Why Polish politicians will soon have to mitigate anti -Ukrainian statements

Before the completion of the Polish presidential race, it remains for more than a month, but now called the main topics of the campaign, it is safety, migration and Ukraine.

Security as protecting borders and growth of defense expenditures, but also as a strengthening of Europe’s potential after coming to power in the US Donald Trump; Migration in the context of more careful control over who comes to Poland and the fight against migrant crime.

These are topics from the classical repertoire of right -wing politicians, but at least some construct can be heard in the debate of candidates for the post of President of Poland.

Instead, statements about Ukraine and Ukrainians are an example of populism and injection of negative emotions.

Both the Candidate of the Civil Coalition Rafal Taskovsky, and affiliated with the Party « Right and Justice » Candidate Karol Navrotsky said several times that the Polish troops would not be sent as part of the European Peacekeeping Mission to Ukraine.

Candidate from the Confederation Party Slavomir Menzen Even specifically went to Lviv to announce it at the eagle cemetery, And on occasion – to compete with « Banderaism ».

All this three that is leading in the pollsone voice promotes the idea Restriction of payments for families 800+ (Leave it only to those Ukrainian refugees who work and pay taxes in Poland), which can significantly worsen the situation of families, where there are persons with disabilities, severely ill, or summer relatives that require constant care.

There are also smaller plots, such as Navrotsky’s accusations against Ukrainian migrants, that they are poorly in line for Polish doctors, but the effect is the same – Ukraine and Ukrainians in Poland are systematically represented in the dark.

The behavior of politicians is easy to explain by public sentiment: if the Poles still agree to military assistance to the Ukrainian state, then the help of refugees in more than half of society does not cause response.

According to the Poles, Ukraine has to agree to peace even with Russia’s territorial concessions, voters tired of war and are convinced that they have already spent too much.

But there is another aspect: Polish politicians – though right, though centers – are not very concerned with the opinion of Ukrainians, because Ukrainians do not vote for them. Ukrainian migrants still rarely become citizens of Poland.

In fact, citizens in Poland rarely become any foreigners, not only Ukrainians.

The Polish Naturalization Index – the ratio of the number of migrants who received citizenship to the total number of foreign residents with visas and maps issued for a term of more than six months – in 2021 was only 1.7%, while the average in the EU – 2.2%.

In 2021, Spain, commensurate with Poland by area and population, granted citizenship to 144,000 migrants. France and Germany have recognized as 130 thousand people each, Italy – more than 120 thousand, Sweden – almost 90 thousand.

At the same time, in Poland, the number of naturalized foreigners did not reach up to 10 thousand.

Why? In order to become a Polish citizen as part of an administrative procedure, a foreigner must have a stable source of income, rent or be owned, confirm the knowledge of Polish at the level of B1, and fulfill one of the following conditions:

a) for at least three years continuously and legally reside in the country on the basis of a permit for permanent residence or permission for residence of an EU long -term resident;

b) for at least two years continuously and legally reside on the basis of permanent residence or permission for a long -term resident, at least three years to be married to a citizen of Poland;

c) for at least 10 years, continuously and legally reside in Poland, having permanent residence permission, residence permit for a long -term EU resident or the right to residence;

d) for at least one year of continuously and legally reside in Poland, having permanent residence permanent residence obtained from Polish origin or « Pole card ».

Although these requirements are not strict (it is not necessary to give up « old » citizenship, it is enough to have moderate income), until recently they could not be fulfilled by many foreigners.

Most Ukrainians and Belarusians initially came to Poland as temporary workers, and only after a few, and sometimes several years, they settled here.

The fact that most migrants immediately took a job, without adaptation period, had a bad effect on language learning. And to enroll in the state certified exam B1, which takes only four times a year, another adventure!

Ukrainian migration to Poland began to grow rapidly in 2014-2015, and on the eve of a full-scale Russian invasion of the country there were about 1 million Ukrainian migrant workers. After 2022, more than a million Ukrainian refugees joined them, some of whom returned home or went to other EU countries.

At the beginning of 2025, the Ukrainian community in Poland has about 1.7 million people.

It is more than 4% of the country’s population.

Instead, for the last 10 years, from 2015 to 2024, less than 40,000 Ukrainians (31.9 thousand, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, received Polish citizenship in 2015-2023, and for 2024 there were no data on the country of origin of the applicants, but we know that all positive decisions were made 16.3 thousand, and the previous decisions were made in 2015-2023.

Ukrainians who have received Poland’s citizenship (a voivod and presidential decision)

Since the origin and migrant experience is not the only thing that affects voters’ votes, it is not surprising that Polish politicians do not work with this audience, they do not care about taking into account its interests or at least not be awakened.

In 2019, Polish parties invited foreigners, including Ukrainians, to their lists to show openness to heterogeneity and migration, then during the 2023 elections, the trend became more conservative.

Even the Civic Coalition prefers not to send positive messages to Ukrainians. The only Polish politician – a presidential candidate who was present in Kiev for the third anniversary of a full -scale war – is Magdalen Beyat from the left.

This situation – ignoring Ukrainian votes during a campaign – can change in a few years.

Over time, Ukrainians become better integrated into Polish society, teach language, banal in Poland the right number of years.

If only 2,000 Ukrainian migrants received a Polish passport in 2015, in 2019-3.6 thousand, then in 2023 the figure approached 5.6 thousand people. It can be predicted that statistics for 2024 will show 7-8 thousand.

During 2021-2024, 39.1 thousand Ukrainians received the status of a long-term resident of the EU in Poland. Since they have already lived in Poland for five or more years, we can assume that most of them will remain in the country in the future.

This means that in 2024-2027 they acquired the right to apply for Polish citizenship.

More than 23 thousand people of Ukrainian origin have received permanent residence permit in 2023-2024. Because it is mainly received by the owners of the Pole Cards and the married partners of Polish citizens, they can be submitted to the passport in 2024-2026.

Although an additional « filter » should be the preparation of a special integration exam on the knowledge of Polish customs, history and social norms, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the administration does not plan to launch this procedure before 2027.

By the way, it cannot be excluded that those who live abroad will want to go to the Polish passport, but have not previously considered joining Polish citizenship because of contradictory rules of Ukrainian law.

Thus, some lawyers were interpreted by the constitutional rule on a single citizenship and legislative non -recognition as a direct ban on naturalization in other countries (except for naturalization would be preceded by the abandonment of Ukrainian citizenship).

A point in this matter can put New Law on Multiple CitizenshipThe project was approved by the Verkhovna Rada in December 2024. Currently, the bill has been first reading and sent for revision. The law will stipulate that Ukrainians will be able to have multiple citizenship if they have acquired it in the countries of Ukraine, first of all-EU and NATO countries.

Such prospects for the naturalization of Ukrainians can become a gamer for Polish politicians.

For example, to get to the Seimas from a low space on the list of a large passing party, such as « Pism » and « Civic Coalition », it is enough to win 10-15 thousand votes.

Accordingly, the discontinuity of several or even several thousand voters with anti -Ukrainian and antimigrant rhetoric can give a decisive advantage.

The article initially released on the portal “Our choice” and published with the permission of the right holder

Publications in the columns are not editorial articles and reflect exclusively the point of view of the authors