“It was Europe that woke us up”
“The current protests are not the result of the fact that we, as trade unionists, have somehow miraculously stimulated knowledge among Poles. It was Europe that woke us up. The protest in Berlin opened our eyes, but also France, the Netherlands and Belgium. From that moment we started talking about the Green Deal,” explains Marek Sulima.
He adds that the second most important demand is the issue of importing agricultural products from Ukraine.
Why are farmers protesting only now?
“We slept through it. I admit it. It was then – two years earlier – that we should have woken up. I’m not talking about closing the borders, but about introducing cbarrier walls or controlled and sealed transports. We didn’t do it,” admits Sulima.
“What’s more, imported grain from Ukraine was called “technical grain.” She did that too European Union. We all fell into a trap. But then we wanted to help Ukraine, no business was in mind,” he notes.
Food security
“If we consider animal and plant production as an element food security Polish, this area is as important as military and armament security, such as tank, rifle and other types of weapons. Therefore, food security should be an element of preparing for defense in the event of war,” says the representative of the Lublin Voivode for cooperation with agricultural organizations.
“There are only 300,000 of us, the people who produce food, left. This is the number of farms we are talking about. They need to be saved immediately,” appeals Sulima.
The farmer warns that if this number continues to decrease, Poland will lose its food security. “After all, it is not in the interests of anyone in Poland to become dependent on external suppliers, even if this country were our best friend. If we don’t have our own food in case of events like a pandemic Covid-19 or the war in Ukraine, then we can answer for ourselves what position we will be in then,” he points out.
Full conversation in the podcast:
