“This is not an agreement, we will sign it only if we all agree that what we demand will be fulfilled,” Tomasz Obszański told the portal wPolityce.pl. The head of NSZZ “Solidarność” RI emphasized, among other things, that Siekierski did not agree to many important demands of farmers, therefore the signed document is only a “communication of the talks”. Agricultural unions are currently forming a National Protest Committee, which will continue the strike and represent all union organizations.
Farmers are protesting today in 500 places in Poland and blocking roads. The agreement signed last night was presented at the press conference after the European Agricultural Forum. One of the points stipulates that the Minister of Agriculture must ask Prime Minister Donald Tusk to suspend the transit of agricultural products from Ukraine, to which the embargo applies, through Polish territory. Deputy Minister Kołodziejczak announced the success and stated that an agreement had been signed with the protesting farmers. As Tomasz Obszański explained in an interview with wPolityce.pl, the signed document is not an agreement that will limit agricultural protests.
This is not an agreement. I didn’t sign any agreement and I was the only one against signing it. What has been agreed has the character of an agreement, a communication. This is a signal that farmers are showing good will in contact with the government, to finally start somewhere, because the government is doing nothing. This is the first document showing that something has been agreed, but has not yet been worked out. This is not an agreement; we will only sign it if we all agree that our demands will be met.
– said the chairman of NSZZ “Solidarność” RI. The issue was commented on the X platform by former Minister of Agriculture Anna Gembicka:
The Ministry of Agriculture announces that it is a great success that the agreement has been signed. And who signed the agreement with Siekierski and Kołodziejczak? Kołodziejczak’s assistant, who recently read out the list of which farmers can attend the meeting with Tusk ‼️ This is the representation of farmers.
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There is no permission, according to the committee
Obszański revealed that the farmers in Jasionka were first presented with a document that would lead to an agreement.
I was against this and stated that we could only sign it as a notice and not as an agreement. There is no success here, as some people announce, this is just the beginning of the journey. This road finally had to open
– said Obszański, adding that the Ministry of Agriculture stated that there would be a ban on transit through Poland.
Unfortunately, our next demands to support not only farmers engaged in grain, but also all other industries that need it, for example the dairy or livestock sector, were not accepted by others. Siekierski. We are against leaving out a production department so that it no longer has support. We also continue to demand that the entire Green Deal be rejected. When it comes to agreements in this area, it is still not enough
— Tomasz Obszański told us. He emphasized that the first step had been taken to elect strong representation of all unions and non-protesting farmers.
We are establishing the National Protest Committee because there must be such representation. We not only want to tighten our muscles, but also come up with solutions. We protest, but we also have to talk. Yesterday these were not negotiations, but conversations. The result is that we have made tentative agreements, we can see some warming, something is starting to happen. The government needs to be more flexible towards all sectors, not just the grain industry
– explained the head of the agricultural sector “Solidarity”.
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Green Deal in the trash
The editorial staff of the wPolityce.pl portal also received the union’s position on the Jasionka talks.
Only yesterday we, NSZZ RI, signed the meeting communiqué. This is not an agreement. Chairman Obszański was the only one who refused to sign the agreement under the terms proposed by Siekierski and Balazs, because the proposal included only grain producers, while other sectors on the verge of bankruptcy were not included.
– we read in the information sent to the editors of the wPolityce.pl portal. As NSZZ “Solidarność” RI writes, the union demands “15 billion euros from the EU for Polish agriculture as war compensation.”
And this is what the green deal sticks to for the time being: the embargo on Ukraine, a rail transport route to Polish seaports and the expansion of maritime grain terminals – without the implementation of these demands, an agreement is impossible.
– we read in the agricultural declaration “Solidarity”, which is similar to the Mini declaration. Siekierski that “no agreement could be concluded due to the very large discrepancies and high expectations of agricultural solidarity.”
This announcement is the first step towards an agreement. Previous meetings ended without documents. Here is the first document since the beginning of the protests in the form of a message confirming the will to reach an agreement
– explains NSZZ “Solidarność” RI.
Arrangements
As agreed, the parties stated in the document to regulate trade relations between Poland and Ukraine. Including market access to products such as: grains, rapeseed, corn, sugar, poultry, eggs, soft fruit and apples. The document also includes a point on subsidies, which include: barley and rye. The subsidies must be earned at the level of aid from 2023 and will cover grain sold in the period from January 1 this year. until May 30 this year Another point aims to maintain the level of agricultural taxes at the 2023 level.
READ ALSO:
– Is that “success”? KO is happy with the “agreement” on imports from Ukraine. Tarczyński: Whose success? Certainly not Polish farmers!
– Helplessness of Tusk’s team! Minister of Agriculture: We do not know how the conversation will proceed with the participation of the European Parliament, the European Commission and countries. Opinions are divided
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Source: wPolityce