'Come back to Poland': Polish deputy Prime Minister wants emigrants to return

Polish deputy Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said he would like the Poles who emigrated to come back home, the BBC reports.

"I would welcome all Polish people who went abroad. If only they could come back, it would be a great day for Poland," Morawiecki said.

The number of Poles moving here dramatically increased when Poland joined the European Union in 2004. The arrival en masse of the so-called "Polish plumbers" was both welcomed and loathed, depending on whether you believed the Poles were taking your job or fixing your house.

A few years ago, The Telegraph reported that the Polish government was trying to get the hundreds of thousands of Poles who had emigrated to other EU countries to come back home.

Morawiecki said he expected Poles would stop leaving their home country in the next few years as wages increase, adding the migration rate had already slowed significantly.

Morawiecki also said he was very concerned about the possibility that the UK might leave the EU, "I hope that Great Britain will stay as part of the European Union, because times are not easy," he said. Adding that whatever the outcome of the June 23 referendum, Poland would resist any possible domino effect.

Poland has been embroiled in a few controversies with the EU recently as the newly elected eurosceptic government has been accused of not respecting the rule of law in its own country and of interfering with freedom of the press.

The country has also been accused by EU officials of not doing enough to help with the migrant crisis. Poland was one of the countries strongly opposed to the EU relocation plan.

Morawiecki said that it would be too much of a stretch for Poland to take in any more than the 7,000 refugees it has pledged, because of the war in Ukraine. Poland has a population of over 38 million people.

"We feel that we already participate in smoothing the situation -- in calming down the situation at our borders," the deputy Prime Minister said, adding that it was supporting the proposed EU-Turkey migrant deal.