Farmers intensify protest. Traffic disruptions to come

Farmers are stepping up their protest against the Mercosur agreement, the Green Deal, and free trade in grain with Ukraine. Today, dozens of machines and cars are set to hit the streets of Szczecin. We can expect traffic disruptions in the city center.

– We waited a week to talk to someone from the government. We didn't get it. That's why we're intensifying the protest – Stanisław Barna, one of the leaders of the event, told “Kurier”. – We're gathering at 10 a.m. on Wały Chrobrego. Tractors will arrive, as well as flagged cars. We've reported to the police that we'll be protesting until 2 p.m., but for now we don't want to make life that difficult for the residents, so we'll probably finish sooner. We want serious politicians to talk to us about systemic solutions for agriculture. We want to talk to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Minister of Agriculture Czesław Siekierski, and Minister of Development and Technology Krzysztof Paszyk.

This part of the protest began on May 15. Then the farmers came to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship Office. Deputy Voivode Bartosz Brożyński met with them and received their demands. Several tractors are still standing in front of the office building.

The greatest fears of rural people are the uncontrolled influx of agricultural products that is devastating the Polish economy. This mainly concerns grain from Ukraine and goods that may be transported from some South American countries after the signing of the Mercosur agreement.

– The Prime Minister should talk to us about three main topics: the Mercosur agreement, the Green Deal and what's next for Ukraine – said Piotr Kamiński, chairman of the assembly, a week ago. He emphasized that food independence is one of the pillars of the state's security system. And now this pillar is being violated. – Won't it turn out that after the harvest grain will start flowing into Poland again? When the war broke out, we were told that we were to be a transit country for Ukrainian grain, because without it there would be a humanitarian catastrophe in the Third World countries. And it turned out that the grain remained, and no one talks about the Third World countries.

Another problem for farmers is drought. As the protesters said, the drought application is useless. Their demand to the authorities: to send municipal commissions to the fields. They also demand a strengthening of the role of the National Food Group and the adoption of legal solutions guaranteeing farmers "decent remuneration for water retention activities". ©℗

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