The European Commission has put forward a proposal that would exclude Ukrainian nationals of military service age from temporary protection status. The initiative is supported by several EU member states, as well as by Ukraine itself.
Presenting the planned changes to the protection status of Ukrainians in the EU, Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner explained that “our proposal stipulates that newcomers who, under Ukrainian law, are not allowed to leave Ukraine because of their military obligations should not be granted temporary protection.”
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After a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg, he stressed that, in principle, this status for Ukrainian citizens should remain in force, but with the possibility of introducing new conditions.
Since March 2022, Ukrainians forced to leave their country because of Russian aggression have benefited from temporary protection in the European Union. This mechanism, which operates with relatively little bureaucracy, is valid until early March 2027 and is expected to be extended further.
The difference from the asylum procedure is that in this case there is no individual review for each person, and the protection is temporary in nature.
An EU official said that the European Commission’s proposal had been drafted in a gender-neutral way. However, in practice, its implementation is expected to affect in particular men aged 23 to 60. According to Commission officials, the new rule is not expected to apply to Ukrainians already in the EU and will enter into force only after it is formally approved by the EU Council and published in the Official Journal.
According to Eurostat, as of March 31 there were a total of 4.33 million Ukrainians in the EU with this special protection status. Of these, about 1.3 million people, or 29.4 percent of the EU total, were in Germany. Poland followed with just over 950,000 people, or 22.2 percent, and the Czech Republic with around 380,000 people, or 8.8 percent. EU authorities say that just over a quarter of them are adult Ukrainian men.
The Commission’s plans have been criticized by Michael O’Flaherty, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, which is not an EU institution. He expressed concern about the “growing pressure to prematurely terminate temporary protection measures” and to restrict access, among others, for men of military service age. In his view, this is a moment for “more solidarity, not less.”
For its part, the EU justifies the initiative by arguing that the request came from Ukraine and that its need for protection, as well as the imposition of military obligations on the population, are legitimate. On Friday, Commissioner Brunner said that the proposal had also been coordinated with the member states.
The issue had already been discussed earlier this month in Luxembourg by EU interior ministers. Germany’s interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, spoke in favor of excluding men of military service age from protection status, but the CSU politician underlined that those affected would still be able to submit asylum applications.
Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner, took the same line, saying he was “very strongly” in favor of ending automatic protection for men of military service age.
Meanwhile, Estonia’s interior minister, Igor Taro, took a skeptical stance. In his view, the best solution would be to extend the temporary protection directive in its current form and without exceptions, although he also supported continuing talks with Ukraine.
The debate in the EU is now taking place for several reasons. As German minister Alexander Dobrindt put it, on the one hand the extension of the measures themselves is on the agenda, while on the other hand “the number of people of military service age has also increased in recent months.” For Ukrainian men aged 23 to 60, an exit ban from the country generally applies. They are liable for military service from the age of 18, but can only be called up for wartime service from the age of 25, the dpa news agency reports. Since last summer, leaving the country has been permitted for males between 18 and 23, which temporarily led to an increase in the number of those who left.
This topic is not new. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said several times that Ukraine should not allow young men of military service age to leave, so that they can serve in their own country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, during his visit to Berlin in April, also stressed that the return of men of military service age also serves the interests of the Ukrainian armed forces. In his view, in the end this is a “matter of fairness.” /DW
