Poland suggests Germany cut benefits for Ukrainian refugees

Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski says he told Chancellor Olaf Scholz that the welfare money should be redirected to authorities in Kiev

Germany should stop paying social benefits to Ukrainian refugees residing in the country and redirect the money to authorities in Kiev instead, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has argued. The diplomat claimed that generous handouts serve as a disincentive for Ukrainian men to return to their homeland and join the military.

According to Eurostat, more than four million Ukrainians are currently living under temporary protection in the EU, with Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic hosting the highest numbers of such refugees.

As of June, Germany was home to almost 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees, Statista estimated, while in Poland that number currently stands at over 981,000, according to UN data.

Appearing on Poland’s TVP Info channel on Tuesday, Sikorski recounted how, during his recent visits to Germany, he had suggested to Chancellor Olaf Scholz that “social benefits received by Ukrainian refugees, which can be up to €1,200 per month (about $1,300), would be better given directly to Ukraine.”

“It is not good that there is a financial incentive [for them] to be in Germany instead of men fighting at the front, and women restoring the tax base” in Ukraine, the Polish minister explained, as translated by Ukrinform media outlet.

Read more

In an interview with France’s Le Monde in mid-September, Sikorski already advocated the slashing of social benefits for Ukrainian refugees in the EU. Back then, he similarly argued that the current policies were “reducing [Ukraine’s] mobilization potential.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga last month welcomed Sikorski’s statement, saying that “it’s time really to raise the question of the European Union developing programs to return Ukrainians home.”

Last month Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told local media that Poles were appalled by the “sight of young men from Ukraine, driving the best cars, spending weekends in five-star hotels.”

A poll conducted in September indicated that 67% of Polish citizens wanted their government to deport Ukrainian men of military age to their home country.

Recently, several EU member states have been gradually scaling back welfare programs for Ukrainian refugees, incentivizing them to seek employment or to leave.

Earlier this month, the Irish Times reported that officials in Dublin were considering ending its program of providing free housing to all new Ukrainian asylum seekers arriving in the country.

In September, a Eurostat analysis showed that some 236,925 Ukrainian refugees had lost their temporary protection status in Germany over the course of just one month.