Will the list of “Polish demands” change the Green Deal?
“It is known that the point is not to overthrow or throw away the entire Green Deal, but in fact, practically all the provisions in the Green Deal regarding agriculture are, especially now in times of war and duty-free trade (with Ukraine – PAP) are another blow and must be suspended or withdrawn,” said the head of government at a press conference on Thursday after a meeting with farmers’ representatives.
Donald Tusk emphasized that farmers are unanimous that the Green Deal should not be subject to conditionality or coercion, that if certain actions are not taken, subsidies may be withheld, for example. “We must abandon this. Farmers are ready to implement the Green Deal in a flexible, evolutionary way wherever possible, where it is understandable to them, even immediately, but they do not agree and – I am on their side – to compulsory enforcement of the provisions , which are not entirely rational and, from the point of view of Polish agriculture, are exaggerated, to put it mildly,” he added.
The Prime Minister announced that a list of “Polish demands” would be prepared together with farmers. He added that it is to be accompanied by information that “Polish agriculture will not be interested and will not respect the provisions if they do not change.”
When is the next meeting with farmers?
Another meeting with protesting farmers will probably take place on March 5 or 7, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday. He added that he intends to inform about the effects of actions taken regarding agricultural protests.
As Tusk noted at a press conference after talks with farmers, the meeting “probably” will not take place on March 6, the day of the planned farmers’ demonstration in Warsaw.
The head of government declared that during the next meeting he would inform “about the effects of the actions taken, or about drastic decisions, if any prove necessary.” The talks were difficult but very constructive, the interlocutors emphasized that they were not interested in political confrontation, but in solving the problem. He added that as prime minister he is obliged to solve this problem.
Tusk also said that the Prime Minister of Ukraine suggested in talks with him that until the problem is resolved at the European level, Ukraine is ready to close the border to trade in goods. “But such a decision will have mutual consequences, it is not a dream scenario, but unfortunately we must keep it in mind,” Tusk noted.
He added that he also supports the idea that the EU should finance the purchase and transport of grain from European markets to countries in need, in order to free Europe from approximately 30 million tons of grain surplus.
