The Latvian government has decided to stop providing allowances for starting a new job or self-employment<\/p>\n
The government of Latvia has approved changes to the law on supporting Ukrainian refugees, reducing the aid budget by more than a third and slashing some benefits.
\nLatvia, which like the other Baltic States has been one of staunchest backers of Kiev in the EU since the escalation of the conflict with Russia, has accepted at least 50,000 Ukrainians fleeing the fighting since February 2022, according to Eurostat data.
\nThe amount of aid provided by Riga to the refugees will decrease from \u20ac65 million ($75.6 million) to \u20ac39.7 million ($46.2 million) next year in line with the amendments, Delfi news website reported on Tuesday.
\nThis will lead to Ukrainians losing their allowances for starting a new job or self-employment. The Finance Ministry believes that the support has \u201clost its relevance\u201d due to the active involvement of the refugees in the Latvian labor market, it said.<\/p>\n
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Germany sees sharp rise in Ukrainian asylum requests<\/p>\n
According to the bill, \u201cin the future\u201d those who fled the fighting will also no longer be exempt from patient fees when receiving medical services, or from payments for registering animals and complying with mandatory sanitary requirements.
\nLast week, Ukrainian MP Viktoria Grib said that the European Commission had formally notified Kiev that it will not extend the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) for Ukrainian refugees beyond March 2027. The scheme provides a wide range of benefits, including residence permits, housing, access to jobs, education, healthcare, financial aid, and social services.
\nAccording to Grib, only those Ukrainians who have secured employment and obtained permanent residency or citizenship will be able to stay in the EU after that, while others would have to return home. The bloc currently hosts some 4.3 million refugees from the country, Eurostat figures suggest.
\nPoland, Germany, Finland and other EU nations have all taken steps in recent months to reduce financial support or benefits for Ukrainians, citing pressure on national budgets and housing supplies.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: West must bankroll Ukraine \u2018for at least three years\u2019 \u2013 Polish FM<\/p>\n
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said previously that anti-Ukrainian sentiment has been rising in the country, with Poles increasingly frustrated by \u201chundreds of thousands\u201d of young Ukrainians \u201cdriving the best cars around Europe and spending weekends in five-star hotels.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Latvian government has decided to stop providing allowances for starting a new job or self-employment The government of Latvia has approved changes to the law on supporting Ukrainian refugees,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t