Both Poland and Romania border on Ukraine. Both countries are currently facing the influx of refugees and are trying to provide them with comprehensive assistance. Related problems were the subject of the talks between Minister Marlena Maląg and the delegation of Romanian authorities visiting Poland.

Polish and Romanian experience

Minister Marlena Maląg presented the current situation caused by the need to provide assistance and care to more than half a million refugees from Ukraine. Organisationally, this is the task of voivodes, whose services send people arriving to Poland to the points of stay.

In order to organise their legal situation, a special Act is being created as a matter of urgency, which legalises the stay of Ukrainians and thus provides them with access to the labour market.

Deputy Minister Stanisław Szwed pointed to the fact that majority of people coming to Poland are women with children. This requires the application of special solutions adapted to their needs and possibilities of solutions in the labour market as well as the provision of appropriate offers. Deputy Minister Szwed reminded that we had introduced facilities regarding access of foreigners to our labour market before and last year they were used by 1.5 million employees from Ukraine.

Minister Marius-Constantin Budăi presented Romanian experience related to the current situation.

Among people coming to Romania, there are also a lot of children. In his opinion, the challenge for the future will be to provide them with access to education. He also proposed further meetings aimed at exchanging information and cooperation, not only in the area of the help for Ukraine.

Cooperation in the region

Minister Marlena Maląg informed that she had already met with her counterparts from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and invited Romania to cooperate on the platform of Central and Eastern European countries.