Thousands of farmers protest in Warsaw against EU climate policies and Ukrainian imports

Thousands of Polish farmers have marched in Warsaw against EU climate policies and agricultural imports from Ukraine.

They were joined at today’s event – which is the largest demonstration so far during ongoing protests by farmers in Poland – by colleagues from other EU countries as well as by Polish miners and hunters.

Protesters waved red and white Polish flags and carried banners reading “Without us you will be hungry, naked and sober” and “I am a farmer, not a slave”.

Some banners were also directed against Ukraine, with one saying “Take care of your family’s health. Don’t eat crap from Ukraine”.

Another declared “Enough hospitality towards ungrateful sons of bitches” and showed a Ukrainian being kicked out of Poland.

The march, which has proceeded peacefully so far, began at 11 a.m. by Warsaw’s landmark Palace of Science and Culture. From there, the farmers headed towards parliament and then the prime minister’s chancellery.

They demanded that the authorities meet their demands, which include abandoning restrictions on agriculture planned under the EU’s “Green Deal” climate package and placing tougher restrictions on agricultural goods from Ukraine.

Before the protest, the organisers announced that 10,000 farmers would participate. Footage broadcast by media outlets showed large crowds in the centre of Warsaw. The city’s mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, told Polsat News that there are indeed around 10,000 people at the demonstration.

“We are under pressure from Ukraine’s supply of agricultural products of all kinds. They have pushed down the prices of our crops so that we are making a loss,” one of the protesting farmers told broadcaster TVP.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who is currently in Prague for a summit of the Visegrad Group, said that he had heard the farmers’ demands and vowed to take action to address, among other things, trade with Ukraine.

“We are realistic about the impact of the [EU’s] free trade decision with Ukraine, which negatively affects our markets,” said Tusk following a meeting with his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala earlier today.

He noted that no one could accuse Poland and the Czech Republic of not helping Ukraine. But he pointed out that liberalising trade with Ukraine negatively affects their economies and they will “work together for adjustments that will protect the common European market”.

Agriculture minister Czesław Siekierski, meanwhile, said that “the European Commission has imposed excessive, unreasonable, costly Green Deal requirements”, reported broadcaster TVN.

The commission has already announced the withdrawal of the compulsory fallowing of 4% of land for larger farms and a 50% reduction in pesticide use by 2030. However, this has not been enough to satisfy farmers in Poland and other EU countries, where regular protests have also taken place in recent weeks.

“We do not agree with merely suspending these regulations. This is unacceptable because, at any time, the European Commission can decide to unsuspend them. We demand that the changes be permanent,” one of the protest leaders, farmers’ trade union chief Sławomir Izdebski, told Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

Polish farmers began their 30-day protest on 9 February and have since been blocking roads around Poland as well as border crossings with Ukraine. There have also been incidents of the dumping of Ukrainian grain transiting through Poland, acts that Kyiv has condemned.

Yesterday, farmers also started blocking a border crossing with Slovakia, which they say is being used as a route to bring produce from Ukraine into Poland, bypassing the blockade on the Ukrainian border.

On Friday, Ukraine called on Poland to resolve the blockades, threatening retaliatory action if the issue is not sorted out by 28 March, the date when the Polish and Ukrainian governments are due to meet for bilateral talks in Warsaw.

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Main image credit: Adam Stepien / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.