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Poles, Czechs to seek EU funds amid Ukraine refugee crisis: PM

29.04.2022 18:30
The Polish prime minister on Friday said that Poland and the Czech Republic would jointly ask the European Union for funding to help support refugees from war-torn Ukraine.
Polands Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (R) and the Czech Republics Petr Fiala (L) meet the media after their talks in Warsaw on Friday, April 29, 2022.
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (R) and the Czech Republic's Petr Fiala (L) meet the media after their talks in Warsaw on Friday, April 29, 2022.Twitter/KPRM

Mateusz Morawiecki announced the move after meeting his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala in Warsaw on Friday, Polish state PAP news agency reported.

Refugee support from EU

At a joint news conference with his guest, the Polish prime minister said: “We have many war refugees in Poland and the Czech Republic, and we have agreed with Prime Minister Fiala to make a joint request to the European Commission to obtain new funds to support war refugees.”

He added: “We will present this joint initiative soon.”

Poles to help Czechs ditch Russian energy

Morawiecki pledged that “Poland will work together with the Czech Republic on mechanisms to help the country go through the painful period of becoming independent from Russian energy.”

'Proposed Polish-Czech gas pipeline'

Fiala told reporters that the talks "touched upon a proposed Polish-Czech gas pipeline, Stork II,” adding that his country also “offered to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Polish terminals.”

Upcoming Czech presidency of EU

Morawiecki said that he and Fiala also discussed "working together in the European Union." He added that the Czech Republic would play "a huge role" after taking over the presidency of the bloc for the second part of the year.

Support for Ukraine

Morawiecki renewed his call for political, military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Friday was day 65 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Poland on Friday reported it had welcomed 3.03 million refugees fleeing Russia’s war on Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, PAPgov.pl