Is this the slow end of the European Union? Farmers’ strikes are the largest uprising in the history of the Community. Everyone speaks with one voice. The problem is huge.
- EU policy does not currently protect the safety of farmers in Europe
- If the agricultural strikes remain unanswered, the Union’s formula – so to speak – ends
- Will Europeans have imported food on their tables?
Will the strike be stronger than a piece of paper?
We are dealing with the largest wave of strikes in the history of the European Union. The huge upsurge concerns primarily agriculture – farmers are on strike in almost every EU country. The protests included countries that are the largest food producers in Europe. Farmers running small and large farms take to the streets. There was no such unity towards a common cause among farmers in the EU. Agricultural strikes may determine the future of the Community’s agrarian policy in the coming years. The only question is whether anyone will take farmers’ voices into account? Theoretically, in a democratic community, and that is what the EU is, The voice of the people should be heard. But for EU decision-makers, a piece of paper with an already approved regulation is sacred, and any correction becomes an insurmountable wall. The regulation does not have to be logical – but it is a regulation and the Community authorities protect this more than the safety of farmers and consumers.
The Green Deal is dangerous to financial food security
Meanwhile, the Green Deal policy must be renegotiated because in its current format it will lead to ruin for Europe. Farmers have nothing against production based on even better standards, although the current ones are stringent. Every conscious farmer knows that land is a valuable resource and must be taken care of so that future generations can benefit from it. But actions must be careful, prudent, safe. Farmers in the European Union are not prepared to introduce such massive changes, because in the current format they not only threaten the financial security of farms, but may even lead to bankruptcy of many farmers.
Producers do not say that they do not want to produce more ecologically. On the contrary. But it has to be introduced gradually. But also wisely, because some of the current solutions for environmental protection have no impact at all and are only intended to inhibit production in the EU.
Subsidies have become a propaganda tool for the EU
The same situation applies to direct payments. Unfortunately, the average person is told that huge funds are “pumped” into agriculture and the farmer lives on subsidies. Nonsense is an understatement. The current system of direct payments is extremely unfavorable. In general, subsidies will probably be lower than before, because the possibility of obtaining higher rates is related to the implementation of expensive and often burdensome practices. Another thing is that in the case of Polish agriculture, direct payments will constitute a very low share in farm revenues for another year. Given the current price of some production inputs – especially mineral fertilizers, fuel and the terrible price of agricultural produce – the importance of subsidies is much lower than a few or a dozen years ago. Meanwhile, a completely different message is sent to people unrelated to agriculture – the EU helps farmers, gives subsidies and finances machines. Who among us hasn’t heard the words “the EU gave it to you” or “you bought it with EU money”. We do not depreciate support measures, but let us remember that this money is not free. Polish farmers made huge investments to modernize their farms and adapt them to EU conditions, and at the same time Poland became a market for European products. of course – our products are also exported. And here we come to the next postulate.
Preferential conditions for Ukraine
Ukraine can import into the European Union on preferential terms that Polish, German or French farmers have never had. Unfortunately, here and there you can hear voices that farmers from Western Europe, from Poland, have already had their 5 minutes, and now it is time for Ukraine, which needs help. This is a huge lie. Because farms with the so-called the old fifteen, and later also, among others, from Poland, did not have such good conditions for exporting their products as companies operating in Ukraine. Because we will emphasize once again that the aid probably does not reach the average Ukrainian farmer and remains in the hands of the largest agroholdings. Let us add here that almost 2 million hectares remain in the hands of the 10 largest agroholdings in Ukraine, of which the smallest is the only Ukrainian one (having approximately 80 thousand hectares of land – the others have much more and even have much more than 200 thousand hectares each). Only in the hands of the 9 largest agroholdings in Ukraine, registered in the USA, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Luskembourg and Cyprus, is an amount of land that almost equals the area of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. And yet there are many other holdings with “smaller” tracts of land – 20,000, 50,000 ha… European family farms have absolutely no chance against such giants. The fight is about whether Europeans will still have meals on their tables made from products from farmers from the EU or from Ukraine. And the weakness of European agriculture will be eagerly exploited by other strong players – from Asia, South America…
There is a good custom that when visiting guests you have to take something with you. Or to put it another way – if you want to join a family and live well in it, it is good to first “please” such a family. Ukraine wants to enter European markets by pushing each other with elbows, without looking at other members of the Community. In fact, it does not even want to enter, but to enter them. is. But someone allowed such an arrangement – under the guise of aid, Ukraine was invited to these markets. Now, not only in Poland, we see that with Ukrainian agriculture we have no chance for development or equal and competitive production. Without securing the market for Ukrainian goods, Polish agriculture he won’t get up from his knees.
If the EU does not listen to farmers, its formula ends
The phrase that the European Union is ending is probably an abuse. But the European Commission must also learn that the Community was not created to introduce dictatorship. What kind of democracy can we talk about if the people have no voice, and the fate of millions of people is decided by a small group of people in Brussels? If these agricultural strikes go unnoticed, we can say that the Union’s formula, which was supposed to work for the safety of citizens, including food security, has been exhausted. The current strikes are a fight for survival for millions of farmers, but also for the entire agro industry, which depends on the market situation in agriculture.
– .