Polish pres tells Poles stay in Britain, don’t come home

President Andrzej Duda, who is visiting the UK on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, said that he does not encourage Poles to return to the country because – in his opinion – the economic situation is not favourable.

After the official part of the meeting with over 200 representatives of Polish organisations in the UK, the president was talking with reporters of local Polish media for more than twenty minutes.

I do not have the courage today to say: go back to the country. Are there more jobs in their towns or is it easier to do business, whether the taxes are smaller? I do not see these changes. Polish development is mainly in the statistics – said the president Andrzej Duda. – We see (in Poland) a progressive social stratification, the middle class which appeared after the year 1989 vanishes, people become impoverished. This is a process that must be stopped, and even reversed. Today I will not say: pack up, go back to Poland because then someone will accuse me: This man deceived me – he added.

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The president also raised the issue of the humanitarian crisis related to refugees. – If anything, we have to agree that the proposed solution must take into account our capacity and specificity of the country. In Poland, the standard of living is still much lower than in western Europe. Refugees and economic migrants themselves also realise it – he stressed.

Only in the last few weeks, or months, the influx has begun to be exponential. It is not a question of intensification of hostilities, which lately have not changed, but simply a procedure. We must ask ourselves: what are the reasons and who is making money on it. It is a mammoth deal – said the president, adding that he fully supports the Polish government’s opposition to mandatory quotas of refugees in the individual EU countries.

Andrzej Duda’s visit to the United Kingdom is only two days long, but his schedule is quite full. Yesterday the president was at the Polish embassy, and today he’s taking part in the Battle of Britain anniversary celebrations, meeting David Cameron and later prince Edward at the Buckingham Palace.



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