The chairman of NSZZ RI “Solidarność”, Tomasz Obszański, sent a letter to the Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Czesław Siekierski regarding the protective shield for agriculture in connection with the war in Ukraine. Obszański demands payment of EUR 15 billion to help the most affected farms.
- On March 13, the chairman of NSZZ RI “Solidarność”, Tomasz Obszański, sent a letter to Donald Tusk and Czesław Siekierski regarding the protective shield for agriculture in connection with the war in Ukraine.
- In the letter, he upheld farmers’ demands regarding the suspension of the provisions of the Green Deal and the import of agri-food products from outside the EU.
- The President demands the immediate introduction of a “war shield in agriculture and its surroundings”, and its value has been estimated at approximately EUR 15 billion, i.e. approximately PLN 66 billion!
Farmers’ demands related to the current situation in agriculture are widely known. In the above-mentioned letter, Obszański mentioned two basic RIs according to Solidarity. The first concerns the suspension of the implementation of the Green Deal, which, according to activists, “will result, among other things, in the liquidation of family farming, industry and huge costs for households in Poland and the entire European Union.”
The second demand concerns the immediate suspension of uncontrolled imports of agricultural produce and food products, mainly from Ukraine and Russia, as well as the restoration of EU market protection on the principles applicable before Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Duty-free imports are destroying Polish agriculture, especially commercial family farms. It does not support Ukraine’s defense potential, but only brings huge profits from unfair competition to international corporations. It also effectively destroys the friendship born after the outbreak of the war between the Polish and Ukrainian nations, writes Obszański.
However, it is worth recalling the words of analyst Mirosław Marciniak, who recently explained on the farmer.pl website what trade looked like before the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine. So, for example, in the case of corn, it was actually already duty-free. Quotas applied to products such as poultry meat, sugar, eggs and soft fruit. In the case of cereals before the war, quotas applied only consumption wheat. For corn, there were no quotas for imports from outside the EU (including from Ukraine), and the customs duty was 0%. However, in the case of rapeseed, there were neither customs duties nor quotas, so rapeseed not only from Ukraine, but also from Australia and Canada could and still can freely enter the Community.
Agricultural war shield
The Solidarity RI activist further notes in the letter that the current situation in agriculture resembles that of previous years related to the outbreak of COVID-19. Then, in order to save business entities from the effects of the pandemic, the anti-crisis shield was introduced. Now, the same mechanism has been proposed for the agricultural sector.
We demand the immediate introduction of a “war shield in agriculture and its surroundings”, maintaining the economic viability of farms harmed by the irresponsible policy of the European Union and the Polish state after the outbreak of the war.
Solidarity RI estimated that the value of such assistance should be approximately EUR 15 billion, i.e. approximately PLN 66 billion, and its payment should be co-financed from European Union funds. How the aid would reach farmers and what the criteria for granting it would be – we do not know yet.
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