Following a mission to assess the needs of Ukrainian refugees in Moldova, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Development are calling on the EU to focus on the medium- and long-term needs of the country, which is hosting a large number of refugees who have fled the war in Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the war, Moldova has taken in almost 500,000 people, 90,000 of whom have remained in the country.
“We welcome the humanitarian assistance provided by the EU while noting that we need to consider the medium- and longer-term needs. The EU needs to support capacity-building for local actors and the Moldovan government to encourage stability and sustainable development in the country”, said Standing Rapporteur for Humanitarian Aid Mónica Silvana González (S&D, Spain) on Friday, 17 June.
Contrary to what was originally planned, she was the one—not Tomas Tobé (EPP, Sweden)—who led the parliamentary delegation (see EUROPE 12970/14).
MEPs notably visited the temporary accommodation centre established at the MoldExpo centre in Chișinău, where they met with representatives from national bodies as well as UNHCR, UNICEF, and NGO partners. Together, they discussed the rapid, well-organised response to the sudden influx of refugees.
They also went to the Palanca border crossing point, where they met the border authorities and representatives from the international organisations and NGOs who are working closely with the Moldovan authorities and volunteers to provide immediate assistance to refugees crossing the border.
Rasa Juknevičienė (EPP, Lithuania), Janina Ochojska (EPP, Poland), Frances Fitzgerald (EPP, Ireland), Karsten Lucke (S&D, Germany), Stéphane Bijoux (Renew Europe, France), and Gianna Gancia (ID, Italy) were part of the delegation. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)