EU looks for alternatives to temporary protection for Ukraine refugees

This was announced at a daily briefing by European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer.

"Ministers will discuss a pact on migration and asylum, as well as an alternative mechanism for the temporary protection of persons fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine," he said.

The ministerial meeting is taking place on Thursday and Friday, with European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson attending on behalf of the European Commission. She did not raise the issue of Ukrainian refugees during her media briefing.

At the same time, journalists asked Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen to comment on the information that Kyiv had begun talking to its partners about encouraging Ukrainians to return home.

"If I were a Ukrainian official, of course, I would urge people to return. When the war is over. But until then, Europe, and Finland in particular, should help Ukrainians as much as they need," she said.

• EU countries have approved the extension of temporary protection for refugees from Ukraine until March 2025. The protection has already been extended twice, so the EU should look for other options to legalize the stay of those fleeing the war.
• According to Eurostat, as of the end of November 2023, 4.27 million Ukrainian citizens had been granted temporary protection in the EU. Germany (1,235,960 people; 28.9% of the EU total), Poland (955,110; 22.3%) and the Czech Republic (369,330; 8.6%) received the largest number of Ukrainian refugees.