Polish government promises to resume aid to Ukrainian refugees, which was stopped by President

On Tuesday, August 26, Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said that the government will introduce a comprehensive bill that will preserve the status of temporary assistance for Ukrainians and establish that all payments to foreigners in Poland will depend on their registration with ZUS, writes the Polish publication Vitrina.

A day earlier, Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the law on assistance to Ukrainian citizens. He stated that payments under the 800 plus program should only be received by those Ukrainians who work in Poland, and access to medicine should be linked to the payment of insurance premiums.

Commenting on this live on TVN24, Minister Kierwiński stressed: "This veto could cause great chaos and turn into huge expenses for Poles." According to him, blocking the law would not lead to the disappearance of Ukrainians from the country, but instead they could find themselves in a legal vacuum.

He stressed that the President's Office "knew very well that the government was working on a systemic solution" that would unify and standardize social benefits for foreigners. "We will react very quickly. We will introduce a comprehensive bill that will preserve the temporary assistance and introduce a transparent procedure: all payments to foreigners will depend on registration with ZUS. We will see how President Nawrocki will behave," the minister said.

Kierwiński also criticized the President's initiative to increase the period for obtaining Polish citizenship by foreigners from 3 to 10 years. He called the statement about "three years" "complete nonsense", recalling that the standard period is 8 years, and the shortened procedure applies only to refugees with political asylum.

The government also criticized the President's actions because of the risks to the economy. The head of the Prime Minister's Office, Jan Grabiec, told TVN24: "The government will save the situation, sort out this mess and will not allow a legal vacuum."

He warned that the veto would lead to a drop in tax revenues, as some Ukrainians may stop working and paying taxes, as well as to an increase in prices in the sectors where they are most involved.

"There is no guarantee that the President will sign the new bill," Grabiec added. He recalled that the current rules are valid only until the end of September, and expressed hope that "common sense will prevail in the President's Office."

According to him, the decision of Nawrocki came as a surprise, since the presidential administration "did not request any data and was not interested in the stage of the government's work on streamlining social payments to foreigners." Grabiec concluded that such actions by the president look like "cheap political propaganda at the expense of Polish-Ukrainian relations."

As a reminder, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stated that only Ukrainians working in Poland should receive assistance under the "800+" program, so he did not sign the amendment to the law on assistance to Ukrainian citizens.