In Belgium, once these people have been registered and benefit from temporary protection (a special status linked to a European directive), they can go to the municipality to receive an “A card”, which attests to a limited stay (it is valid until March 4, 2023) of more than three months. This residence permit gives access to the labor market, and to social assistance if the person does not have sufficient income. That the person has access to work and to some form of social assistance, as well as adequate accommodation or the means to obtain one, is mandatory under the terms of the European directive, which has been transposed into Belgian law. many years ago.
Since the beginning of March, when temporary protection was activated at European level, this has taken concrete form in Belgium in the fact that a person who has fled the war in Ukraine has the right to turn to the CPAS to apply for a equivalent of social integration income. She also has access to the labor market, and to the rental market, following the emergency housing provided for the first few days. Social assistance is, in itself, linked to the residence permit.
But for a few days, voices have been raised on the Flemish side to ask that we review this access to a possible RIS. MP Theo Francken (N-VA) launched the offensive on Sunday, claiming to want to introduce a bill which would de facto reserve Ukrainians treatment similar to that of asylum seekers (group accommodation managed by the authorities, minimal pocket money). His suggestion was broadly followed by the Flemish minister of the same party, Matthias Diependaele, as well as by the Open Vld deputy Tim Vandenput. The reasoning put forward: the rental property market should not be overloaded.
With Belga, the Prime Minister made things clear on Wednesday: “Ukrainian refugees are entitled to a subsistence income”. “It’s a help that is really needed at the moment. These people have to see how they can live with this income: to pay rent and to eat”.
However, Secretary of State Sammy Mahdi (CD&V) clarified, alongside him, that it was not the aim for a person to benefit at the same time from free accommodation and a full integration income. It wouldn’t be “logical”. “The system must be fair”, adds Sammy Mahdi. “The competent minister Karine Lalieux is examining the modalities. I am convinced that everything will be in order very quickly”.
There is “discussion” on the integration income, admitted the Prime Minister. “But in the short term it was the easiest thing to do. You have to help people in need, and that goes beyond temporary accommodation.”
Questioned on Wednesday followingnoon in the House committee, the minister in charge of social integration, Karine Lalieux, had mentioned a “still uncertain flow of future beneficiaries” turning to the CPAS. The equivalent of social integration income granted to people under temporary protection is financially supported by the federal government, she recalled. She even pleads for a reimbursement of CPAS beyond 100%, in anticipation of additional costs of care linked to the war in Ukraine.
For the moment, however, there is no certainty on the number of people coming from Ukraine who will actually turn to the CPAS, nor even on the number of people who will register for temporary protection in Belgium. As this status is a separate status, it is not the same as that of an asylum seeker (who has the right to material aid with accommodation paid for by Fedasil, for example, and who also a right to work, 4 months following his request), nor to that of a recognized refugee (who can benefit following a few years from an unlimited right of residence, “card B”).
The longer-term accommodation of people coming to apply for temporary protection is also, for the time being, an open file. This is the very first time that temporary protection has been activated.
