– Issues related to farmers’ problems require some changes. The problem arose at the level of European regulations and must be solved at the level of European regulations, said President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday in Ljubljana at a joint press conference with the President of Slovenia, Natasha Pirc Musar.
President Duda and his wife are visiting Slovenia and talked with the country’s president on Wednesday. At a joint conference of the presidents of Poland and Slovenia, journalists asked whether the topics of their talks also included issues related to farmers’ problems.
President Duda emphasized that Poland is a self-sufficient country in terms of food, as Poles realized during the coronavirus pandemic.
The opening of borders to food from Ukraine and the war crisis that was caused by Russia in Ukraine, as well as huge difficulties in exporting Ukrainian food products to many countries in the world to which they have been exported for decades, have led to a crisis situation, President Duda emphasized.
He added that decisions regarding agricultural products from Ukraine were made ad hoc and require “reflection on them.” “They require some changes. (…) This problem arose at the level of European regulations and must be solved at the level of European regulations,” he emphasized. As he said, another element that should be considered at the European level are issues related to the Green Deal.
– We need to take farmers’ protests very seriously, Polish and Ukrainian farmers must have the same conditions. Currently, Ukrainian farmers have better conditions, said the President of Slovenia, Natasza Pirc Musar. She added that this is a topic that needs to be discussed, especially in the context of the risk of interrupting supply chains.
Yesterday I informed the Prime Minister about Slovenia’s food sovereignty system. We have analyzed what steps need to be taken,” she said. “As part of the EU, we will have to adapt to the new situations,” she added.
– Europe has suffered from hunger before and we do not want this situation to return, she admitted. She emphasized that we should look at what climate change brings and listen to farmers.
– I understand Polish farmers and, of course, as the president of Slovenia, I would like all farmers on the European market to have the same conditions. If Ukraine wants to join the EU, of course farmers will also have to accept the conditions as they are, she said.
