Farmers protesting in Poland’s lower house of parliament (Sejm) began a hunger strike on Monday, and say they won’t leave until after meeting Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
A group of 11 farmers from the Orka Farmers Union began a protest at the Sejm last Thursday demanding talks with Tusk about the EU Green Deal.
Union member Mariusz Borowiak said that the farmers are now changing the form of the protest from a sit-in to a hunger strike starting Monday.
He said: “The reason we demand this meeting is that no one here (Sejm) represents the interests of real farmers, and we came from the bottom up as ordinary farmers, we didn’t want to politicize our arrival, and we still don’t want to.”
He added that the PM “surrounded himself with people who don’t know how to represent farmers very well”.
He went on to criticize Deputy Agriculture Minister Michał Kołodziejczak, who, according to him, attacked and slandered the protesting farmers in the media.
The farmers spent the entire weekend in the Sejm sleeping on the floor.
Union member Mariusz Borowiak said that the farmers are now changing the form of the protest from a sit-in to a hunger strike starting Monday.
He said: “The reason we demand this meeting is that no one here (Sejm) represents the interests of real farmers, and we came from the bottom up as ordinary farmers, we didn’t want to politicize our arrival, and we still don’t want to.”
He added that the PM “surrounded himself with people who don’t know how to represent farmers very well”.
He went on to criticize Deputy Agriculture Minister Michał Kołodziejczak, who, according to him, attacked and slandered the protesting farmers in the media.
The farmers spent the entire weekend in the Sejm sleeping on the floor.
They refused an offer from Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski, insisting on holding discussions within the Sejm.
European Council approves changes to aid farmers
The hunger strike started despite the Council of the European Union giving final approval on Monday to changes in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that are expected to remove some of the requirements for decarbonizing agriculture.
These include farmers being exempt from the obligation to allocate a minimum portion of their arable land to non-productive areas, such as fallow land, as well as exempting small farms from inspections and penalties for non-compliance with CAP rules.
European Council approves changes to aid farmers
The hunger strike started despite the Council of the European Union giving final approval on Monday to changes in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that are expected to remove some of the requirements for decarbonizing agriculture.
These include farmers being exempt from the obligation to allocate a minimum portion of their arable land to non-productive areas, such as fallow land, as well as exempting small farms from inspections and penalties for non-compliance with CAP rules.
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