that, the directive had existed since 2001 (it was launched after the conflicts in the then Yugoslavia), but had never been applied.
What provides temporary protection:
- the right to reside legally in an EU country;
- access to the labor market;
- medical assistance;
- social support;
- childrenʼs access to education;
- the opportunity to rent housing and use other government services.
As of March 2026, 4.33 million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in the EU. The largest number of them were in Germany (1.27 million), Poland (961 405) and the Czech Republic (379 820).
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