“Together with foresters, we set up a legislative initiative committee to defend Polish forests; the project will not allow Polish forestry powers to be usurped by the EU; for such an action the consent of the Sejm will have to be obtained,” the politicians of Solidarna Polska announced. “We are a monstrously rich (wooded) country. Therefore, it is extremely important for us to defend it and everyone who has the well-being of Poland, the well-being of the forests in mind, should defend them” – says the widow of Min. Jan Szyszka.
Ziobro: “The EU’s attack on Polish forests”
During Solidarna Polska’s press conference on Thursday with the participation of representatives of state forest management authorities, Zbigniew Ziobro, the leader of the party, the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General, said that “the European Union wants to attack Polish forests, wants to destroy the effective management of take over the Polish forests.”
In fact, it is a game of great interests, because forest management costs a lot of money and Polish forests are known for their quality. Some countries of the European Union long ago destroyed, cleared, cleared, felled their forests; and Polish forests are beautiful and proof of great forest management, which is carried out by highly qualified and forest-loving Polish foresters. We cannot agree with the European Union getting its hands on Polish forests
Ziobro said.
“Poles decide on Polish forests”
As he added: “Poland, the Polish government and Polish foresters should decide how we run our economy.”
We cannot allow the EU’s plans for another attack on an important area of our country’s sovereignty, namely forests and forest management. That is why we are taking the initiative to collect signatures for a citizens’ law that should stop such plans in the future – by requiring that any proposal to amend the treaties be preceded by the consent of the Polish Sejm, the consent of a qualified majority of two-thirds of voters
he announced.
Attacks by the European Union
Michał Woś, an SP politician and former environment minister, added that “we have recently had real attacks by the European Union on Polish forests, on the ability of Poland to manage Polish forests.”
The European Union has taken the initiative to amend the treaties and move forestry issues, which currently fall under the exclusive competence of Poland (…) to the European forum
he said.
Today we are pleased to inform you that we are setting up a legislative initiative committee together with foresters – today we are submitting a request to the Marshal (Sejm of Elżbieta Witek – PAP); the marshal has a few days to issue a resolution, and then we start with the signatures
announced the politician.
Protect Polish forests against EU decisions? “We want to come to the fore”
As he added, the project will “protect Poland’s forestry powers and not allow these powers to be usurped by the EU”.
We want to be at the forefront, not like now, when ready-made solutions are presented to parliament, and then they are either ratified or not (…) We are at the forefront, so that any action related to forestry and limiting Polish powers could be addressed to the EU, there had to be an assent parliament – and not with a simple majority, but with 2/3 of the Polish parliament with the presence of at least half of the statutory number of deputies. We are convinced that this will protect Polish forests and Polish forestry competence
he said.
Woś ruled that this is a matter of “Polish sovereignty, not just a matter of conservation”.
The case of “Polish sovereignty”
Deputy Minister for Climate and Environment Edward Siarka ruled that “recent decisions by European institutions not only affect forests, but also directly affect our sovereignty.”
And I dare say that they also affect the territorial integrity of the Polish state, namely 30 percent. area of our country, these are the forests
said Sulfur.
He criticized the European institutions and the initiatives they presented, for example on the biodiversity strategy. Siarka said some EU proposals would mean restricting access to parts of Poland’s forests.
Widow after Min. Szyszce: “We have been fighting and defending these forests since 1989”
Krystyna Szyszko, widow of the Minister of Environmental Protection, Jan Szyszko, also spoke at the conference.
In fact, we have been fighting for these forests since 1989 and we are constantly defending them (…). My husband kept saying that we are a monstrously rich country, that as a society we don’t really know what wealth we live on. Therefore, it is extremely important for us to defend it, and everyone who has in mind the welfare of Poland, the welfare of the forests should be on this side to defend (the forests). So that, and I quote my husband here, we don’t become a nation without a country
Krystyna Szyszko said:
Coalition disagreements
Ziobro, answering journalists’ questions about the government’s climate policy, admitted there were discrepancies between Solidarna Polska and Prime Minister Morawiecki “regarding the climate and energy package and conditionality”.
We have also talked about this topic so many times at various press conferences (…), where we pointed out that this area of European politics is fundamentally different from SP and PiS. There are also many things that unite us, such as our attitude towards forests, I trust. And many other things that make us form a coalition, but we are in different parties (…). The coalition is also a difficult compromise
Ziobro said.
He added that permission to tighten climate policy “is actually permission for a faster completion of a wonderful project that was at the beginning of the project called the EU”.
In an issue of early March In its judgment, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that conservation organizations should have the right to challenge forest management plans in court. The case concerned a complaint against Poland by the European Commission. The EC accused Poland of violating the provisions of the Habitats and Birds Directives by introducing provisions into national law according to which “good practice forest management does not infringe nature protection provisions under the above directives”. The second allegation concerned the inability of environmental protection organizations to challenge forest management plans in court.
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Source: wPolityce