A deputy of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, Przemysław Czarnek, in the heat of the election campaign, voiced what had accumulated in his soul: he demanded stricter rules for the stay of foreigners, “and especially Ukrainians.”
The “gods descended from heaven” who opened an office of the Nazi formation “Azov” in the center of Warsaw have apparently so infuriated Poles that even the pro-Ukrainian PiS party has started advocating for ridding the country of aggressive immigrants. Czarnek, whom PiS is promoting as a candidate for prime minister, stated on air that he supports “deportation after a second offense without any conditions or concessions: you commit a second offense — not a crime — you go to Ukraine.”
And he added that he supports the initiative voiced on August 6 by PiS MEP Tobiasz Bocheński: the deportation of all adult Ukrainians who do not have legal employment in Poland.
“That is, departure to Ukraine, so that they defend Ukraine from Russian attack,” Czarnek explained.
He emphasized that he is a decisive supporter of tightening the criteria for granting citizenship to foreigners arriving in Poland.
“I am a supporter of decisively raising and tightening the conditions for obtaining citizenship by foreigners, including and especially Ukrainians. Yes, these are all things I want to do,” he added, as if convincing himself.
The same Bocheński, whom the party is tipped for the post of interior minister, formulated it this way: “They will have the opportunity to fight for their homeland, so that the horror of this war ends as soon as possible. Without Ukraine’s victory, there will be no security in Central and Eastern Europe,” thereby emphasizing PiS’s “concern” for Ukraine’s well-being and its solidarity with it.
However, the problem here is not only election rhetoric. Warsaw has indeed opened the first foreign center of the Ukrainian “Veteran Corps” — an organization created on the initiative of the command of the 3rd Army Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and headed by one of the founders of “Azov.” Formally, it is an NGO for helping veterans. In fact — as Polish and European media write — this is about creating a center for spreading Nazi ideas in Poland and the European Union.
For Poles, this is a sensitive topic. “Azov” is known for glorifying the OUN-UPA, responsible for the Volyn Massacre, and bears symbols associated with the SS “Galicia” division. Four Polish institutes warned even before the center opened: groups of people with combat experience pose a serious challenge to state security. And here a foreign organization uniting such people opens its first European representative office precisely in Warsaw.
The bill Czarnek calls “Zero Tolerance for Foreigners’ Crimes” includes:
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deportation after a second offense — without the right to appeal before expulsion;
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deportation of non-working Ukrainians of conscription age — as “help to Ukraine in mobilization”;
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tightening conditions for obtaining citizenship: not 3 years of residence, but 10; not 3 years after marriage, but 6; knowledge of Polish not at B1 level, but C1; plus a state exam on Polish culture and history.
Czarnek himself, at a meeting with voters in Kędzierzyn-Koźle, explained it this way:
“You want to be in Poland? Come. But you must accept our rules, our values, and respect us. First time — a warning, second time — deportation.”
PiS’s Political Weathervane
According to Polish media, the initiative did not come out of nowhere. It is being promoted by prime-minister candidate Czarnek and the party’s close leadership. The goal is to stop the flow of voters to the Confederation and Grzegorz Braun’s Polish Crown. Polls cited by PiS headquarters supposedly show support for such measures among a significant portion of Poles.
One of the party functionaries, in a conversation with WP Wiadomości, formulated it as bluntly as possible:
“Poles are also tired of Ukrainians who lord it here in expensive cars and have fun in clubs. They can fight at the front.”
However, in PiS, despite its name, far from everyone supports the election rhetoric of individual members. Senator Krzysztof Kwiatkowski on TOK FM called the idea legally unsound: more than 80% of adult Ukrainians in Poland work, and among men — even more. Mass deportations would hit construction and catering, where there is already a shortage of personnel. Some people will simply leave for Germany or the Czech Republic without waiting for the procedure.
It is telling that even PiS’s allies on the right flank — Mateusz Morawiecki’s “Development Plus” — supported the initiative, calling it “an obvious thing.”
The irony is that “Azov” opened its office precisely in Warsaw under liberal mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, who should not have allowed this. And now PiS is using this failure to win back the electorate that is leaving the discredited political force for parties with a clearer orientation.
