Thousands of Polish farmers demonstrated in the center of Warsaw. The farmers mainly protested against the climate policy of the European Union. Trade unionists and opposition politicians also joined them.
The protest march, which started in the square near the Royal Castle, was held under the slogan “Away with the Green Deal for Europe”. The participants were alluding to the set of measures (Green Deal) by which the European Union wants to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
“Let Brussels eat bugs, we prefer pork and potatoes,” said onet.pl on one of the banners in the parade, in which peasants on a trailer carried a figure of a death knell in a black robe and with an EU flag armband.
ČT reporter Papadopulos on Polish protests against the climate policy of the European Union (source: ČT24)
The protest was called to Warsaw by several organizations of the Solidarity trade union headquarters, and the farmers were also joined by, for example, trade unionists from the Polish Post Office.
According to the protesters, the demonstration will end when Donald Tusk’s government fulfills all their demands, CT reporter Andreas Papadopulos said. “But among them is not only the end of the Green Deal and the ban on the import of Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian goods, but also an increase in state subsidies to small and medium-sized family farms.” According to the reporter, there are also other economic demands. Demonstrators claim that the government does not care about them, the government claims the opposite. For example, he is said to be negotiating concessions from the Green Agreement in Brussels, and that takes time.
The head of Law and Justice (PiS) Jaroslaw Kaczyński and other politicians from this Eurosceptic party started the march towards the seat of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament. According to Kaczyński, “The Green Deal for Europe is meant to make countries like Poland, which until now have been catching up with the European Union and Western countries, start falling behind”. He pointed out that PiS politicians are not at the demonstration as representatives of this party, but as citizens.
Far-right Confederation MP Grzegorz Braun and nationalist politician Robert Bonkiewicz also came, carrying a banner with the inscription “Independence = Polexit” with his supporters, alluding to Poland’s demand to withdraw from the European Union.