Local government in the face of the refugee crisis. The need for long-term solutions

The refugee crisis, caused by the war in Ukraine, is a huge social and economic challenge. It is now clear that there are still months, if not years, of this extraordinary situation ahead of us. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare and implement plans for the social and professional integration of refugees at local and national level. This requires a coherent and transparent distribution of activities between the various institutions and the support of central authorities in the fields of education, health and social policy.

What such plans must include and which of the procedures were useful in managing the refugee crisis were discussed by the participants of the debate of the 8th European Congress of Local Governments “Local government in the face of the refugee crisis. The need for long-term solutions”, which was attended by Henryk Karwan, District Governor of Tomaszów Lubelski, Grzegorz Pietruczuk – Mayor of the Bielany District of Warsaw, Monika Falej – Member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, Evelina Gudzinskaitė – Director of the Migration Department of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, Bartłomiej Potocki – Director of the Institute for Migrants’ Rights. The debate was moderated by Artem Zozulia, Chairman of the „Ukraine” Foundation.

The first to speak was the District Governor of Tomaszów Lubelski – a border city that was one of the first to accept refugees from Ukraine. In his opinion, the state quickly liberalized border regulations, allowing quick entry to Poland, and local governments, non-governmental organizations and residents in the reflex of the heart provided assistance, enabling the central authority to introduce appropriate changes in legislation and coordinated assistance. Grzegorz Pietrzuczuk also underlined the active involvement of local authorities in the reception and integration of refugees and the support of companies that provided the necessary assistance from the first days of the war.Member of Sejm Monika Falej, in turn, listed the problems that arose as a result of the refugee crisis – information chaos that prevented visitors from accessing precise legal m.in information, lack of financing for local governments in the first period and logistical underdevelopments. In her opinion, all this allowed for the development of certain response procedures in the event of subsequent crisis situations.

Lithuanian representative Evelina Gudzinskaitė pointed out that every crisis is different. Therefore, an appropriate scheme of action should be developed for an appropriate response. In the case of the refugee crisis, Lithuania has been helped by digitization and the creation of databases to which both local government and government representatives have access, which helps to provide appropriate assistance depending on the needs of the region. In her opinion, good crisis management is based on the activity of regions that strive for cooperation and mutual assistance.

In turn, the director of the Institute for Migrants’ Rights Bartłomiej Potocki distinguished several areas related to the refugee crisis. In his opinion, Polish society quickly mobilized to help Ukrainians thanks to its positive attitude. Therefore, in his opinion, the image of refugees of other nationalities should be improved in order to arouse the desire to help various people. In addition, it is necessary to build logistics connection schemes, helping to transport more people from the right places. Another element is the lack of a coordinated migration policy and clear regulations regarding various aspects of life, such as legalization of stay.

Among the long-term solutions that are or should be applied, the panelists mentioned the need to introduce language courses enabling quick integration, the establishment of an appropriate integration council, the launch of assistance systems for people who do not advise on their own, and the inclusion of migrants in processes to improve their living and residence conditions.