Overview

• President Karol Nawrocki blocked a parliamentary bill that would have extended child benefits for Ukrainian refugees to March 2026, with the current scheme expiring at the end of September.
• Nawrocki says payments and access to free healthcare should be limited to Ukrainians working in Poland, where the child benefit is 800 zlotys per month per child.
• He proposed criminal code changes to outlaw promotion of Stepan Bandera by equating the Bandera symbol with Nazi and Soviet symbols, which already carry penalties of up to three years in prison.
• The presidential draft also seeks to extend the residency period for citizenship from three to ten years and to raise penalties for illegal border crossings to a maximum of five years in prison.
• Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski warns the veto removes the legal basis for Poland to fund Starlink in Ukraine from October 1, a claim the president’s chancellery disputes while urging parliament to consider the presidential bill in September.