The proposal appeared during discussions about the future of the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (TPD), which allows Ukrainians to live and work in Europe without having to go through the normal asylum procedures of individual states. The system was activated after the start of the large-scale Russian invasion in 2022 and, after last year’s extension, is to be valid until March 2027.
Regarding the extension of temporary protection, there is a new discussion about narrowing the range of eligible persons, for example through the “exclusion of men of conscription age” or persons who have not left Ukraine legally. The Euractiv website reports on this with reference to an internal document of the Council of the EU.
Euractiv already reported in March that the member states are examining the possibility of further extending this regime, which would mean that it would already be operating for the sixth year. In 2024, Ukraine lowered the age for mobilization from 27 to 25 and took other measures to improve the recruitment and registration of persons subject to military service.
Some governments have expressed concern that “an increasingly large proportion of new arrivals are men of draft age”. They argue that the system should be adjusted “also in the interest of Ukraine” – both to support its defense against Russia and for the future reconstruction of the country after the war.
The future of this regime will be discussed this week by the ministers of the interior and migration at a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. However, any future extension or change of the system must first of all be formally proposed by the European Commission. Its spokesperson told Euractiv that discussions with member states are still ongoing.
As of March 2026, 4.33 million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in the European Union. The largest numbers of them were recorded in Germany (1.27 million), Poland (961,405) and the Czech Republic (379,820). Ukrainians made up more than 98% of all persons using this protection regime. Of them, 43.3% were women, 30.1% were children and 26.6% were adult men.
