17 Apr, 2024
During the past two weeks the number of refugees seeking shelter on EU countries has increased exponentially. Today more than 2.5 million Ukrainians, most of them women and children, have left their homes and are now in another country. Most of them have crossed the border of neighboring countries such as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, or Romania. These people need housing, nourishment, and a way to carry on with their lives until the conflict is over. Liberals across Europe have risen to the challenge.
On the local level, liberal Mayors such as Mārtiņš Staķis (Riga, Latvia), Clotilde Armand (Bucharest district 1, Romania) or Vincent Chauvet (Autun, France), are working tirelessly to make sure to provide a new home for the newcomers: setting up shelters and registration offices to deliver food and first aid upon arrival, gathering volunteers to welcome refugees to their homes or partnering with hotels and other private entities to provide accommodation, making sure Ukrainian people have access to cultural events and their children access to schools and providing pet friendly housing, among other things.
On the national level, ALDE Party member parties are pushing for laws that facilitate the entry of Ukrainian refugees to their countries allowing them to travel by train for free (Lithuania) and to move inside the country as any other EU national would (Ireland).
Liberals are also organizing volunteers to assist refugees upon arrival, providing them with food and guidance to where to go from the train station on. For example, ALDE Party Vice-President Daniel Berg (Momentum Mozgalom, Hungary) organized a group of volunteers to prepare food for the refugees arriving at the train station in his constituency. Meanwhile, Polish MP Witold Zembaczyński (Nowoczesna) is traveling back and forth to both sides of the Polish-Ukrainian border to give humanitarian aid and transport the people in need of evacuation.
Jestem już na granicy 🇵🇱🇺🇦 w Korczowej, pomimo późnej godziny strumień uchodźców nie ustaje. Po dotarciu do Winnicy, mamy jeszcze 440 km, przekażemy wiezioną pomoc humanitarną i odbierzemy osoby wymagające ewakuacji. #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/eof3oPGNj6
— Witold Zembaczyński🇵🇱 (@WZembaczynski) March 13, 2022
You can stay up to date on what liberals are doing to help Ukraine and contribute to our efforts on our website’s exclusive section on the Ukrainian crisis here.
Photo credit: Clotilde Armand
