Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has called on the European Union to provide funds to help Poland deal with the recent influx of Ukrainian refugees, pointing to the fact that it provided €6 billion of support to Turkey during the wave of Syrian refugees in 2015-16.
“We appeal to the European Commission: if it helped Turkey in the previous refugee crisis, let Poland also receive aid from the EU budget,” said Morawiecki following a meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Monday.
“For the time being, we are financing this within our capabilities,” he added. “But to ensure that justice is done and that the European system is in force, also in our case, we are conducting an increasingly intensive dialogue with the European Commission in this regard.”
Since Russia’s invasion, the majority of those fleeing Ukraine have come to Poland, which has seen 2.7 million people cross its border. While some of them have subsequently moved on elsewhere and others have returned to Ukraine, it is estimated that most remain in Poland.
The EU has so far not provided any specific new funds to help member states deal with the influx of refugees from Ukraine. Three weeks ago, Jarosław Kaczyński, Poland’s ruling party leader, said that his country “deserves some [international] help, but we will not go begging” for it.
However, other figures in the government have been openly pushing for EU funds. In a joint letter with his German counterpart, interior minister Mariusz Kamiński called for member states to be granted €1,000 per refugee.
“The estimated costs within the national budget of Poland in this first period already amount to at least €2.2 billion,” they wrote. “We believe the time has come to show concrete European support not only between member states, but also for Ukraine and its citizens. It is our moral duty not only to accept them, but to protect and care for them.”
Last Thursday, the European Parliament approved plans for €3.4 billion of existing funds to be immediately redirected towards helping member states provide support for refugees from Ukraine.
Countries bordering Ukraine (Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) and others who have received a number of refugees equivalent to more than 1% of their population (Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia and Estonia) will be given access to a larger proportion of funds without needing to present invoices immediately.
Main image credit: Krystian Maj/KPRM (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
