Poland is helping Ukrainian refugees, but they are also helping Poland by taking up vacant jobs, Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has said.
Since February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine, a total of 2,944,000 people have crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border into Poland, the Border Guard (SG) report. Most of the refugees have stayed in Poland, but some of them continued their journey to Western Europe and some have returned to Ukraine.
“Just as we are helping the refugees and Ukraine, they are fighting for our security and those who have come to our country are working for the Polish economy,” Morawiecki said at a conference on April 25 devoted to the development of Poland’s southern industrial region of Silesia.
According to Morawiecki, Silesia can play “a huge role” in reconstructing Ukraine, as the region has “great industrial, engineering and designing traditions.
“We can already see how many people from Ukraine are working legally in Poland, often filling in jobs that Poles don’t want, so it’s evident that the help is mutual,” Morawiecki said.
The prime minister expressed a belief that Poland would one day receive additional EU funding to help the country cover the costs of the refugee influx, but did specify when the money would likely be available.
“I can say the money will come,” he said. (The First News/Business World Magazine)