Sawicki on the farmers' protest: “Donald, go to your friend Ursula…”
Farmers have many reasons to be angry. It is high time to decisively change the common agricultural policy and the Polish agricultural policy, said PSL MP Marek Sawicki on TVN24.
– I understand and support protesting farmers. If farmers' incomes drop by more than 40% in one year. and costs remain at a similar level, it is no wonder that these farmers… Even if they decide to sell their wheat or rapeseed cheaply, they find out that entities that trade in grain and rapeseed say: no, no, we are swamped – said senior marshal, PSL MP Marek Sawicki in an interview with TVN24.
Sawicki blames ministers who are not farmers
In his opinion, “farmers have many reasons to be angry.” – It is high time to decisively change the common agricultural policy and the Polish agricultural policy – he declared.
He believes that the present-day problems of the Polish countryside are largely responsible for the ministers and deputy ministers themselves, who have no agricultural education, not to mention experience. Janusz Wojciechowski, who has a diploma from the Faculty of Law, not the Agricultural University, was also criticized. – Agriculture in the EU was and is still being dealt with by lawyers, and agriculture in Poland was dealt with by ministers who not only had no education, but also no agricultural training. The deputy ministers were people who had never been involved in agriculture, he lamented.
The former Minister of Agriculture said that the responsibility for the current situation lies with the EC, which “sacrificed agriculture for other sectors of the economy and negotiated the so-called Mercosur agreement and unrestricted access to food products from South America.
– Two, it decided to completely free the European market for production from Ukraine. And three – it did not block the export of Russian food and today it is mainly Russian production that lowers prices on world markets. Because today, due to the ongoing war, the Russians are able to dump and sell wheat 30-40 euros cheaper than on the stock exchange, Sawicki said.
“Donald, go to your friend Ursula…”
He also addressed a short appeal to Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
– We have a billion people starving. I encourage Donald Tusk: dear friend Donald, go to your friend Ursula von der Leyen, arrange for 5 billion times 10, i.e. 50 billion for 10 years, for humanitarian export of food from Europe. And don't talk about subsidies for farmers – appealed the PSL MP.
On Wednesday, the day of the farmers' protest in Warsaw, Renata Beger, once a prominent Self-Defense MP, spoke in a similar tone about subsidies. She argued that farmers do not want subsidies at all, because what they care most about is being able to support themselves through their own work.