After the changes and the withdrawal of the European Commission from the obligation to set aside 4%. country, the Green Deal is acceptable to farmers – said the Minister of Agriculture, Czesław Siekierski, in the PAP Studio on Wednesday.
We left this Order after our comments and demands, which were largely accepted in the European Commission in a very rudimentary form (…) This form is limited
– said the minister.
My proposal in the EU Council of Ministers was to again this year abandon fallow as a mandatory system, and in the future it could be introduced as an eco-scheme, such a voluntary option for farmers who want it and want to be paid for it .
– Siekierski noted.
If the EC were to revoke this set-aside obligation, in my opinion, farmers will accept the Green Deal
– he emphasized.
He noted that farmers have long been using many of the principles of the Green Deal.
As he said, the EC points out instead that the Green Deal was accepted by the Polish government – “yes, the previous government accepted it without always consulting farmers and without explaining to farmers what it would entail.”
It was a demonstration meeting without any substantive depth about what the Green Deal is about, because farmers would have a different opinion about this
– Siekierski noted.
Stopping the Green Deal is one of the demands of farmers during the protests that have been taking place for weeks in Poland, but also in other EU countries.
The European Green Deal introduces a number of guidelines, including: agriculture that will allow Europe to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The idea is to introduce more ecological and less emissions-intensive production by setting aside land, reducing the use of fertilizers and crop protection products by half and a mandatory allocation of 25 percent of the land area for organic crops.
Conversations with demonstrators
Discussions will take place on Thursday with representatives of individual protest groups, from which leaders are beginning to emerge. We want to expand this with the participation of representatives of agricultural organizations, trade unions and agricultural chambers, Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski said in the PAP Studio on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, when asked in the PAP Studio about the meeting with farmers scheduled at his ministry for Thursday, Siekierski said it was the start of talks with “representatives of individual protest groups”. He noticed that these were many independent groups from which their leaders began to emerge.
These leaders were partly (during Tuesday’s meeting) together with the President of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia, (…) but we want the representation sitting at the table for the talks to be representative and that is why we also want to expand it with the participation of representatives of agricultural organizations, trade unions and agricultural chambers.
– he said.
On Tuesday, Chairman of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia, Vice-Chairman Piotr Zgorzelski and the head of the Sejm Agriculture Committee Mirosław Maliszewski met with protesting farmers. Farmers demanded a waiver from the provisions of the Green Deal, which sealed borders against the influx of agri-food products from outside the EU, mainly from Ukraine, and supported livestock farming in Poland.
Referring to Tuesday’s farmers’ protest in Warsaw, the Agriculture Minister noted that “this time the unions co-organized and supported, but most of the protests were self-organized.” He emphasized that these grassroots groups create a completely new platform for the discussion of agriculture.
When asked how many representatives of protesting farmers the ministry’s managers planned to talk to on Thursday, Siekierski assumed that “it would be between 20 and 30 people.”
Due to the efficiency of the conversations and their content, they cannot be of a massive nature
– he explained.
Siekierski emphasized that the meeting with farmers would be led by the deputy head of the ministry, Michał Kołodziejczak. He added that the main topic of the discussion will be farmers’ demands, i.e. “limiting the Green Deal, closing the border with Ukraine and not limiting animal production.”
The demands are valid, but there is a problem with the scale and scope of their implementation. It is difficult to imagine a clear, complete closure of the borders, because there is humanitarian and military aid and trade flows both ways. (…) A complete shutdown would affect producers
– added.
Responding to the comment that a complete closure of the border for Ukrainian products is not to be expected, the head of the Ministry of Agriculture replied that “maybe for some goods.” He added that this depended on talks with the Ukrainian side.
Peasant protests took place in Warsaw on Tuesday. Polish farmers’ demands include abandoning the provisions of the Green Deal, sealing borders against the influx of agricultural products from outside the EU, and defending livestock farming in Poland. According to organizers, approximately 50,000 participants took part in the protest.
Import of grain from Ukraine
We must have a full legal basis to publish the list of companies importing grain from Ukraine. It is necessary to distinguish between entities that did this legally and those that imported certain products when the embargo was in force, Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski said at the PAP Studio on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Deputy Agriculture Minister Michał Kołodziejczak, when asked on TVN24 about the list of companies importing Ukrainian grain to Poland, replied that he had a list of 570 entities. When asked about the publication of this list, he replied: “We’ll see how much we can show, but I need to know all the details – who bought what and how much.”
In the beginning it was said that these were only companies that bought wheat and corn, now we have canola
– added.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Czesław Siekierski, asked in the PAP Studio whether the Polish consumer should be informed whether the product he wants to buy is made from domestic grain or whether it comes from Ukraine, for example.
Goods must be marked with respect to raw materials.
To the comment that in many cases it may be impossible to verify this, he replied in the affirmative, adding that as a result of the list of entities that, according to the ministry’s data, imported grain from Ukraine, published by the PiS- government at the end of November: “Some companies are losing customers and experiencing economic problems, even though they have not committed any crime.” He added that they can therefore “not only demand correction, but also exercise their rights before the courts.”
We have to look at it very objectively. At a certain period, importing Ukrainian grain – PAP) was allowed because it was allowed to import
– he said.
The Minister of Agriculture emphasized that in the case of publishing company names there must be a “full legal basis” for this and that companies that imported when there was an embargo on certain products should be treated differently and when “they did so in in accordance with applicable law.” “.
Although you might not be able to say that entirely morally
– added.
When asked directly whether the public would not know the list of these entities, the minister replied:
This may be the case in cases where the applicable law was exceeded. All this is controlled because it is easy to blame someone, and then it is difficult to remove this odium from the company’s brand
– added.
Siekierski emphasized that he has asked Deputy Minister Kołodziejczak to “take it easy, because there are certain rules that must be followed.”
Rush is not recommended here, although I understand social media and media expectations
– he emphasized.
At the end of November last year, the Ministry of Agriculture published on its website a list of companies importing grain from Ukraine. According to the then Minister of Agriculture, Anna Gembicka, the list consists of data available for inspections subordinate to the ministry. She then explained that she had asked the Tax Authorities for the KAS list.
The document with the list of companies published in November consists of 62 pages. There are several hundred companies on the list, some of which repeat their names many times.
On November 23 last year, during a press conference presenting the results of the inspection of the import and trade of grain and rapeseed from Ukraine, the Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Development of the Supreme Court of Audit, Marek Adamiak, said in response to questions from journalists whether the Supreme Court of Audit knows the list of companies involved in this trade, has informed that the Chamber has received such lists, but cannot make them public because they are subject to customs secrecy.
In response to the information from the Supreme Court of Audit, the then Minister of Agriculture, Robert Telus, announced that he had asked the National Tax Administration to provide lists of companies trading in technical grain from Ukraine. do not provide the lists due to the applicable tax secrecy. Telus subsequently announced that it had asked the prosecutor’s office to present this information and agree to make it public.
My answer is that I cannot receive such a list
– he said.
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mly/PAP
Source: wPolityce
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.