Polish Sejm rejects President Nawrocki's bill on changes in providing aid to Ukrainians – media

The Polish Sejm on Friday rejected President Karol Nawrocki’s bill on changes in providing assistance to Ukrainians, which also proposed to introduce criminal liability for the propaganda of "Banderism," Polish Radio reported.

"The Polish Sejm did not support the presidential draft of the new law on assistance to Ukrainians residing in the country due to the war. The document not only provided for the extension of legal residence for Ukrainian citizens, but also for tougher penalties for illegal border crossings and the introduction of criminal liability for promoting so-called Banderism," according to a report on the website of the Polish broadcaster.

It was noted that during the first reading of the bill in October, two proposals to reject it were submitted. On Friday, November 7, the majority of Sejm deputies supported these proposals in a vote.

Some 244 deputies voted in favor of rejecting the draft, 198 were against, and three abstained.

Nawrocki’s bill was prepared after he vetoed the previous new version of the law on assistance to Ukrainians in Poland at the end of August. It largely duplicated most of the provisions regarding the gradual rollback of some support measures that had already been included in the government law adopted at the end of September.

Nawrocki also proposed provisions that were not included in the government law. The first concerned amendments to the Polish Criminal Code and provided for increasing the penalty for illegal crossing of the Polish border to up to five years in prison, as well as raising the maximum penalty for organizing illegal border crossings from 2 to 12 years in prison.

Another change was the introduction of criminal liability for promoting so-called "Banderism" and the activities of the OUN-UPA – on the same grounds as the promotion of Nazism, Communism, or Fascism.