Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Minister of Agriculture Czesław Siekierski and Deputy Minister Michał Kołodziejczak met on Saturday with farmers at the “Dialog” Social Partnership Center in Warsaw. The head of government announced on Thursday that he would present farmers with an important message regarding the Green Deal, including: on fallow provisions. So what specific information did farmers hear? Michał Kołodziejczak talked about this during the press conference.
Michał Kołodziejczak noted during Saturday’s conference that he would only like to provide specifics. The specifics, according to the deputy minister, include the fact that after March 15, the government will announce what changes will be introduced in the Green Deal, but it should be noted that they only concern fallow land.
– We have many signals that this will be a complete departure from fallow land, but withdrawing from these provisions is not easy and does not belong to one country. It is worth emphasizing that we are the government that talks about it the loudest in the EU. We are also talking about the need to remove approximately 4-5 million tons of grain from the market. And there is a declaration from the government that funds will be allocated for this.
Surplus grain on the market. What idea does the government have?
Kołodziejczak said that the decision was positive and financial resources would be released to remove the surplus of grain from the Polish market, but the details of actions and compensation for farmers would be worked out on Monday, when representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will meet with the agricultural side. 10 farmers selected from among the delegates are to work in the working group. Kołodziejczak emphasized that it would not be an easy job, because they have appropriate financial frameworks to fit in, but he stressed that they take this problem very seriously.
– Cereal prices are the lowest since mid-2022 and we have to deal with it somehow so that no farms suffer during this time – he says.
Kołodziejczak also referred to the words of Tomasz Obszański, who said after the meeting: “The Prime Minister said that he has incompetent colleagues, there are no reports, the tasks assigned by him are not carried out, so there is a lot of chaos and there will be resignations in offices.” The deputy minister denied that the prime minister spoke about the incompetence of his officials. When asked by journalists, he also referred, albeit reluctantly, to the recent protests in Warsaw, which were organized by, among others, Solidarity RI with Obszański at the head and NSZZ Solidarność.
– Let’s talk about problems, not about the rather inappropriate form that these protests have taken (…). Piotr Duda’s Solidarity announced that it would be tough. And actually everyone saw it, it was sharp. I believe that such action is more harmful to the agricultural cause. I believe that people who harm farmers should be removed from these protests (…) I don’t know who Mr. Duda invited to the protests – said the deputy minister.
Where are these specifics?
According to Donald Tusk’s announcements, what specific details were mentioned during the meeting? Earlier, farmers who left the meeting spoke about their absence. Kołodziejczak replied that if the specific thing was not that the Prime Minister announced funds to collect the grain surplus, he did not know what it could be.
– Farmers will come out in a moment and present their opinion. We will not throw words into the wind (…). We could go out and make promises that would make everyone happy for a short time, but we won’t do that. We are a government that takes these words very seriously. I am trying to combine both sides, but I will not speak for the farmers who will soon be released, he added.
However, when it comes to specifics regarding agricultural demands related to the European Green Deal, it will probably be a complete departure from fallow land. In addition, the deputy minister confirmed that on Monday, Minister Hetman and Minister Siekierski will talk with Commissioner Dombrovskis regarding limiting the inflow of agri-food goods from Ukraine, but through diplomatic channels. He emphasized that this problem is very delicate, but it must be solved “so that no one will accuse that Ukraine has problems on the front because Poland does not support it.”
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