Hungary challenges EU over move to give Ukraine refugees temporary residency

BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST, March 3 (Reuters) – Hungary sowed a note of discord in the European Union’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday by saying it and its east European allies did not support granting temporary residency to people fleeing the conflict.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson had earlier said before a meeting of interior ministers that she expected EU governments to agree to the protection scheme, involving residency rights of up to three years, in the coming days.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said there were clear EU asylum rules already in place and that Hungary would grant refugee status to everyone fleeing Ukraine.

He added that the Visegrad Four group, also including the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, jointly did not support the proposal by the European Commission, the EU executive.

A Czech government spokesman said the interior ministry was currently in talks on the matter. The Slovak and Polish governments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Johansson said almost 1 million people had already fled Ukraine, with women and children entering EU territory via Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, which all have land borders with Ukraine.

The temporary protection scheme proposed by the Commission would automatically grant those fleeing Ukraine a residence permit and access to employment, social welfare and housing for up to three years. read more

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s terrible war of aggression has had terrible consequences for people in Ukraine,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.

“Today it is about all EU members agreeing on a policy to be able to provide help in a non-bureaucratic way.”

The protective measures would apply to Ukrainians and those who had long-term residency or refugee status in Ukraine, sparing them from going through lengthy asylum procedures.

Those on short-term stays in Ukraine would be allowed into EU territory and would get help to make their way home.

Russia’s offensive, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has also caused ructions in a global economy still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, led to a panoply of severe sanctions against Russia and stoked fears of wider conflict in the West. read more

Reporting by Marine Strauss, Philip Blenkinsop, Johnny Cotton in Brussels, Anita Komuves in Budapest; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alex Richardson and Mark Heinrich

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