The chairman of NSZZ RI “Solidarność”, Tomasz Obszański, said on Saturday that nothing was agreed during the farmers’ talks with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He informed that the Prime Minister had promised export subsidies of PLN 1.5 million and not much more. There is a lot of chaos – he summed up.
He said that Tusk promised farmers an export subsidy of PLN 1.5 million and announced that fallow land will be converted to legumes this year and completely abolished in 2025.
The farmers tried to negotiate as much as possible, but it was not possible. The Prime Minister clearly said that nothing could be done for now, that he would talk to the commissioners, but there would be no major breakthrough here, the chairman reported.
– The Prime Minister said that he has very incompetent officials who do not perform the tasks he assigns, there are no reports, there are no arrangements that he implements. There is a lot of chaos – he admitted. He added that Tusk announced the resignations of some officials.
Obszański said that at the meeting he was criticized for Wednesday’s farmers’ protests – “because there was this whole escalation.” As he reported, he asked the Prime Minister to apologize to the farmers who were called hooligans. Tusk allegedly replied that “absolutely nothing like that happened.”
The chairman pointed out that soft fruit was not discussed during the meeting, which he was outraged by.
We talk about grain and corn all the time, but there was no talk of supporting the soft fruit sector, he noted.
When asked about the planned protests, he informed that they would take place on March 20. “Provincial cities, county cities, roads will be blocked. That’s all that has happened so far,” he explained.
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. He also emphasized that he did not arrange negotiations with farmers only to inform them about the actions taken. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture said that a compromise from both sides would be needed at the meeting with farmers.
