Polish government to hold talks with farmers on February 26

The Polish government will hold talks with farmers on Monday, February 26. If they take place, it will be a precedent that has not been seen for 30 years. This was announced by Polish Deputy Minister of Agriculture Michal Kolodziejczak, writes Polskieradio24.

According to him, the goal of the ministry is to reach an agreement with agrarians.

“Establishing a certain roadmap, time to solve the following problems, because this is not a political action, it is a strategic action, which should translate into the fact that there will be no such problems in 2 months,” said Kolodziejczak.

The deputy minister added that the agrarians will indicate their representatives, who will participate in negotiations with the government. Michal Kolodziejczak said that by the end of the week he will indicate the place where the negotiations will take place. He added that he will talk about it today with the Minister of Culture so that, in his words, “the place will have the appropriate significance for the problems.”

Negotiations have been ongoing since yesterday while the ministry gathers the protesters’ demands. Formal talks are likely to begin, as noted, on Monday – the day before a planned mass protest of farmers in Warsaw.

Farmers demand restrictions on imports of Ukrainian goods to Poland and a retreat from some changes in agriculture announced by the EU institutions.

According to the Polish authorities, both issues are being negotiated at the EU level, but at the same time the Agriculture Ministry does not rule out introducing some solutions on its own, in particular, restricting imports of Ukrainian goods. What products will be included in this list of restrictions and what other actions are expected by the agrarians are to be discussed at working meetings.

At the same time, today, as the publication writes, scheduled a conversation of the Minister of agriculture of Poland Czeslaw Seckerski with his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Solsky.

“Representatives of the Ministry expect from the Ukrainian side willingness to cooperate in the settlement of the issue of imports of Ukrainian goods to Poland. If no agreement is reached, Warsaw may impose restrictions unilaterally,” the article said.

Tags: Poland, protests