Poland passes law extending Ukrainian refugee support but restricting access to benefits

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

President Karol Nawrocki has signed into law a government bill that will extend support for Ukrainian refugees in Poland but makes access to certain social benefits for them and other foreigners conditional upon being in employment. It also ends access to some forms of free healthcare.

The new measures end the “completely incomprehensible and unacceptable situation” of foreigners receiving support at taxpayers’ expense without contributing themselves, declared Nawrocki’s chief of staff, Zbigniew Bogucki, announcing the president’s decision to sign the bill on Friday evening.

The development brings to an end a deadlock on this issue between Nawrocki, who is alligned with the national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, and the more liberal government, a coalition ranging from left to centre-right led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

A month ago, Nawrocki vetoed a government bill extending support for Ukrainian refugees – almost one million of whom remain in Poland – on existing terms. The president then presented his own alternative bill making access to social benefits for foreigners contingent upon being in employment.

The bill also included other measures, such as tougher penalties for people illegally crossing the border, extending the residence period needed for obtaining Polish citizenship from three to ten years, and introducing penalties for promoting the ideology of historical Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.

However, instead of proceeding with Nawrocki’s bill, the government proposed a compromise alternative that makes family-related benefits for foreigners conditional on adults being “economically active” and children attending school.

Exceptions will, however, be made for groups such as pensioners, disabled people, and people on parental leave. People who register as unemployed will also still be able to receive child benefits for three months, or six if they have more than two children.

Meanwhile, the list of free medical treatments that Ukrainian refugees are not entitled to receive will be expanded to include dental treatment, endoprosthetic surgery and cataract removal.

That government bill was approved by parliament last week and has now been signed into law by Nawrocki, ending the uncertainty over whether support for Ukrainian refugees – which was due to expire at the end of this month – will continue.

Speaking today, Bogucki said that the “solutions presented [by the government in the new bill] were not perfect, but were definitely better” than before, reports broadcaster TVN.

He added, however, that this “is the last bill of this kind that President Nawrocki will sign, concerning this form of assistance to Ukrainian citizens”. Once the support expires in March, “we need to switch to normal conditions, i.e. treating Ukrainian citizens in Poland in the same way as all other foreigners”.

Bogucki also revealed that the president would present two new bills on Monday proposing measures that the government had not included in its legislation: one extending the residency requirement for obtaining citizenship, the other criminalising the promotion of “Banderism”.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Daniel Tilles

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.