The Bucharest Forum – Towards a Common European Platform for the Inclusion of Refugees took place from 8 to 9 September this year and was attended by the Minister of Labour and Social Protection Marcel Spatari.

The meeting was held at the initiative and with the participation of representatives of the Government of Romania, the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 23 EU Member States, as well as the Republic of Moldova, Norway and the United Kingdom, to discuss the establishment of a European platform for dialogue at political level in the field of integration of refugees from Ukraine. The role of this platform is to inform and convince the authorities of the host states of refugees to take rapid and effective measures to better manage the influx of refugees from Ukraine.

Discussions at the forum focused on the fact that managing the humanitarian crisis caused by the war today increasingly involves additional measures beyond emergency response: providing food, shelter, minimum support services. States hosting refugees also need to implement social inclusion policies that would help refugees to become independent and able to live decently in the host states in the long term: facilitating employment, integration into the education system, etc.

To this end, the Forum held a number of activities, including a presentation of the current situation of refugees in Europe, the presentation of recent research and approaches to the inclusion of refugees, the exchange of experiences between Forum Member States on the difficulties they face due to war, and on solutions implemented at national level to successfully manage them.

Minister Marcel Spatari referred to the measures that the Government of the Republic of Moldova has implemented since the start of the refugee crisis, as well as the challenges of ensuring the continuity of these measures in the long term. He also thanked Romania and European partners for their support to Moldova in managing the refugee crisis, including through the creation of the Support Platform for attracting external assistance, and for their openness to contribute to the implementation of the proposed reforms in the context of obtaining the status of EU candidate country.

Among the common challenges identified by forum participants on the integration of refugees in host countries are: providing long-term shelter, overcoming the language barrier, encouraging refugees to work in host countries, supporting local communities hosting refugees, combating misinformation targeting refugees.

Following the discussions, most participating countries supported the establishment of the European platform for dialogue. Proposals were also made for the organisation of further meetings on this dialogue platform.