Star Metro - Polish president blocks law extending Ukrainian refugees' rights

Since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, around one million refugees have settled in Poland. Most of them are women and children.

Poland is a key supporter of Ukraine and a major transit route for Western aid but public attitudes towards Ukrainians have hardened.

The law Nawrocki is blocking -- put forward by the country's pro-EU government -- seeks to extend to March 2026 the temporary protection status Ukrainians have in Poland, as well as a number of other measures given to them.

Without an extension, they will expire at the end of September.

The legislation also covers various benefits paid, residence permits, access Ukrainians have to certain professions in Poland, and payments the country makes to the US satellite communications company Starlink relied upon by the Ukrainian military.

Nawrocki, a nationalist, had promised to cut social welfare benefits during the campaign ahead of his election victory on June 1.

"I will not change my mind and I think that (this aid) should be limited only to Ukrainians who are committed to working in Poland," Nawrocki, who took office this month, told reporters on Monday.

Nawrocki also said Ukrainians who do not work in Poland should not be allowed to receive free medical treatment as they do now.

"This puts us in a situation in which Polish citizens, in their own country, are less well treated than our Ukrainian guests," he said.

Nawrocki has put forward his own legislation to cut social welfare for Ukrainians.

- Veto criticised -

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk criticised the veto. But his government does not have the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to overcome the move.

"We cannot punish people for losing their job -- particularly not innocent children. This is the ABC of human decency," Labour Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bak wrote on X.

A recent report carried out by consulting firm Deloitte for the UN refugee agency found that Ukrainian refugees have a positive net impact of 2.7 percent on Poland's gross domestic product (GDP).

Poland's digital affairs minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski, stressed that Nawrocki veto jeopardised Ukraine's use of Starlink.

"We want to continue paying for internet by satellite for Ukraine. Unfortunately, this disastrous decision by the president greatly complicates things, and we will have to inform our partners that this support will finish at the end of September," he told the PAP news agency.

Gawkowski said that Poland spent 77 million euros ($90 million) between 2022 and 2024 to buy and subscribe to Starlink sytems for Ukraine.

F.T. Michaud--SMC