POLES were not put off Scotland by the murder of the student Angelika Kluk and were warmed by the compassion shown by Scots to the victim and her family, the Polish ambassador to Britain said yesterday.
Barbara Tuge-Ericinska told The Scotsman the high-profile murder in 2006, although tragic, could have happened anywhere. She said Poles did not blame Scotland for it, nor had it acted as any kind of deterrent to other Poles who wanted to experience l
ife in Scotland.
Ms Tuge-Ericinska admitted she had no idea how many Poles were now living and working in Scotland. The latest estimates suggest 70,000, but she conceded there may be many more, because the self-employed do not have to register.
She said her government would like more Poles to return to Poland, but ministers were not putting pressure on them to do so, because they recognised the value of the British cultural experience.
Ms Tuge-Ericinska became Poland's ambassador in December 2006, after the brutal murder of Ms Kluk, 23, who was killed and buried in a Glasgow church, but before Peter Tobin was convicted of her murder, in May 2007.
The murder shocked both Scotland and Poland, with reports of some young Poles being put off coming to Scotland because of it. Now, 18 months on from the murder and almost a year from Tobin's conviction, Ms Tuge-Ericinska was clear there had been no ill-effects in the view Poles have of Scotland.
She said: "Unfortunately, this kind of tragic event can happen anywhere. I think that people in Poland were very much moved to see how strong and warm the feelings were in Scotland towards the victim and her family."
Ms Tuge-Ericinska, speaking during a short visit to Scotland, said there was research showing the rate of immigration to the UK from Poland was declining.
"I think the influx of Poles coming to Scotland and the UK will never be the same as it was in 2005 and 2006," she said.
But she added: "It's very much about freedom of choice.
Having lived so many years in a totally closed Communist state, it's extremely important to let those who choose to go abroad to see some of the world, to make sure they are as European as the Scots, the English or the Germans, to see how much we have in common, to improve their knowledge of English and to see a more multicultural society.
"We hope very much that Poles coming over here, after some time, decide their life is better in Poland and they will take the decision to return."
Ms Tuge-Ericinska said the Polish economy had been growing by 6 per cent or so every year for the past few years, so, although wages were still lower in Poland than they were in the UK, the gap was narrowing.
She also stressed that securing the right to host the European Football Championships with Ukraine in 2012 had brought the need for major infrastructure changes, and that would mean thousands of new jobs.
Poland is getting 37 billion (£28 billion) in aid from the European Union and this was also helping to improve wages, provide jobs and stimulate the economy, all of which might help reverse the immigration to the UK of the past few years.
The one area where Ms Tuge-Ericinska would like to see movement in this country is on education; she wants to lobby the Scottish and UK governments to improve the way Polish children are taught in schools.
She would like more done out of normal school time to teach Polish children about their own culture and history and more Polish-speaking teachers in UK schools to help children adapt.
When asked what Poles thought of Scotland, she said there had been a growing realisation that Scotland was different from England, and that most Poles knew that Scotland meant, at the very least, "kilts, whisky and, of course, Sean Connery".
The full article contains 675 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
