Poland will benefit from an influx of Ukrainian workers, said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in an interview with Gazeta Polska weekly. He stated that Poland currently has over 2.5 million refugees, with 90 percent being women and children, along with elderly people. Together with the Ukrainians who worked in Poland previously, the total amount of Ukrainians is 3.5 million.
In the context of rising refugee numbers, Morawiecki warns about “fake news” regarding the refugees “spread by the Russian fifth column.”
“It is worth noting that those Ukrainians are also working for Poland, because we also have groups, on the right-wing side, trying to discourage Poles from this patriotic, civic effort, that we are experiencing,” said Morawiecki.
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The head of the Polish government said that the people engaged in information warfare are often producing fake news, and acting as if they were working for Putin.
“For instance, it is not true, that the Ukrainians have a better access to many public services, the education, health-care or the labor market, than the Poles,” explained Morawiecki.
He also stressed that the Polish economy needs more workers, not less.
“I would like to point out that today we have the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the Third Polish Republic,” said the prime minister.
Morawiecki added that Polish entrepreneurs need the extra manpower Ukrainians can bring. “Labor of the Ukrainians in Poland could be a great form of added value to our economy,” he pointed out. He stressed that the Polish building sites are starting to run out of workers as many Ukrainian men “left for war, fulfilling their great, patriotic duty towards a sovereign Ukraine.”
The Polish prime minister stated that the defense of Ukraine is also the defense of Poland. “Ukrainians are fighting for us on those ramparts. We owe them gratitude. That is why I am happy that almost all Poles received the war refugees who needed support with open hearts,” said Morawiecki.
