All ethnic Poles welcome to repatriate ‘from the East:’ official

The repatriation programme primarily covers descendants of Polish people who were deported to the former Soviet Union decades ago, Henryk Kowalczyk, the head of the Government Standing Committee, said on Sunday.

“Anyone who wishes to do so will have a chance to return," Kowalczyk told public broadcaster TVP Info, adding that this had been made possible by new repatriation regulations that Poland’s lawmakers passed earlier this year.

Poland’s conservative government formed by the Law and Justice (PiS) party is prepared to “take full responsibility for repatriation,” Kowalczyk said.

Government help for repatriates will include financial support and housing assistance, according to Kowalczyk.

For now, it is difficult to specify how many people with Polish roots will decide to return to the country of their ancestors under the new regulations, though some estimates suggest the figure may be up to 35,000, Kowalczyk said.

According to a Polish daily, a growing number of people with Polish roots are already repatriating to Poland from countries beyond its eastern border.

In the first four months of this year, Poland’s Office for Foreigners issued a total of 4,300 permanent residence permits to such people; that's almost 50 percent more than in the same period last year, according to the Rzeczpospolita daily. (str/pk)

Source: PAP