The first subject of the meeting of the EU Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council, undertaken on the initiative of Poland, is assistance provided to citizens of Ukraine leaving their country due to the war. The activities of Poland were presented in Brussels by Minister Marlena Maląg.

„Mothers cry out: stop shooting at children” – under this slogan, a march against the Russian aggression in Ukraine was held on Saturday in Warsaw. The event was attended by, inter alia, Marshal of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek, Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, Minister of Family and Social Policy, Marlena Maląg, as well as the Members of the Parliament, members of „Gazeta Polska” clubs and residents of the capital.

Minister Marlena Maląg and the Ministers of Social Affairs of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia signed a joint declaration condemning the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Minister Marlena Maląg had a telephone conversation with Susanne Raab, Federal Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media of Austria, about the situation in Ukraine and measures to support Ukrainians.

Monika Navickienė, Minister of Social Affairs and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, talked with Minister Marlena Maląg about the situation related to the influx of citizens from war affected Ukraine to our country and the procedures for their admission. She also shared Lithuanian experience in this area.

Minister Marlena Maląg met with Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography. The talks focused on the assistance provided by Poland to citizens of Ukraine fleeing the war and the support that the European Union could provide in this respect.

The Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled People, Paweł Wdówik, who was in Paris at the EU conference, presented the appeal of the Polish Government regarding the support for measures taken by Poland for the benefit of citizens of Ukraine, considering the difficult situation of persons with disabilities.

– In the face of the war in Ukraine and the influx of more than one million citizens of Ukraine to Poland, we are all aware of the fact that the well-organised, fast and well-scaled assistance to foreigners is very important so that they can find themselves in the new reality – says Minister Marlena Maląg in connection with the opening of the Centre for the Integration of Foreigners in Kalisz. It is one of five institutions which, thanks to the initiative of the Ministry of Family and Social Policy, start their activities in Wielkopolska. The remaining ones will officially start their activities in Leszno, Konin, Poznań and Piła in the coming days.

Two teams have been created at the Ministry of Family and Social Policy to evacuate children from Ukraine, also from Ukrainian children’s homes, and to accommodate them in Poland. In Stalowa Wola, a reception point has been created for children evacuated from children’s homes.

Today, Marius-Constantin Budăi, the Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Romania, visited the Ministry of Family and Social Policy. He talked with Minister Marlena Maląg and Deputy Minister Stanislaw Szwed about the assistance provided to citizens of Ukraine.