Lisbon, Jan. 23, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's prime minister said that the country always has its doors open to Ukrainians and argued that the extension of the temporary protection regime, voted on in parliament on Thursday, is further proof of Portugal's commitment to Ukraine.
The prime minister, Luís Montenegro, received representatives of the Ukrainian community in Portugal today at his official residence in São Bento (Lisbon) on the day that a government draft bill will be voted on in parliament to guarantee continued protection in Portugal for people displaced from Ukraine.
Luís Montenegro, in a statement to journalists after the meeting, assured, alongside the Ukrainian ambassador to Portugal, Maryna Mykhaylenko, that the country's "doors are always open to Ukrainians who see a horizon of hope in Portugal" and want to help with "their knowledge and labour".
The head of government said he saw a "certain chemistry in the relationship between the Portuguese and the Ukrainians" and guaranteed that Portugal would continue to materialise the principles of cooperation between the two countries, with the diploma voted on this afternoon being an example of this support.
The prime minister also emphasised what he said was an extraordinary ‘level of integration’ of Ukrainians in Portugal, which, he added, "is not just a reflection of this latest movement to welcome people after the invasion of Ukrainian territory" and "goes back to other migratory flows that preceded it and are very present in the memory of all of us".
"I myself have friends who came from Ukraine at the end of the 90s, at the beginning of this century, who settled here, who have their families here today, their bases, they haven't lost their connection with Ukraine, but they are truly new Portuguese and that's how we consider them and that's how we also look at you," he added.
Montenegro said that since the beginning of the war, around 54,000 Ukrainians have come to Portugal under the temporary protection regime that will now be extended until at least March 2026, in line with the decisions of the Council of the European Union, and reiterated that the country is not neutral in this war, which he said was "unjustified and unfair".
"We are part of this war and we will stand by Ukraine to mitigate its effects and at the same time to work together to achieve peace as soon as possible," he concluded.
The Ukrainian ambassador thanked Portugal for its support in welcoming Ukrainians fleeing the war and emphasised that 2025 could be a "decisive year for Ukraine and for the future of the whole of Europe".
In June last year, the EU Council decided to extend temporary protection for the more than 4 million Ukrainian citizens who fled Russia's war of aggression until 4 March 2026.
The law put to the vote in parliament today, in line with that decision, aims to extend the maximum duration of temporary protection for displaced persons from third countries, which has been applied to citizens who fled the war in Ukraine after the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory.
The current version of the law stipulates that temporary protection lasts for one year and can be automatically extended for periods of six months, up to a maximum of one year.
The government has now added to the law that there can be a temporary extension beyond the limits laid down provided that there are "grounds for the continuation of the reasons justifying its maintenance, recognised by a decision of the Council of the European Union and for the period indicated therein".
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