Today in Strasbourg, during the European Parliament’s plenary session, a debate took place with the participation of Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, focusing on improving the socioeconomic situationof farmers and rural areas, ensuring fair incomes, food security, and a just transition. PiS MEPs Krzysztof Jurgiel and Dominik Tarczyński spoke during the debate.
Krzysztof Jurgiel noted that farmers across Europe are protesting against trade liberalization with Ukraine, the European Green Deal, and the European Union’s agricultural policy. “In their view, this policy leads to a decline in agricultural activity,” he explained. The former minister of agriculture outlined the goals of the Law and Justice party’s strategy for agriculture. He listed that these include not extending trade liberalization with Ukraine for another year under the current terms, strengthening food security and resilience to crises, improving quality of life, infrastructure, and the state of the environment, as well as fostering entrepreneurship, non-agricultural jobs, and an active society.
The Polish politician noted that a farmer-friendly policy from the European Commission is needed in the following areas: unlocking funds from the National Recovery Plan for Poland, the swift processing of Poland’s requests for market interventions, full convergence of funds for Poland, the conclusion of trade agreements beneficial to the European Union—including with Ukraine—and the development of food exports to third countries. “The European Commission must finally start listening to farmers and respecting their opinions, especially regarding the shape of the European Union’s agricultural policy,” the MEP argued.
Dominik Tarczyński addressed those absent from the debate: “Thank you, my dear leftists, for not being here.” As he noted, they were similarly absent during the protests by Dutch and German farmers. “Because you are the ones responsible for this madness. You are responsible for this mess that is affecting farmers today,” he stated. The PiS MEP pointed out, however, that there is one voice of reason in the European Commission. He expressed his appreciation for Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski for his stance against this “political madness” and for the decisions he has made. “There is no problem today with the transit of Ukrainian grain, but we are responsible for our citizens, we are responsible for our own nations, and we are responsible for the European Union,” he emphasized. The MEP also noted that aid to Ukraine is extremely important, “but we must take care of our own citizens.” Thanking the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dominik Tarczyński stated: “Today I am very proud to be Polish, because it is Poland that is saving European farmers.”
