Polish president to meet farmers protesting Mercosur
President Karol Nawrocki will meet on Friday with representatives of Polish farmers who will be on that day protesting against the EU-Mercosur deal, the head of the President’s Office has announced on Thursday.
The EU has been engaged in negotiations for a free trade agreement with Mercosur, whose full members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. However, farmers in Poland and throughout Europe fear that an influx of cheaper South American agricultural products will flood European markets, drive down prices and potentially push smaller, less competitive farms into bankruptcy.
While the EU-Mercosur agreement was expected to be signed in December, the signing has been postponed and is now likely to take place later this month, which prompted the representatives of the Polish agricultural sector to organise a protest meant to take place on Friday in Warsaw.
Zbigniew Bogucki announced the planned meeting between Nawrocki and the protesting farmers in a statement issued on Thursday afternoon, before consultations regarding a draft law proposed by the president aimed at “protecting the Polish agricultural sector,” which were scheduled to take place on that day in the Sejm, lower house of parliament.
Bogucki also appealed to the Polish MPs to adopt the draft law, arguing that its preamble could serve as a tool for the government in stopping the Mercosur agreement from being struck with the involvement of Polish bodies such as the Constitutional Tribunal.
As Warsaw and Paris seek to build opposition among member states to the agreement in its current form, the Polish government is pressing for stronger protections for domestic agricultural markets. (PAP)
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