The same trend can be seen in the other European countries hosting people fleeing the war in Ukraine, be they Ukrainian nationals or foreign residents of Ukraine. Poland, which has been on the front lines since the Russian invasion began in late February, granted temporary protection status 61,210 times in June, up from more than 670,000 in March. Romania also granted this status 10,360 times in June, and is therefore in second place.
In early March, the 27 EU member states decided to activate, for the first time in their history, the European Temporary Protection Mechanism, which is specifically intended for humanitarian emergencies causing a massive influx to Europe. People fleeing war can therefore very quickly and almost automatically obtain legal status in the EU countries, through a channel other than asylum applications, with access to the labor market, housing, education and social assistance. The mechanism is not designed for the very long term: protection is granted for one year, and can be extended if necessary, ie if the conflict persists and the inhabitants cannot return.
The EU is also active in the medical evacuation of people in need of care, from Ukraine or neighboring countries that request it. The European Commission announced on Friday that the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has supported about 1,000 medical evacuations of Ukrainian patients to hospitals across Europe since the start of the war. Belgium is one of the countries hosting some of these patients, 33 so far, according to Commission figures.