Polish Farmers Protest Against EU Climate Rules

On Friday, Warsaw erupted in protests as farmers let their feelings be known about draconian European Union climate policies. They were joined in their protest by representatives from various other trades, such as mining and the automobile sector, members of the Polish “Solidarity” trade union, which was influential in the 1980s.

The European Green Deal is meant to drastically lower emissions in the bloc of nations to fight the imaginary demon of climate change. The protesters claim the EU has gone too far, and that new rules harm not only farming, but Polish industry as well. They would like to see Poland’s government, which is currently headed by pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk, reject the EU’s green policies.

Protesters rallied under a large banner proclaiming “Down with the Green Deal,” and another banner read, “Let Brussels eat worms; we prefer pork chops and potatoes.”

“We don’t agree to all the Green Deal provisions, which are harmful to Poland’s economy,” Adrian Wawrzyniak, spokesman for the Solidarity farmers union, told AFP. ““We want a referendum in Poland on a requirement for the president, the parliament, and the government to reject the Green Deal.”

“We are going to Warsaw to oppose the EU’s climate policy,” declared Dominik Kolorz of Solidarity. “Contrary to popular belief, the Green Deal does not only affect farmers, it affects each of us, workers in all industries, and all Polish families.”

“We are already paying more for energy, the sad effects of climate policy are already visible in the automotive industry, where ever more plants are announcing collective layoffs. The entire Green Deal is an attack on the freedom of each of us…. We want to force Polish politicians to thoroughly revise the Green Deal, or preferably throw it into the bin,” he added.

“The only thing it’s good for is throwing in the bin,” retired farmer Wieslaw Czerwinski said of the Green Deal. “It raises the costs of production, raises costs every day, costs of heating, costs of energy.”

The Polish protest echoes actions against EU climate policies in other nations, such as The Netherlands, Portugal, and France, over the past year. Farmers worry that useless climate policies are destroying agriculture and their way of life.

Farmers are also worried that the EU has lifted duties and quotas on Ukrainian farm produce, which makes Ukrainian products far cheaper. The cheap imports have disrupted the agricultural market in EU nations.

The European Green Deal is part of the global war on farmers. Click here to learn more about it, and what can be done to stop it.