The European Commission’s concessions are minimal, tactical, forced by agricultural protests and the upcoming European Parliament elections, said PiS MP and former Minister of Agriculture Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski on Monday, commenting on Friday’s announcement of the relaxation of the Green Deal.
On Friday, the European Commission published a draft amendment to two regulations related to the Green Deal. The proposals include, among others: abolition of the obligation to fallow, choice between crop diversification and rotation, simplifications regarding the maintenance of soil cover. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Czesław Siekierski, positively assessed these proposals.
Tactical concessions by the European Commission
– These are only tactical concessions, forced somewhat by the situation and agricultural protests in Europe, including in Poland, and the upcoming elections to the European Parliament. There is no more important reflection and change in the European Union’s climate policy, no departure from this policy, which will affect everyone, not only farmers, said Ardanowski during a press conference in Lublin on Monday. However, as he noted, “any loosening of the Green Deal must be welcomed.”
The EC’s concessions are minimal, insignificant and certainly do not satisfy farmers, because they still do not guarantee the economic survival of farms – emphasized the PiS politician.
In his opinion, the situation in agriculture is difficult, farmers are expressing their dissatisfaction and he expressed his belief that protests across Europe will continue.
The European Union, Ardanowski said, is pursuing an “increasingly illogical policy of destroying agriculture, under the slogan that agriculture harms nature.” He added that this policy is created mainly by the European People’s Party.
Speaking about the full opening of EU countries to food from Ukraine, he said that the decision was made by the European Commission “threatening penalties if anyone did not want to implement this decision to open up.” As he stated, PiS “at some point dared to stop imports from Ukraine and pay farmers very large compensation for market losses caused by the EC’s decision,” but it did it too late, which – according to Ardanowski – was “a big mistake, PiS’s fault” and contributed to to lower support in the countryside.
– I am absolutely convinced that if those who are currently in power in Poland were in power, there would be no closure, restriction or suspension of imports from Ukraine – he said. According to a PiS politician, Prime Minister Donald Tusk is not interested in solving agricultural problems and wants to “hold them out and tire them out.”
According to Ardanowski, Poland should be the initiator of a “serious debate in Europe” on the new common agricultural policy, which would also take into account food security.
The common agricultural policy needs to be reinvented. She brought great successes. Since the Treaties of Rome, when it was written that the point was for consumers in Europe to have enough food at reasonable prices, but at the same time for farmers to survive and live with dignity by producing food for consumers. This policy is falling apart before our eyes. The European Union’s policy is leading to the destruction of this agriculture and farmers notice it. Certainly, these concessions – very symbolic – do not solve the problem in any way – said the PiS politician.
According to Ardanowski, commercial farms that have invested in land, new equipment and technologies in recent years are at risk of bankruptcy.
– If they have no place to sell it on the market, if they are forced out of this market by Ukrainian food, or if it is not possible to export from Poland to other EU countries – and above all, we invested our surplus food there – then these farms will go bankrupt – he said.
During the conference, Ardanowski supported PiS candidates to the Lublin Voivodeship Assembly: Marek Wojciechowski, Krzysztof Gałaszkiewicz and Tomasz Solis.
Farmers’ protests have been going on for several weeks in Poland and other EU countries. In Poland, their demands include abandoning the provisions of the Green Deal, sealing the borders against the inflow of agri-food products from outside the EU and defending animal breeding in Poland.
The European Green Deal introduces many guidelines, including: agriculture, which are to enable Europe to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The idea is to introduce more ecological and less emission-intensive production through the use of land set aside, reducing the use of fertilizers and plant protection products by half, and obligatory allocation of 25% area of land for organic crops.
