Poland's foreign minister has told his his UK counterpart that he believes all inhabitants of the UK should enjoy equal welfare benefits.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said "UK taxpayer funded welfare benefits is one of the issues that will determine the outcome" of the forthcoming in/out referendum on the UK's EU membership.
The UK Government wants people coming to the UK to "live here and contribute for four years before they qualify for in-work benefits or social housing".
But at a meeting at Edinburgh Castle, Witold Waszczykowski, Poland's minister of foreign affairs, said everyone in the EU should enjoy equal treaty freedoms.
Speaking through an English translator, he said: "We have discussed the whole package of proposals put forward by Prime Minister David Cameron as regards reform of the European Union.
"We have discussed security related issues and also EU reform, which does not mean that these problems are interconnected and one is dependent on the other.
"It is obvious that here in Edinburgh, where we have a big Polish community, a community stemming back to the time of the Second World War, that we have discussed the living standards of Polish people in Scotland and in England.
"We believe that all inhabitants of the European Union should enjoy equal treaty freedoms.
"We also believe that all inhabitants of the United Kingdom should enjoy equal welfare benefits.
"Those benefits are, of course, not dependent on the military policy or the policy of the European Union.
"However, the level of those welfare benefits is the realm of the sovereign decision of the government of United Kingdom."
Mr Hammond said: "We're in what I hope will be the final stages of a discussion with the European Commission ahead of the European Council in February, and as I explained to the minister we expect that the Commission will circulate proposals to the member states within the next couple of weeks.
"Our position is well known, our requests of the European Union in this area are well known.
"We are going to hold a referendum on this issue of the UK's membership of the EU.
"Access to UK taxpayer funded welfare benefits is one of the issues that will determine the outcome of that referendum when British voters get the chance to vote."
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