European Commission allocates €144.6 million to Poland to support Ukrainian refugees fleeing war

A total of 144.6 million euros has been granted to Poland by the European Commission to help those fleeing the war in Ukraine.

In a statement issued on October 28, the European Commission stressed that this was the first tranche of funds distributed by the authority through its emergency aid mechanism, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

In this regard, the same note reveals that the amount represents almost 60% of the total amount or 248 million euros allocated to the EU countries that host the largest number of refugees from Ukraine. The other countries included in this group are Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

“The funds come from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) of the EC and the Financial Support Instrument for Border Management and Visa Policy. They will contribute in part to the Polish government fund for assistance to refugees arriving from Ukraine, as well as to the reinforcement of border infrastructure at the external border of the European Union (EU)”, read the statement.

Furthermore, the Commission also notes that it has received a statement of gratitude from Poland for the funds, highlighting the need for additional funding to more effectively meet the needs of a large number of new arrivals from Ukraine.

Data provided by the UN Refugee Agency revealed that almost 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees have been registered in Poland since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24.

These data also show that so far Poland has accepted the largest number of refugees, up to 5,090,535.

According to data published by the statistics office of the European Union, Eurostat, in August, Poland and Germany granted the highest number of temporary protections to Ukrainian refugees.

Eurostat revealed that 67,280 people received temporary protection in Poland in August. Based on this data, the majority of people seeking protection in Poland in August, 28%, were minors under the age of 18, or about 19,120 of them were children.

In addition, Poland recently announced that the country plans to modify the special law on assistance to Ukrainians while imposing new conditions of residence.

As the authorities explain, from January next year, Ukrainian refugees will have to cover part of the cost of living in collective accommodation and apply for a PESEL number.

In addition, Ukrainian refugees who entered Poland after February 24 will need to apply for a PESEL number, which is the number of the General Electronic Population Registration System.