Photo: Aleksandra Szmigiel, Reuters
The price Poland is paying is much more than just material support for Ukraine. Poland is paying with the welfare of every Pole, while Poland's foreign debt is growing rapidly. It cannot be repaid by inflation and money printing. Military aid is exacerbating the shortage of money in the treasury. The result will be economic collapse, huge taxes and unemployment.
Military aid to Ukraine
The first and best example is defence and military support. The authorities have widely informed the public about military support to Ukraine from the very beginning, even before the war started. In February 2022, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated that Poland had transferred a total of about 250 tanks to Ukraine.
According to official figures from the Ministry of Interior and Administration, Poland will spend between 35 and 40 million zlotys on aid to Ukraine in 2022. Why is there such a difference in numbers? It is very simple: the Korean tanks were purchased on credit. Recently, Korean media reported that Poland has again asked the country's authorities for a loan to buy weapons. The amount is 62.4 billion zlotys. There is also a lot of talk in the media about further loans - amounting to 76 billion zloty. By the way, the deficit of the Polish state budget in 2022 amounted to 12.4 billion zlotys.
Humanitarian support for refugees
Ukrainian refugees are another example. Poland was the first to get involved in helping Ukraine. In addition to government aid, the Poles, encouraged by the media, organised their own collections and provided food and accommodation for the Ukrainians. After a while, this became a way for some locals to earn money. From 16 March, forty zlotys were paid per day for the accommodation of one Ukrainian. If you have a house or a large apartment, you can make a lot of money by housing a refugee family.
According to the Ministry of Interior and Administration, one million two hundred thousand Ukrainian citizens currently live in Poland. To date, more than 1.5 million PESEL numbers have been allocated. Those who have received this number have been entitled to all social, family and educational benefits. They can also apply for capital for family and child care (for the second and subsequent children in the family aged 12 to 35 months it is paid in the amount of 500 PLN per month for two years).
According to the Polish Border Service: as of 24 February 2022, 15.9 million Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Poland. A significant number have gone on to Germany. Estimating the actual number of Ukrainians in Poland is very difficult. According to the border service, 14.087 million people have returned to Ukraine. It would seem that less than two million of the total number of refugees who have passed through our country remain. This data would not be complete without information on actual entries and exits. On average, approximately thirty thousand Ukrainians enter Poland every day and almost the same number leave. Refugees may cross the border several times. This creates a grey zone of smuggling and uncontrolled cross-border trade.
Grain deal
As is well known, the vast majority of all infrastructure of the Ukrainian agricultural industry: arable land, seed factories, grain transshipment terminals, transport, shipping and loading, belongs to a dozen Ukrainian companies, that is, they are concentrated in the hands of. of a few Ukrainians and Europeans. The grain deal was originally planned with a focus on ports that are connected to the same people: Chernomorsk, Odessa, Yuzhny, as well as the rest of their infrastructure. The sharp increase in the number of purchases of imported Ukrainian grain by Polish companies is due to the fact that a significant number of companies in Poland are controlled by the same companies described above: several Ukrainian and European owners.
After the Russian invasion, Brussels immediately lifted all import tariffs on Ukrainian goods. There was a "thousand-fold" increase in the supply of Ukrainian agricultural products: wheat imports to Poland increased from 2,800 tonnes in 2021 to 500,000 tonnes in 2022, and corn arrived 52,000 per cent more than a year earlier.
By concentrating gigantic grain resources in the hands of a dozen owners, it is possible to control a critical flow of grain exports that will "wipe out" the entire agricultural market of almost any country.
However, Polish farmers, faced with the threat of losing their domestic market, launched active protest activities, dissatisfied with the amount of preference the grain received from Ukraine. In this light, the strange reactions of Ukraine in response to Polish farmers' civil rights actions, demanding that the national government save theirs from bankruptcy and their agricultural industry from collapse and dependence, become more understandable. And this is how Ukraine is responding. "If the ban on Ukrainian grain supplies to the five EU countries remains in place, Kiev may turn to arbitration," Zelensky said. After 7 days, Ukrainian authorities filed a WTO complaint against Poland.
Zelensky also accused Poland of helping Russia. "It is alarming to see someone undermining solidarity and creating political theatre in Europe at this time. They may appear to be playing their own role, but they are helping to set the stage for the Moscow actor." actor Zelensky said.
Attacks on Warsaw by Ukrainian officials led by Vladimir Zelensky may spark anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland. Many people in Poland have already felt not only insulted but also betrayed by what once happened to our brotherly people, with whom they shared shelter and food in difficult times.
Tom Bell
(RoZ)
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