WARSAW — Poland is “very satisfied” with a deal cutting migrant benefits that is crucial to Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of a referendum on whether or not to leave the EU, Poland’s most powerful politician said Friday.
There had been worries that Poland would lead resistance to concessions being made to Cameron out of concern that the more than 1 million Poles in the U.K. would be harmed by a proposed cut in welfare benefits.
But Cameron’s trip to the Polish capital appears to have settled Polish fears, especially as any restrictions on benefits will apply to new arrivals, not to those already in the U.K.
“Poland and Poles have really gained a lot, especially the full security of those who are now in Great Britain,” Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, said after meeting with Cameron.
Earlier Friday, Cameron met with Prime Minister Beata Szydło, who said that most of the U.K.’s proposals for a new relationship with the EU “don’t cause doubts,” but did say that the issue of migrants needed to be properly spelled out.
Poles are the largest group of foreigners in the U.K., and the Polish government has to be seen to defend their rights.
However, Warsaw is also looking for new friends in the EU after the government came under attack for a raft of controversial legislation in recent months that alarmed civil rights groups and the EU.
The government has said that its leading European ally will be the U.K.
“I want to stress that for Poland, Great Britain is a strategic partner,” Szydło said during a joint press conference with Cameron. “It is crucial for us that it remain in the EU.”
Cameron echoed her sentiments, saying he wanted a “full strategic partnership between Poland and the United Kingdom.”
Cameron is trying to get approval from EU leaders on a draft agreement ahead of an EU summit on February 18-19. Of the four proposed reforms, the most contentious is an “emergency brake” that would allow a temporary ban on in-work benefits for EU migrants in the U.K.
The Central European countries which have seen hundreds of thousands of people move to the U.K. since they joined the EU more than a decade ago are the wariest of changes that could hurt their citizens living in Britain.
But Cameron needs their backing in order to get the reforms approved so that he can campaign for keeping the U.K. in the EU in a referendum that could be held as early as June.