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Europolis is one of the largest annual meetings on urban development in Poland, initiated in 2013 by the Schuman Foundation, Capital City of Warsaw and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Since 2015, the conference has been accompanied by the publication of the Schuman Foundation’s and partners’ report on polish cities.

EUROPOLIS 2022. Migrations and refugees in Polish cities.

The Europolis conference took place on November 22, 2022. This year we discussed migration to Poland, especially in the context of the war in Ukraine.
We encourage you to read the report „Migrants in Poland”, available here (report in Polish).

The outbreak of the war in Ukraine quickly turned Poland, from one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries in Europe, to the second, after Turkey, country hosting the largest number of refugees in the world. Within a few weeks, we could observe one of the fastest refugee movements in modern times, which completely changed Polish reality.

The main influxof this wave was taken by Polish cities, where the vast majority of refugees decided to stay for longer and which had to swiftly adapt to the new role of hosts for refugees from Ukraine, in a very short time.

From the beginning of the war, we could observe enormous solidarity, commitment and social mobilization, but the new situation in which several million refugees found themselves must go hand in hand with an appropriate migration and integration strategy as well as institutional measures that should be implemented to provide them with long-term support and the opportunity to start a new life in Poland. For this, dialogue and cooperation between the government, local authorities, social organizations and experts in the field of migration are necessary.

The crisis caused by the war is an opportunity for a good, practical and comprehensive migration policy to be created in Poland and for the topic of foreigners in cities not to be overlooked in city policies. 

At this year’s Europolis conference, we will talk about challenges, problems and needs related to the influx of foreigners, including refugees, to Polish cities. We will summarize the initiatives to date regarding the creation of a coherent Polish migration policy and the development of appropriate strategies at the national and regional level. All accompanied by a presentation of our own recommendations in that matter.