Hungary has officially informed the European Commission of plans to extend temporary protection to additional categories of Ukrainian citizens, including men of conscription age.
European Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert said this at a briefing, Sуспільне reports.
According to him, EU member states have a degree of flexibility when applying the Council of the EU decision and the Temporary Protection Directive. In particular, Article 7 of the Directive allows countries to extend temporary protection to additional categories of displaced persons.
"Member states have the possibility to use their discretionary powers when it comes to applying the framework of the Council decision and the Temporary Protection Directive. This is provided for in Article 7 of the Directive, and Hungary has informed us in this context that it is doing exactly that," Lammert said.
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At the same time, the European Commission representative declined to assess the Hungarian authorities’ intentions regarding the possible granting of preference to ethnic Hungarians from Zakarpattia, and did not answer whether he considers such an approach selective.
According to the EU official, Hungary’s decision will not have consequences from the European Union. Member states cannot unilaterally narrow the group of people entitled to temporary protection under European rules, but they can extend it to additional categories.
- On 8 September, Hungary informed the Council of the EU that, in accordance with Article 7 of the Directive, it would extend temporary protection to additional categories of displaced persons.
- At the same time, from 5 August 2026 a new requirement has been in force in the EU for newly arrived Ukrainian citizens: temporary protection is generally granted to those who have fulfilled their military obligations in Ukraine. This requirement does not apply to Ukrainians who already had temporary protection in an EU country before 4 August 2026 and continue to benefit from it.
- Temporary protection for Ukrainians in the EU has been extended until 4 March 2028.