Czech Labor Minister says the purveyors of fear are spreading hate through misinformation about financial aid for Ukrainian woman

Czech Labor Minister Marián Jurečka and the Labor Office have issued statements saying this is apparently a case of a parent requesting aid for an entire family. The Labor Office has refused to authenticate the accuracy of the document, but has provided general information about humanitarian benefits for refugees from Ukraine.

“Generally speaking, the Labor Office never comments publicly on individual cases in principle. It is necessary to realize that one applicant frequently applies for a household with many members, including children,” Labor Office press spokesperson Martin Bušo told news server Romea.cz.

Bušo did not answer our follow-up questions. However, Jurečka responded to the spreading of the misinformation about the humanitarian benefits for “Olha H.”, calling it repugnant.

“Different purveyors of fear […] are intentionally spreading photos of an application where a parent is requesting aid for an entire family, e.g., a mother with three children. They want to spark a wave of envy, hate, and unfortunately even violence, which is already being faced not just by the Ukrainian community, but also by our bureaucrats,” wrote the minister.

“I consider this absolutely repugnant,” the Labor Minister said. He stated that humanitarian benefits are being drawn by about one-quarter of the refugees in the country, more than half of whom are minors.

“We are providing humanitarian benefits in a targeted way, just to the most vulnerable. Roughly 25 % of refugees are drawing on them, which is about 93,000 people. More than half are young children. We are providing CZK 4,860 [EUR 194] per month per adult and CZK 3,490 [EUR 139] per month per child for a 150-day period. After that, the adult benefit falls to CZK 3130 [EUR 125] per month,” explained Jurečka.

Jurečka also reminded the public that the level of aid overall reflects each applicant’s costs for housing. “As of September, the opportunity to occupy temporary accommodation free of charge ended, and for that reason, in August the costs of housing eligible for coverage were adjusted. For a vulnerable person the cost of housing is established at CZK 6,000 [EUR 240] per month, for the rest it’s been set at CZK 4,000 [EUR 160] per month,” he said, adding that more support is generally given to vulnerable persons including, e.g., people living with disabilities, senior citizens and young children.

“The average monthly disbursement per person, therefore, is CZK 7,336 [EUR 290] and it includes aid with covering housing costs as well as the humanitarian benefit,” emphasized Jurečka, adding that Ukrainians have not come to the Czech Republic to draw welfare, but for their very survival. He also stressed that these refugees are contributing more to the state coffers than they are receiving.

“These families from Ukraine are integrating in our country exceptionally well, about 75 % of the adults found jobs quickly, and it is really not their fault that Russia deprived them of the roofs over their heads and often of much more than that,” the Labor Minister said. “This year we are disbursing more than CZK 600 million [EUR 24 million] in humanitarian benefits monthly. What is important is that for a long time now, the contributions to our budget from Ukrainian refugees’ wages exponentially exceeds the aid we disburse to their compatriots! They are a benefit for us, not a burden,” he explained, publishing a graph showing that during the first half of 2024, the state made about CZK 4.4 billion [EUR 176 million] from the refugees fleeing Russia’s war on Ukraine.