EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski announced that the environmental requirements of the Green Deal, which affect farmers the most, will be changed. Fallow land will be voluntary and restrictions on crop protection products will not come into effect, he noted.
Wojciechowski was a guest at a morning talk on Radio Łódź. He admitted that he understood the ongoing farmers’ protests across Europe, which – as he said – were the result of the demonstrators’ increasing economic difficulties.
The EU Commissioner announced that he is preparing key legislative changes to meet the demands of protesting farmers, including a derogation from the mandatory 4% set aside. country under the Green Deal. He pointed out that this is the main concern of farmers in the EU’s green reform.
The first is that the set aside will be voluntary, not forced. Two: the issue of limiting crop protection products, which worries farmers and which I was against from the start. This will not come into effect either; it has been withdrawn from the legislative procedure. Other things are more technical; there are bureaucratic obstacles to overcome. (…) We are currently preparing changes, which will probably be announced next week
– said Wojciechowski.
“What I am preparing at the European Commission should reassure farmers.”
I think that what I am preparing in the European Commission should reassure farmers and reduce farmers’ concerns to zero
– he pointed out.
The commissioner added that the new EU regulation, which will enter into force in June this year, will restrict imports of sugar, eggs and poultry meat from Ukraine.
When asked about PiS President Jarosław Kaczyński’s call for resignation, Wojciechowski argued that he had tasks to perform and wanted to accomplish.
I was sorry to hear this opinion, which may be based on a lack of full knowledge of my activities in the EC. The subsidies were equalized, that was my main expectation. This year, Polish farmers will receive higher subsidies than the EU average and almost the same as German farmers. Farmers received EUR 4 billion in support outside the EU budget, and trade restrictions with Ukraine were imposed on my initiative. I think I have accomplished my most important tasks, and there are still a number of tasks ahead of me
– he said.
tkwl/PAP
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Source: wPolityce