“Spain is giving an example of international solidarity with Ukraine”

The President of the Government stressed that “Spain is setting an example of international solidarity with Ukrainian society” and expressed his “proud of the country as a whole, that Spanish society is united in such solidarity in the forceful response of the European Union to help Ukraine”.

“What we want is that the time that be with us refugeesAlthough they do not feel like in Ukraine, they seem to be in their homeland and at home,” the president added.

Sanchez pointed out that “There are already four open care centers for refugees in Spain” and thanked the mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, for the offer he made “from the outset” for the launch of this new space. In addition, regarding the center in Malaga, Sánchez announced the Government’s intention to “expand it to one more module” given the demand that it is generating, having already received more than 2,200 refugees in less than two weeks.

Sánchez broke down data that encrypts in 134,000 refugees arrived in Spain and 64,000 of them have taken advantage of the Temporary Protection Order.

“64 percent are women and 37 percent are under 18 years old, they are basically mothers who come with their children because their husbands and fathers are defending their country, the refugees have an average age of 28 years and are qualified people, with higher education in many cases, what he wants is to work in his country”, enumerated the national president.

On the eve of his trip to kyiv to meet with the Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelenski, Pedro Sánchez arrived with ‘English punctuality’, when the clocks caressed the ‘Angelus hour’, to the offices set up in the Palace of Congresses and Fairs of Malaga ( Fycma).

On your visit, Sánchez stopped to greet some of the refugees who were waiting their turn to be treated and gave an emotional halo to his speech by thanking the work of the Ukrainian volunteers who help their compatriots or remembering the moment when a Ukrainian woman showed him a typical blouse from her country.

The national president was, at all times, accompanied by the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, the Ukrainian ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, and by local authorities such as the mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, the Health delegate of the Junta de Andalucía, Carlos Bautista, the Minister of Development Marifrán Carazo or the delegate of the Government of Spain in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández.

The one carried out this time by Sánchez was an express visit in Falcon, limited for just over an hour to a brief meeting, a tour of the facilities and the subsequent public intervention in the refugee center.

This Wednesday has been very different from the Malaga tour that Sánchez starred in for the coming-out of the Sierra de las Nieves National Park on January 31.

On that occasion, andhe Spanish president was on Malaga soil for much of the day on Monday. He even had time to have a brief meeting with the general secretary of the PSOE in Malaga, Dani Pérez, since they both had an afternoon coffee in a restaurant in the Malaga region where the natural area is located.

Prior to Sánchez’s intervention, Minister José Luis Escrivá highlighted the work carried out by these reception centers to “offer certainty” to Ukrainian refugees “from the first moment.”

For her part, the Andalusian counselor Marifrán Carazo offered Sánchez “an outstretched hand” to collaborate and continue helping Ukraine from the regional government chaired by Juanma Moreno.

Likewise, the mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, expressed “the joy” that the Government’s decision to install a center in the city that “symbolizes the hospitality of Malaga” meant for him.

This Wednesday at noon, the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has visited the refugee center authorized by the National Executive in Malaga for the reception, care and referral of Ukrainian citizens fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On his agenda, Sánchez had planned both a meeting with those responsible for this center located in the Trade Fair and Congress Center in Malaga and a tour of the facilities in which state officials work and the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR) collaborates. .

The reception center in Malaga has served 2,200 Ukrainian refugees, fleeing the war caused by the Russian invasion, in its first two weeks. After having been authorized by the Government of Spain and coming into operation on April 6, the facilities of the Palacio de Ferias y Congresos are providing mainly administrative tasks, carrying out immigration procedures, aimed at receiving, registering, and referral of Ukrainians and residents of that Eastern European country, which has been under attack by Russia since the end of last February.

The Malaga center was the fourth opened in Spain by the National Executive and was added to those already existing in Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante.

Along with its administrative offices where Ukrainian refugees are attended by telephone appointment, 70 beds were installed in which these citizens are temporarily housed for a maximum of 48 hours, in case they do not have a place to spend the night, and later they are referred to the reception square.