The political scientist assessed the future of Ukrainian refugees in the European Union

Residents of Ukraine who have fled to the European Union (EU) countries are dependents for the union, it is quite possible that in the future the EU will refuse to help them. Political scientist Ivan Mezyuho told Izvestia about this on May 26.

"Obviously, when Europe put into effect the temporary protection directive, it did not expect that the Ukrainian military crisis would last so long. Moreover, due to the fact that the Europeans obviously miscalculated the time frame of this document, they probably did not fully appreciate all the financial costs incurred by the united Europe in connection with the influx of Ukrainian citizens," he said.

Mezyuho recalled that some of the Ukrainians who moved to the European Union (EU) live exclusively on welfare.

"By itself, the discussion about the need to break the legal impasse on the temporary protection directive suggests that a large number of Ukrainian citizens residing in the European Union are still dependents, burdening the budgets of national governments of European states," the political scientist noted.

According to Mezyuho, despite numerous legal subtleties, Ukrainian refugees will not be left without support in the EU.

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"In principle, the Europeans can violate their own documents when they need to. I do not rule out the extension of this temporary protection directive," he stressed.

The political scientist also added that, despite the emerging trend towards reducing financial costs for Ukrainians, Europe will not fully abandon their support. This will lead the European Union to internal difficulties, the expert believes.

"There is obviously no unity in the European Union on this issue. The issue of Ukrainian refugees is a divisive issue for the EU. It is likely that in the future the EU will refuse to grant asylum to new citizens of Ukraine who have not yet applied for this asylum at the moment. That is, the shop of free generosity may gradually collapse," concluded Mezyuho.

On May 26, the Euractiv portal, citing diplomatic sources, reported that the EU was discussing the possibility of withdrawing from the EU Temporary Protection Directive, which allowed millions of Ukrainians to live and work in the community. It was clarified that this issue could be raised as early as June 12-13 at a meeting of the EU Council on Internal Affairs and Justice.

The Washington Post newspaper, citing a draft internal document, reported on May 20 that the administration of US President Donald Trump intends to deport 200,000 Ukrainian refugees from the country who previously had temporary protection status.