Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is pushing to tighten eligibility for child benefits for immigrants and refugees, aiming to require recipients to be employed in Poland. However, his own coalition partners aren’t exactly thrilled with the idea.
In January, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, a presidential candidate from Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) party, proposed restricting benefits to only those who live, work, and pay taxes in Poland. Tusk backed the proposal and confirmed the government would explore it further. Now, according to Rzeczpospolita, the government plans to present specific implementation plans.
For the last eight years, foreigners legally residing in Poland, including EU citizens, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and others, have been eligible for a monthly child benefit of 800 zloty (€191). Foreigners only need a residence card with “access to the labor market” to apply, but employment itself hasn’t been a requirement — until now.
Under Tusk’s proposal, only foreign citizens employed in Poland would qualify for child benefits. The exact details of the change are yet to be revealed.
Interestingly, Tusk’s proposal seems more aligned with the anti-globalist opposition than his own coalition. The PiS party and the anti-globalist Confederation group accused Trzaskowski of copying their own proposal, which they had put forward earlier.
PiS parliamentary leader Mariusz Błaszczak argued that Trzaskowski was merely adopting PiS’s idea, which had initially been rejected by PO politicians. Meanwhile, Anna Bryłka from Confederation criticized Trzaskowski for flip-flopping on his stance toward foreign benefits, calling him a “political chameleon.”
On the other hand, Tusk’s coalition partners, especially from the centrist Poland 2050 (Renew) and the Left (S&D), strongly oppose the proposal. Poland 2050 MEP Michał Kobosko argued that limiting benefits would unfairly target vulnerable children, particularly those from single-parent households or families where parents can’t work. The Left also opposes the idea, warning it could lead to poverty for immigrant families.
Despite internal opposition, public opinion seems to favor curbing benefits for foreigners. A recent poll showed that nearly 86% of Poles support limiting child benefits to those living and paying taxes in Poland.
The debate over this proposal highlights deep divisions within Poland’s ruling coalition as well as broader tensions surrounding immigration and social policies.
