EU Commission denounces Wojciechowski’s announcement on Green Deal changes

Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski’s announcement of major changes to the European Green Deal is his own view and does not reflect the position of the EU executive, a Commission spokesman said on Thursday.

Wojciechowski told the Polish RMF FM radio that big reforms were expected in the Green Deal to meet the protesting farmers’ demands. He said the Commission would present its proposals next week.

“It will be a package of solutions that should relieve farmers of all concerns, not so much about the Green Deal, but about its elements that concern the Common Agricultural Policy,” he explained.

According to the broadcast, there will be no penalties for farmers who fail to meet climate standards this year, while in 2025-2027, the Green Deal’s agricultural requirements will change. This would include abandoning the mandatory set-aside of 4% of agricultural land.

But EU Commission spokesman Olof Gill later denounced Wojciechowski’s words, saying the commissioner was not speaking on behalf of the whole Commission, insisting that agriculture and climate policy can go hand in hand.

He announced that the Commission would soon present a list of proposals addressing farmers’ concerns without weakening the Common Agricultural Policy’s climate change ambitions.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Polish farmers continued to protest against the European Green Deal and increased imports of agri-food products from Ukraine. A protest in Warsaw turned into a riot, and police were forced to intervene.

Meanwhile, Urszula Pasławska, MP of the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL, EPP), commented that despite earlier announcements, the commissioner did not present the Commission’s proposals in the Polish parliament on Thursday.

“Should he have anything more to say, he would have already said it yesterday,” she told RMF FM. She added that Wojciechowski’s absence may mean he is about to be removed from the Commission.

Polish Onet recently published von der Leyen’s letter to Wojciechowski, in which she accused the commissioner of violating the EU executive’s code of conduct by making statements on trade liberalisation with Ukraine that contradicted its general position on the issue.

Wojciechowski’s opposition did not prevent the EU executive from extending the suspension of trade barriers with Ukraine, leading to increased agricultural imports into Poland and other EU countries and destabilising their domestic markets.

While Tusk’s government and the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, which nominated Wojciechowski for commissioner in 2019, share a negative view of his work, farmers generally defend him.

“I think Wojciechowski actively supports the interests of Polish and European farmers,” Jerzy Wierzbicki of the Polish Union of Beef Cattle Breeders and Farmers told Euractiv.

“The accusations against Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski are completely misplaced and unfair. He aims to adapt the Common Agricultural Policy to the structure of EU agriculture,” said Andrzej Danielak of the Polish Union of Poultry Breeders and Producers.

“He attempts to ensure that the EU farms can continue to produce food and that farmers can earn a living from them without becoming unemployed. These are actions for which Commissioner Wojciechowski should be praised,” Danielak told Euractiv.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)