The two groupings set out their ideas on migration policy on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Two days earlier, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki confirmed that his governing conservatives were planning to hold a referendum on the European Union’s migration plan together with a parliamentary election in the autumn.
On Wednesday, Morawiecki said in a tweet: “I believe that Poland unites us and we can speak in Europe with one voice. The mandatory mechanism of relocation poses a danger to Poland’s security.”
The Polish prime minister added: “All political groupings should make their stance on this issue clear. And so I invite all parliamentary groups for talks. Poland is our treasure that we must protect.”
Migrant quotas, welfare cuts
Confederation leader Krzysztof Bosak on Wednesday unveiled his far-right group’s “12-point plan for responsible migration policy,” the PAP news agency reported.
The proposal includes “scrapping social and retirement benefits for foreigners” as well as “cutting out their preferential access to public services,” according to party officials.
Moreover, Bosak called for “annual quotas on migrants from different countries” and “stopping the influx of Muslims,” the PAP news agency reported.
Another of the party’s “12 points” is a proposal to “immediately expel” migrants who are employed illegally or who break the law.
Under the plan, foreigners would be required “to learn the Polish language within two years to have their residence permit extended,” the PAP news agency reported.
Bosak also said that Poland was “going down the road of France” by relaxing migration rules. “Let’s be a nation that is wise before, not after, the event," he urged.
'Policy of integration'
Meanwhile, Adrian Zandberg of the left-wing Razem party declared that “the Polish Left won’t play with xenophobia during the election campaign” because “it is a very dangerous tool.”
Zandberg told private broadcaster RMF FM: “I warn everyone against playing with xenophobia. Several centre-right parties in Western Europe tried it and it always benefited the far-right.”
He argued that Polish authorities should develop a “policy of integration” for migrants, instead of “stoking public fears.”
Zandberg noted that, in addition to welcoming "millions of refugees from war-torn Ukraine," Poland is also home to "people from South Asia," including India, and other regions of the world.
He said: “In some jobs, we have a shortage of workers in Poland. We should have a policy of integration in place … The government hasn’t put a policy of integration in place. This is a fundamental mistake.”
Zandberg added that people from other countries should be offered Polish language classes and opportunities to deepen their knowledge of Poland and its culture.
"These aspects will determine if the Polish policy of integration succeeds or fails," he told RMF FM.
Political hot topic
Donald Tusk, the leader of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), Poland’s main opposition party, has claimed that, despite their anti-migrant rhetoric, Poland’s ruling conservatives "are seeking to increase migration from such countries as Saudi Arabia, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan” to fill a shortage of workers in various industries.
Tusk, a former prime minister and European Council president, said in a Twitter video on Sunday that the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, led by Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, “brought in 130,000 citizens from these countries last year, 50 times more than in 2015," the PAP news agency reported.
Conservative politicians in Warsaw have dismissed his arguments as a political ploy ahead of parliamentary elections this autumn.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, dorzeczy.pl