[-]  Situation of Ukrainian refugees in Central Europe and the Balkans – comparative analysis and

lessons learned

Chairs: Bartosz Czepil (University of Opole, Poland),  Marina Andeva (University American Colleague Skopje, North Macedonia) This special session is organized in order to present and debate over the research report prepared by the team of 14 academics from 7 countries integrated within the Border and Regional Studies Network established within the CEEPUS. The report is result of the Visegrad + project supported financially by the International Visegrad Fund: Ukrainian refugees in Central Europe and the Balkans – lessons learned and policy recommendations coordinated by the University of Opole, Poland (project ID: 22310070). The report presents a comparison of 7 countries, which experienced, in different forms and degrees, influx of the Ukrainian refugees after the full scale Russian aggression on February 24, 2022. The main research problem addressed is a situation of Ukrainian refugees in the following countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Montenegro and the North Macedonia. The aim of this study is to compare how does this situation look like and how has it evolved in the first two years after February 24, 2022? The concept of a ‘refugee situation’ should be understood as including two basic components: reaction of receiving country towards the refugees and characteristics of the refugees community in terms of its legal and socio-economic position. Therefore, the report covers different dimensions like the immigration policies, Ukrainian diaspora  characteristics, reactions of political institutions and civil society in the receiving countries.  During the session the main findings from the comparative analysis will be discussed and policy recommendations will be proposed.