EU ministers extend protection rules for Ukrainian war refugees

War refugees from Ukraine will be able to remain in the European Union until at least March 2026, as per emergency rules extended by EU justice and home affairs ministers on Thursday.

Ukrainians who fled to the European Union after the full-scale invasion of their country by Russia in 2022 were granted immediate protection after EU member states set up a temporary regime designed for cases of mass influxes of people.

The proposal is designed to avoid the lengthy national asylum-seeking procedures required to process large numbers of displaced people. Extensions of the temporary rules are possible for up to one year.

In addition, people under temporary protection are entitled to social benefits, housing, access to education and work permits, among other things.

The existing regime was set to end in March 2025. The European Commission proposed to extend the emergency rules on Tuesday, arguing that "safe and durable conditions for the return of people to Ukraine are not currently in place" due to continued Russian attacks on both civil and critical infrastructure.

The commission reported almost 4.2 million Ukrainians are currently residing in the EU under these rules, with Germany hosting the most people at 1.2 million. However, in relation to the population, the number of Ukrainian refugees is significantly higher in countries such as the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Poland.

EU justice and home affairs ministers, who are in Luxembourg for a two-day meeting, were also set to examine a strategy from the commission to roll out controversial new migration and asylum rules in the EU.

The commission's strategy is to help the bloc's countries implement the legal system by mid-2026.

A major part of the commission's plan is a large IT system called Eurodac, in which the data of people seeking asylum is to be stored and processed to better monitor applicants between EU countries.