Since the beginning of September, several Member States have reported a significant increase in temporary protection requests from Ukrainian men aged 18 to 22, according to a note from the Danish Presidency of the EU Council, which Member States will discuss on Monday 27 October.
“This follows a Ukrainian government decree that, since 28 August, no longer prohibits this group of Ukrainians of conscription age from leaving Ukraine”, adds the text, at a time when the Commission is finalising the details of a future voluntary return and recovery programme in the country.
The intention to travel to Ukraine is declining, notes the Presidency: only 16% of participants in a European Union Agency for Asylum survey expressed a desire to travel to Ukraine between August 2024 and July 2025, compared to 35% between February and July 2023. The trend is the same for those who have decided not to return, rising from 12% in 2023 to 22% in 2025.
Meeting on Monday, national experts from the Member States will focus more specifically on the returns process for Ukrainian refugees present in the EU, in line with a recommendation adopted in September (see EUROPE 13710/16).
According to data from the European Union Agency for Asylum, between 1 January and 12 October 2025, Ukrainians lodged almost 21,000 asylum applications in the EU (up 9% on the same period last year). Nearly 8 out of 10 applications were submitted in France and Poland. The recognition rate for Ukrainian asylum seekers was 73% for the first six months of 2025.
Around 394,500 decisions granting temporary protection were also issued between January and August 2025, down 21% on the previous eight-month period and on January-August 2024; most decisions were issued in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
The Presidency will therefore ask Member States about developing dedicated voluntary return programmes, of limited and fixed duration, while allowing sufficient time to ensure that Ukraine is able to sustainably reintegrate people displaced by the war. During previous discussions, Member States stressed the possibility of relying on existing structures and in particular on the logistical support of Frontex.
‘Unity Hubs’, information centres for the integration of displaced persons and returnees to Ukraine, could play an important role, and the Commission will also be called upon to facilitate coordination.
Voluntary return programme. The Commission is currently drawing up a concept for ‘voluntary return and recovery’ in the country, which will be discussed by the ‘Solidarity Ukraine Platform’ on 5 November.
The programme envisaged by the Commission would provide a “modest EU-funded lump sum“ to cover travel and moving costs from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), as well as support for Ukrainian communities through EU-supported programmes and projects.
The main principles of the Commission’s concept are as follows, reports Copenhagen:
- no individualised Member State financial support for reintegration: no individual envelopes for reintegration will be provided (as in the AVRR programmes), but Member States may provide a modest, standardised lump sum for travel and moving expenses, taken from their AMIF programme;
- community-focused, with EU support to strengthen existing employment services, skills development, childcare and other social services for returnees, internally displaced persons, ex-combatants and the general population;
- dual responsibility and ownership: the EU and Member States mobilise funding, technical assistance and private partnerships, while Ukraine retains ultimate ownership of reintegration and its design at regional/local level;
- provision of information: Member State authorities must provide information on the Voluntary Return and Recovery Programme. Unity Hubs will also host initiatives aimed at the private sector (job fairs, skills matching);
- minimum administrative burden for Member States: registration with the national authority responsible for registering temporary protection, payment of a one-off lump sum to reduce administrative burden, deactivation in the temporary protection platform;
- gradual/phased approach: large-scale returns only when capacities (at oblast level) are confirmed or after investments increase capacities;
- protection of vulnerable groups: reintegration assistance must focus on vulnerable people, particularly those with specific housing needs, psychosocial difficulties or disabilities, as well as veterans and the elderly.
Member States will be asked to vote on this draft on 27 October. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)