The event was organised by Joachim Brudziński, a member of the European Parliament with Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Participants included MEPs from Italy, Spain and Slovakia, as well as journalists and representatives of charity organisations such as Catholic charity Caritas, officials said.
More than 7 million refugees from Ukraine crossed into Poland
Those taking part said that “the mobilisation of the Polish people to help refugees from Ukraine has been unprecedented,” the IAR news agency reported.
It was noted that since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, more than 7 million people fleeing the war have crossed into Poland.
Brudziński told the conference: “The Polish people, Polish citizens opened not only their hearts, wallets and homes, but they opened all the good that can be found in a human being, in order to help Ukrainian refugees.”
He added: “Since February 24, the whole nation has come together to help those fleeing Putin’s bombardment.”
1.4 million refugees from Ukraine welcomed into Polish homes
Deputy Interior Minister Paweł Szefernaker said that “Polish families have welcomed 1.4 million refugees from Ukraine into their homes.”
He added: ”Poland and the Polish people have given a new meaning to the concept of European solidarity ... Everyone who wanted to cross into Poland was allowed to do so.”
Szefernaker, who is the Polish government’s commissioner for refugees from Ukraine, told the conference that Poland’s assistance to Ukraine “has been unprecedented in this part of the world."
"Never has such a big wave of refugees arrived in such a short period of time," he said.
Szefernaker added that Poland’s wide-ranging support was possible thanks to “a combination of the enormous mobilisation of the Polish people with the work carried out by NGOs, local authorities and the central government.”
Brussels 'pledged assistance, but we have not felt it'
Conference participants included representatives from Poland’s charities and local governments, who expressed disappointment with what they described as “limited financial assistance” from the EU’s executive Commission, the IAR news agency reported.
Joanna Byszewska-Zapletal from the Polish Centre for International Aid (PCPM) said: "In the first months of the refugee crisis, we hoped that the EU would help NGOs in Poland and eastern Europe. But sadly we have been sorely disappointed. The reasons why the European Commission’s involvement has been so meagre are not clear.”
Meanwhile, the mayor of the eastern Polish city of Chełm, Jakub Banaszek, said that EU officials had “pledged assistance, but we have not felt it,” while Marta Majewska, the mayor of the southeastern town of Hrubieszów, called for solidarity with Poland’s efforts to help refugees from Ukraine, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Thursday is day 260 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: IAR, PAP, tvpparlament.pl