Work, education, housing: The EU Commission wants the several million war refugees from Ukraine to be cared for quickly and comprehensively. The Brussels authority presented measures on Wednesday that are intended to support the EU states. “We must act quickly on all declarations of solidarity,” said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson. The EU Commission is particularly focused on children, who are estimated to make up around half of the refugees.
For example, Ukrainian teaching material is to be made available online on an EU education platform. “Children from Ukraine should be able to go to school immediately,” emphasized EU Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas.
Refugees who urgently need special hospital treatment should be able to be brought quickly from one EU country to another via a solidarity mechanism. 10,000 hospital beds are ready.
With regard to access to work, the EU Commission wants to set up a talent pool as a pilot project to match vacancies with the qualifications of job seekers. New guidelines should also help to recognize professional qualifications from Ukraine. A new solidarity platform is intended to help with the distribution of refugees across the EU countries and beyond.
To finance refugee care, the EU Commission proposed on Wednesday to bring forward the payment of a further 3.4 billion euros from the so-called React EU packagewhich is actually intended to deal with the Corona crisis.