Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz wants to place refugees in empty buildings and send them “to work in agriculture”? Falsehood

“There are empty buildings in small towns which, if properly adapted, could serve as centers for refugees. There are EU funds for this and refugees can be used to work in agriculture far from large agglomerations. The third way always looks for good solutions” – this is what he wrote on the website 10th Minister of National Defense and head of the Polish People's Party, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Post with a screenshot this alleged entry was published on May 1 on platform and not only!” (original spelling of posts). The entry quickly gained popularity, on May 4 it had over 38,000 views. views. The low-quality graphic, which is supposed to be a screenshot of Kosiniak-Kamysz's post, is titled: “Now they will have a good time in the villages.”

Internet users commenting on the post did not hide their outrage. “And he says this sober?”; “Damn! Kamysz is an eagle of the rural intellect! May the Holy Virgin protect him when the peasants catch him!”; “I wonder who will renovate”; “Why do all leftists want to organize the world for people with other people's money?! Never with their own money!”; “Kosia – Kamyk, won't you think about Poles and just think about refugees all the time??? Do you know how many people don't have apartments or need help and a roof over their heads???” – they wrote.

However, some were skeptical: “Is this fake? Does it mean that Kosiak proposed building labor camps?”; “I don't want to spoil your fun, but it's a fake account.”

Indeed, the graphic does not represent Kosiniak-Kamysz's real entry. The first doubts are raised by punctuation errors (lack of commas) and the spelling of the name of the coalition to which PSL belongs. In official ones messages the name Third Way is written with a capital letter.

As we checked, a similar “screenshot” of an entry with the same content was already circulating on website X in October 2023. There, after the username Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, you can see the account alias @jeste_samolotem. Meanwhile, alias official profile Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz is: @KosiniakKamysz. We did not find any such or similar entry on the adaptation of vacant buildings for refugee centers on the official profile of the Minister of National Defense. Moreover, the alias @jeste_samolotem indicates that the post was a fake, an attempt to impersonate a politician.

The @jeste_samolotem account is currently available suspended for violating the rules of the X website. Recall: x.com (formerly Twitter) allows you to change the displayed username, while the account alias remains unchanged.

The idea of ​​using vacant buildings for refugees from Ukraine was discussed as early as 2022, right after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. “I have a question for you representing local government units regarding vacant buildings in cities. How many such vacant buildings do we have and could these vacant buildings be adapted to accommodate refugees?” – He was asking On March 22, 2022, at a meeting of the Senate of the 10th term, the then senator of Law and Justice, Wojciech Piecha.

Marek Wójcik, the Representative for Legislative Affairs of the Association of Polish Cities, answered this question: “Yes, of course we have inventoried these vacant buildings. We are trying to talk to the voivodes in order to guarantee money from public funds to adapt these vacant buildings, because in most cases these buildings are empty. require major or minor renovation. Currently, the rate we receive – that is, PLN 40 and around – we had no guarantee that renovation would be possible, but of course we are taking care of it. “But we have been taking this into account from the very beginning of accepting refugees.”

However, it was only on January 1, 2023 that the government program was launched “Mutual Need”. It operated until the end of the year, and one of its goals was to create living conditions for Ukrainian citizens who were directly or indirectly affected by hostilities on the territory of their country, as well as repatriates and Polish citizens from groups at risk of social exclusion, especially housing exclusion. Agnieszka Ścigaj, Minister for Social Integration in the government of Mateusz Morawiecki in conversation with the Polish Press Agency (PAP) in February 2023, she encouraged people to take part in the project: “We are just starting the recruitment process and I encourage all non-governmental organizations that have good relations with local governments, that know that there are empty buildings in their area, that can help finding a job to join and apply for this program.

Non-governmental organizations implemented the program together with rural, urban-rural and urban communes with a population of less than 120,000. inhabitants. As part of the “Mutual Needs” program, 147 premises were adapted and renovated – given on the program website.