A Member State that has extended the temporary protection of displaced persons from Ukraine to other categories of persons may withdraw that protection without waiting for the temporary protection granted under European Union law to end, ruled the EU Court of Justice in a judgment delivered on Thursday 19 December (joined cases C-244/24 and C-290/24).
In March 2022, at the start of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, the EU set up a temporary protection mechanism for displaced persons from Ukraine (Council Decision 2022/382 - see EUROPE 12903/1).
This scheme, which currently covers more than 4 million people, has been extended until March 2026. It applies mandatorily for: - Ukrainians; - stateless persons and nationals of third countries other than Ukraine who have been granted international protection; - family members of those in the first two categories; - stateless persons and nationals of third countries other than Ukraine who have a permanent residence permit in Ukraine and who are unable to return to their country or region of origin in safe and durable conditions.
In the Netherlands, holders of temporary residence permits issued in Ukraine were initially granted temporary protection by the EU. Several people in possession of such a temporary residence permit are contesting the fact that the Dutch authorities have decided to restrict the granting of temporary EU protection to people holding a permanent Ukrainian residence permit.
On a reference for a preliminary ruling from the Dutch Council of State, the Court pointed out that the temporary protection scheme is exceptional in nature and is reserved for cases of mass influx of displaced persons into the EU.
According to the CJEU, a Member State that has granted optional temporary protection may, in principle, withdraw the benefit of that protection from the persons concerned. In addition, the Member States can decide on the duration of this optional temporary protection, which cannot begin before or end after the temporary protection granted by the EU institutions.
The European court added that people benefiting from optional temporary protection must be legally resident in the territory of the Member State concerned. These people cannot therefore be the subject of a return decision before this Member State has terminated the optional protection.
See the Court of Justice’s judgment (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/evt (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)