“We are one step ahead of the changes to the treaties that place the environment, nature, forests, land and water management under the exclusive competence of the European Union. If this happens, we will have no influence on policies in this area, we will only be managers of our property, dictated by EU regulations and provisions,” emphasizes Paweł Sałek, PiS MP and former advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland, in an interview with wPolityce.pl.
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wPolityce.pl: Why did Prime Minister Donald Tusk become personally involved in, among other things, the issue of the State Forests? in a way that he personally announced the change in the position of LP director, and Minister Hennig-Kloska did not? In addition, Witold Koss, who was introduced by the head of government as a “famous forester from the Western Pomeranian Voivodeship”, took part in Tusk’s election rallies during last year’s campaign. Is there something behind these kinds of actions?
Pawel Salek: It is astonishing that Prime Minister Donald Tusk is personally concerned with the State Forests State Forest Holding issue. It seemed that this area of responsibility regarding forestry and hunting would fall into the hands of the PSL party, as it was this party that always dealt with these matters when it was in power.
Perhaps the head of government got involved in the LP case because it is one of the most important state institutions. All decisions relating to State Forests are likely to be taken personally by the Prime Minister, although formally – in accordance with applicable regulations – this is the purview of the Minister for the Environment, who can only act as an intermediary. This of course means – nothing less – its politicization and the upcoming personnel purges in the positions of regional directors and forest districts. The positions will be taken by people associated with PO or PSL, and there is no doubt that the politicization will begin under the slogan of ‘depoliticization’. The sad thing is that LP’s well-being won’t matter.
Have you received any response from Minister Hennig-Kloska or anyone from the Ministry of Culture and Environment to the questions asked in the Sejm on December 21, 2023? How well known are the plans of the current authorities when it comes to forest management?
To date, I have not received a written response from Prime Minister Tusk to the questions posed for the exposé, nor have I received a response from the Minister of the Environment to the questions posed during the budget debate. We do not specifically know the ruling coalition’s program regarding PGL LP. They were not presented in an unambiguous way, apart from statements that the governing coalition would do everything developed and adopted by Brussels and that it would exclude 20 percent of the population. forests. This is the only certain point, of course regardless of whether it will be beneficial or harmful to nature. I will add that these forest exclusion provisions are ideas from Brussels, and D. Tusk’s government will implement these EU solutions.
Is the new government preparing an ‘attack’ on Poland’s forests? Where does the threat lie and which aspects of the functioning of this part of the Polish state are at risk?
We know something from recent history about how PO managed the LP. They were charged with levies on the state budget and attempts were made to integrate LPs into public finances. All these actions were intended to weaken the financial management of the company, ultimately concluding that it was not profitable, that the LPs were not profitable and should be transferred to other hands.
This is an old and quite well-known mechanism in Polish history for destroying everything efficient and useful for the Polish state. We know that creating debt, increasing spending needs, increasing unemployment, limiting budget revenues and allowing tax fraud on a large scale are Prime Minister Tusk’s calling card. He did this when he was Prime Minister in 2007-2012.
Donald Tusk will carry out all instructions from Brussels, an example of which is the agreement to the Migration and Asylum Pact, and there will also be many directives that the Prime Minister must implement in the field of ecology. Under the guise of environmental protection, he is now doing what benefits Brussels. I currently estimate that under the great slogans of nature protection and the creation of new national parks, the structure of state forests will be dissolved, which will be harmful to Polish nature, the timber industry and all Poles.
What do the EU guidelines say about all this? In 2023, United Right politicians warned about Brussels’ attempts to tackle Polish forests. Could the actions of Tusk’s government accelerate the deprivation of this area of state functioning from Member States?
I have repeatedly warned about the EU bureaucracy and its attempts to manage our nature, our environment and our forests. So far this has been contrary to the treaty provisions. Mixed powers were interpreted broadly, imposing solutions whose scope exceeded the EU’s capabilities. Today we are one step ahead of changes to the treaties, which place the environment, nature, forests, land and water management under the exclusive competence of the European Union. If this happens, we have no influence on policy in this area; we are merely custodians of our property, dictated by EU regulations and provisions.
A situation where Polish interests are not taken into account raises objections from many scientific, nature and forestry communities. Let me give you an example: if it is necessary to limit the supply of wood in Poland, there will be huge areas of land that will be excluded from economic use. National forests will be short of funds for maintenance, the state budget will not be able to meet these needs and we will once again be faced with the question: “What now?”
Thank you very much for the interview.
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Source: wPolityce