Life /
Polish people and racism. [943]
Anyone see the hypocrisy?
Prime Minister Beata Szydł abolished Poland's Council for the Prevention of Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, it emerged on Tuesday night.
The council was abolished by a Law and Justice government decree on 27 April.
The body had been established in 2011 under the tenure of Prime Minister Donald Tusk (current president of the European Council), of the centrist Civic Platform party.
Among other factors, the council was tasked with ensuring coordination between government institutions and local government bodies, as well with other groups involved in preventing racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
Poland has called for the British government to start an educational campaign in the UK to tell the public that Brexit does not mean foreigners will be thrown out and that they still have the right to reside in Britain.
The call, made by Witold Waszczykowski, the Polish foreign minister, follows the murder of a Polish man in Essex and fears of a rise in anti-immigrant violence and intolerance in the UK triggered by the Leave vote in the EU referendum.
Hundreds of thousands of Poles now live and work in the UK and their security and legal status is a prime concern of the Polish government.
The British government has not given a cast-iron assurance that Poles and other EU citizens will be allowed to remain in the UK after Brexit, but Theresa May came very close to that position last July when she said Poles would "continue to be welcome" while on a visit to Warsaw.
Theresa May: Polish are welcome in the UK Play! 00:52
Mr Waszczykowski said the British public needed to understand that Poles and other EU citizens who work and live legally in the UK have the right to stay, and that people will not be expelled.
"We can't guard every foreigner," said the minister. "But we would like to see a great educational campaign to show that Brexit does not mean people will be thrown out or made to leave.
