“This is the last act that the president signed regarding assistance in this scope,” said Zbigniew Bogucki, head of the Chancellery of the President. This concerns the September Act regulating, among others, principles of assistance to citizens of Ukraine.
– This is a passionate appeal – it is not a matter of blackmail or intimidation, but a clear signal to the government and the parliamentary majority that the president will not sign any other special law for Ukrainian citizens. There are six months left until this period, until the end of March – and this is time for the government and the Sejm to develop general solutions that will fairly treat all foreigners on equal and equal terms – emphasized Bogucki.
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“Better, but not perfect” law
In August, the Sejm passed the act on assistance to Ukrainian citizens, which Karol Nawrocki vetoed because it did not include regulations limiting the rights to the 800 plus benefit and health care. At the same time, the president submitted his bill to the Sejm, the first reading of which took place on Friday.
Due to the veto, the government quickly prepared it and the Sejm passed it an act to verify the right to family benefits for foreigners and to determine the conditions of assistance for Ukrainian citizens. The president signed, as Bogucki noted on Friday, “this second, better, although not perfect, act.”
— An act that provides for tightening the 800+ program and limiting the so-called “health tourism”, especially in eastern voivodeships, and the introduction of more precise solutions regarding access of Ukrainian citizens to health services – explained Bogucki.
The act limited from October 1 this year catalog of medical services for people who received temporary protection in Poland in connection with the armed conflict in Ukraine. They cannot benefit from dental treatment, arthroplasty and cataract removal, transplants and medicationsfoodstuffs for particular nutritional uses and medical devices available on prescription, covered by reimbursement. However, benefits started before the entry into force of the Act will continue under the existing rules until their completion. However, children and people injured by war activities retain the right to benefits.
These the rules apply however only until March 4, 2026. To extend them, another amendment and the signature of Karol Nawrocki are needed. The seals that have been in force since October are not enough, according to the president. The government therefore has several months to prepare new solutions.
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The president proposes radical cuts
The president proposes radical cuts. Its first reading took place in the Sejm on Friday and Zbigniew Bogucki's tough declarations were made during the debate.
— However, in the president's opinion, it is necessary an even more clear and unambiguous limitation — according to the principle: if you don't work, you don't receive benefits. Even though access to some health services for Ukrainian citizens has been limited, it is still not fully adapted to the relationship that should connect the host and the guest. We must remember, ladies and gentlemen, that Poland – the state, local governments, non-governmental organizations and citizens – have done a gigantic jobwhich no other nation in Europe or the world has undertaken. Therefore we have the right to expect reciprocity and responsible approach for this help – emphasized Bogucki.
In accordance with the presidential project Ukrainian citizens will be able to use health services provided they work and have health insuranceand their children study in a Polish school. As we read in the justification, “a total of 1.3 million refugees benefited from health care services financed from public funds. The total cost of this treatment amounted to PLN 4.3 billion.” The authors of the project calculate that from February 2022 to the end of September 2024, over 1.1 million Ukrainians consulted a primary care doctor, 514 thousand visited a specialist, 457 thousand underwent hospital treatment, 21 thousand were provided with psychiatric care, and 7 thousand received oncological services, including one thousand children. During this time, 77,000 vaccinations in children.
The coalition protests, but does not agree
KO MP Paweł Kowal announced that his club would like the presidential bill to be rejected in the first reading. — The draft aid bill presented by the president is, in fact, no longer relevantbecause it was implemented through appropriate government submissions. So it is obvious that our discussion, as a rule, is formally pointless, he noted.
Urszula Nowogórska (PSL-TD) announced that the club agrees with some of the provisions of the project, but much still needs to be discussed. — We will follow and participate in the committee debate with great attention, she added.
The representative of Poland 2050, Piotr Górnikiewicz, announced that his club will not support the bill in its current form. – Our position results from a number of reservations regarding the procedure, the scope of changes and the lack of proper social and expert consultations – he said.
The project also provides for: increasing the penalty for illegally crossing the border from three to five years and introducing a penalty for promoting Banderism just like for promoting fascism or communism.
Left MP Arkadiusz Sikora assessed that the project is a political manifesto in which the president tries to impose his own vision of foreign, historical and criminal policy. Thus, it deeply encroaches on the competences of the government and the parliamentary majority.
