The Court of the European Union in Luxembourg allowed EU countries to deny the right to temporary protection and to stay on their territory to a number of categories of refugees from Ukraine who go beyond the categories of refugees approved by EU legislation, follows from the court’s decision.
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According to EU laws, the right to temporary protection is available to: citizens of Ukraine, holders of permanent residence permits in Ukraine, who have received the status of those under international protection in Ukraine, as well as family members of these categories.
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The Dutch authorities turned to the court for clarification. In 2022, they began to provide temporary protection status to all categories of refugees from Ukraine, including citizens of third countries who had a temporary residence permit in Ukraine. However, later it was decided to take away temporary protection status and the right to stay in the Netherlands from this category of refugees.
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Holders of temporary Ukrainian residence permits turned to the courts, and the authorities turned to the EU Court for advice.
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“The Court confirms that in such a case the Member State may, in principle, deprive these persons of the benefit of temporary protection,” the EU court said in its recommendation.
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They emphasized that decisions to expel such refugees from the country are possible only after the official termination of their temporary protection status.
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Currently, according to the EC, there are about 4.5 million Ukrainian refugees in EU countries, they enjoy temporary protection status, which was recently extended until March 2026.
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At the same time, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in October of this year invited EU countries to think about the future of Ukrainian refugees, taking into account the limited European resources, as well as the needs of Ukraine itself in human resources.
