EU directive on temporary protection is mandatory for all member states: Poland will be forced to extend temporary protection to Ukrainians
Next week, the Council of the European Union, on the recommendation of the European Commission, should extend the directive on temporary protection for Ukrainians until 2025.
This became known from Radio Svoboda's sources in diplomatic circles, who are not authorized to give comments to the mass media, Censor.NET informs.
The continuation of the directive does not require a unanimous vote and can be approved by a qualified majority.
So far, according to a Radio Svoboda source, only Poland has raised certain objections to the extension of temporary protection (Warsaw is demanding an increase in funding from the EU for the maintenance of refugees). The EU Council will first try to approve the decision unanimously during a meeting of EU interior ministers on September 28 to demonstrate EU unity. But if Warsaw begins to resort to blocking, the decision will be made by the majority.
After the approval of the extension of this directive, the member states will be obliged to implement it, the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights Nikolay Schmidt explained in an exclusive comment to RFE/RL.
"This is a directive, not a recommendation," said the European commissioner, commenting on statements by the Polish government spokesman that Poland will not extend temporary protection for Ukrainians next year.
"I hope that if this decision is passed, the EU member states will still implement it because if they don't implement it properly, they will have to report to us how they will deal with people who are still in their countries and need protection," said Nikolay Shmit.
The recommendation to extend temporary protection for Ukrainians who left for the EU due to Russian aggression from March 4, 2024, to March 3, 2025, was put forward by the European Commission on September 19, citing that the reasons for temporary protection remain, and therefore it should be extended as a necessary and appropriate response to the current volatile situation.
The EU activated the Temporary Protection Directive on 4 March 2022 by unanimous decision of the member states and automatically extended it for one year.
