Polish farmers hold anti-EU protest in Warsaw

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Polish farmers have held another major protest in Warsaw today, coinciding with Poland inaugurating its six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union.

They say they are opposed to various “diktats from Brussels”, including a proposed free trade agreement between the EU and the South American Mercosur bloc, the so-called “Green Deal”, and agricultural imports from Ukraine.

The protest leaders also criticised the Polish government, led by former European Council President Donald Tusk, and their demonstration today received support from the right-wing opposition. However, the agriculture ministry notes that it has already pursued some of the policies demanded by the farmers.

The protest – organised by the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions of Farmers and Agricultural Organisations – started at 2 p.m. in front of the European Commission’s Warsaw office in the centre of the city.

Participants were accompanied by a large figure of the Grim Reaper, symbolising the death of Polish agriculture. Many waved banners containing anti-EU imagery, including some calling for “Polexit” from the bloc.

The farmers then began moving through the city towards the National Theatre, where a gala marking the beginning of Poland’s EU presidency is being held today.

“All farmers’ organisations [in Poland] will be protesting against the harmful policies of the European Union,” Tomasz Obszański, the chairman of the Rural Solidarity trade union of farmers said at a press conference before the event.

The protest is being held under the slogan “5 x STOP”, which Obszański said expressed opposition to “five dictates from Brussels”: the Mercosur free trade agreement, the Green Deal, imports from Ukraine, the destruction of Polish forests and hunting, as well as “extinguishing the Polish economy”.

Polish farmers have repeatedly protested in recent years, in particular against agricultural imports from Ukraine – which they say unfairly undercut Polish producers – and more recently against the proposed deal with Mercosur.

In November, some farmers held a one-day blockade of a border crossing with Ukraine. That was followed in December by “warning protests” blocking roads around Poland, which farmers said would expand into more serious demonstrations if the government did not meet their demands.

The free trade deal with Mercosur has also faced opposition from farmers in other EU countries, in particular France, who warn that it will allow the entry of food products with lower quality standards.

Speaking during today’s protest to the Tygodnik Solidarność newspaper, Obszański said that “nothing has happened in these few months, the government has done nothing”. He warned that “this is just the beginning of the protests that will be organised by farmers and other groups”.

The Polish government has also expressed its official opposition to the Mercosur deal. However before today’s protest the main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party accused the government of neglecting the interests of Polish farmers and hiding the content of the Mercosur agreement from the public.

“When PiS was in power, the Polish countryside developed…there was a strategic investment programme that supported the development of the Polish countryside,” Mariusz Błaszczak, head of PiS’s parliamentary caucus, said at a press conference today.

He accused the ruling coalition of “freezing” a bill presented by PiS in November opposing the Mercosur deal. Meanwhile, the PiS-backed candidate for next year’s presidential election, Karol Nawrocki, attended today’s protest.

Another opposition party, the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja), was also present at the demonstration.

In a statement issued today on behalf of the government, the agriculture ministry reiterated its opposition to the Mercosur deal and parts of the Green Deal as well as the actions they have taken to restrict Ukrainian agricultural imports,

“We want to talk to farmers about all these issues and demands and solve them together as part of the dialogue that we started a year ago,” wrote the ministry. “In the near future, we are planning a series of meetings…[with] agricultural unions and organizations, including the initiators of today’s protest.”

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

All image credits: Dawid Zuchowicz / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Agata Pyka

Agata Pyka is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a journalist and a political communication student at the University of Amsterdam. She specialises in Polish and European politics as well as investigative journalism and has previously written for Euractiv and The European Correspondent.