Polish people do not want immigrants

In the run-up to the Polish elections and the upcoming referendum, the issue of migration has become particularly topical.

Medyka, 2022. február 26. Ukrajnából menekülõ emberek kelnek át a lengyel-ukrán határon a délkelet-lengyelországi Medykában 2022. február 26-án. Vlagyimir Putyin orosz elnök február 24-én rendelte el katonai mûvelet végrehajtását a Donyec-medencében, leszögezve, hogy Oroszország tervei között nem szerepel Ukrajna megszállása, ugyanakkor törekedni fog az ország demilitarizálására. Az orosz erõk mindazonáltal Ukrajna más térségei, így a fõváros ellen is hadmûveletet folytatnak, és támadást indítottak a Moszkva-barát szakadárok is az általuk ellenõrzött kelet-ukrajnai területeken. Az ukrán vezetés hadiállapotot vezetett be. A felek halálos áldozatokról és sebesültekrõl is beszámoltak. A nemzetközi közösség sorra jelent be büntetõintézkedéseket Moszkva ellen. MTI/EPA/PAP/Darek Delmanowicz Fotó: Darek Delmanowicz

There are significant differences in the perception of the benefits of migration between citizens and the political, business and media elite. As living standards rise, Poland faces the same threat as the countries of Western Europe.

At the same time, the UK, France and Germany have never held referendums on migration policy, and decision-makers have never sought public approval for admission of tens of millions of immigrants.

Politicians' decisions have been made in a non-transparent way, under pressure from various lobbies seeking cheap labor or hoping to win new left-wing voters. In practice, however, these same politicians then facilitated the entry of hundreds of thousands more migrants into their countries. The negative consequences are obvious: crime has risen, parallel societies have emerged and the state has lost control of entire neighborhoods.

In Poland, some right-wing politicians are also advocates of the Western European policy of welcoming migration. Many of them believe that only illegal immigrants or economic refugees cause problems. But the real problem lies with legal immigrants from foreign cultures who refuse to integrate. 

In France, the most serious terrorist attacks (Charlie Hebdo, Bataclan) were committed by French citizens born in Europe, descendants of legal immigrants.

The existence of parallel societies is a fact, research shows. 80-90% of Muslims prefer to live with other Muslims. They have more children than French citizens and are much more attached to their religious traditions. Becoming a 'Pole' is not an attractive prospect either for immigrants from Poland, who do not want to break with their roots. "It sounds grotesque when the advocates of immigration refer to the fully assimilated Tatars in Poland, who have lived together with Poles for centuries and make up only 0.0047% of the population," writes the Polish weekly. Nor can the assimilation of Germans, Armenians or Jews over the centuries be compared with multicultural integration.

 A common argument is that accepting migrants is a demographic necessity, a lifeline for the economy. However, in a previous survey on how to improve the demographic situation, only 13.5 percent of respondents recommended migration as a method of addressing labor shortages, while 38.8 percent said that more resources should be spent on family support and encouraging childbearing. Most people (47.7 percent) saw the solution in investing in innovation and automating work. Migration will certainly be a key issue in the coming years. But no 'expert' opinion or international convention is more important than the will of the majority of society, the author adds. 

Cover photo: People fleeing Ukraine cross the Polish-Ukrainian border in Medykka, south-eastern Poland, on 26 February 2022 (Photo: MTI/EPA/PAP/Darek Delmanowiczm)