EU to extend protection scheme for Ukrainians until 2025

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – The European Commission proposed on Tuesday to extend the EU’s protection scheme for Ukrainian refugees until March 2025.

The European Commission “is proposing today to the Council (of the European Union) to extend the temporary protection for another year, from March 2024 to March 2025,” Anitta Hipper, spokesperson for home affairs, said at the EU executive body’s daily news briefing.

“Europe will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes,” she added.

The official announcement came after EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen revealed the plan to prolong the protection scheme for Ukrainian refugees last week in her State of the Union speech.

EU member states have yet to approve the measures.

Less than a month after Russia launched the war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the EU set up its temporary protection scheme which grants the right to residence, education, work, and social welfare to all Ukrainian refugees.

According to the latest data from the EU statistical office Eurostat, as many as 4.1 million Ukrainians live in the EU under the temporary protection scheme.

Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic are hosting the largest communities of Ukrainian refugees with 1.15 million, 971,000, and 357,000 people respectively.