Poland creates new minister for social integration, focusing on Ukrainian refugees

The Polish government has created a new minister for social integration whose role will focus in particular on dealing with issues relating to the large number of refugees from Ukraine who have fled to Poland.

The position has given to Agnieszka Ścigaj from the small Polish Affairs (Polskie Sprawy) parliamentary group, previously part of the opposition, in a move seen as intended to bolster the government’s narrow majority but which also caused one member of her caucus to resign.

“I have been invited to help the government integrate refugees,” Ścigaj told Polsat News. “My job will be based on integrating the activities of other ministries. We have to start cooperation between healthcare, education, municipal housing, and administration to help people efficiently.”

The new minister added that integration is an issue that “needs to be addressed beyond Poland’s political divisions”. She also mentioned that non-governmental organisations and local authorities should be involved in the process.

While the Polish government has won international praise for its efforts to help refugees from Ukraine, the domestic opposition, local authorities and some NGOs have criticised it for not doing enough to comprehensively address the challenges that have arisen amid the influx of millions of people.

Ścigaj entered parliament in 2015 as an MP for the right-wing anti-establishment Kukiz’15 group. Last year, several months after leaving Kukiz’15, she co-founded the centre-right Polish Affairs with fellow MPs Paweł Szramka and Andrzej Sośnierz.

Some opposition figures have criticised Ścigaj for jointing the government, saying that the riling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has “bought” the support of Polish Affairs. She denies this, saying that “PiS does not need our three votes to have a majority”.

Indeed, after the announcement of her new role, Szramka quit the Polish Affairs group in protest. Ścigaj claims that PiS is “simply interested in solving the problem” of integration and that she is “pleased the government has finally started to look at the problem in a non-political way”.

Political scientist Antoni Dudek, however, says that PiS chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński has allied with Polish Affairs to “build a lifeline” in case any members of his coalition leave. “Kaczyński is the grandmaster of securing a parliamentary majority,” Dudek told RMF FM.

Kaczyński himself this week confirmed that he was leaving the government to focus on party affairs. Yesterday, alongside Ścigaj, two further new ministers were appointed: Zbigniew Hoffmann and Wlodzimierz Tomaszewski, who took the place of the minister who recently resigned over a dispute with a postal worker.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland has been the primary destination for refugees. It is estimated that up to 1.5 million are currently in the country, the vast majority women and children.

The unprecedented influx of refugees – the largest such movement of people since the Second World War – has created a number of challenges relating to housing, labour market integration and education.

The government initially offered various forms of financial assistance to refugees and to Polish families hosting them, but some of this support is now being withdrawn. The opposition claims the government has left local authorities, NGOs and individuals to shoulder most of the burden.

Main image credit: Mirek Pruchnicki/Flickr (under CC BY 2.0)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.