Warsaw blames EU Commissioner Wojciechowski for farmers’ protests

Polish EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski is to blame for the problems that led to farmers’ protests in Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s office said in response to a letter the EU official sent to the prime minister, adding that he should “get on with his job”.

As Tusk’s government attempts to come to terms with the protesting farmers and deliver on their demands, the ruling camp and the opposition point the finger at Wojciechowski, whom they accuse of failing to defend farmer’s interests in the European Commission.

At the same time, Wojciechowski sent a letter to Tusk on state aid in the agricultural sector, calling for this week’s European Council to extend a mechanism allowing member states to financially support farmers beyond June 2024, which was introduced after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This letter was commented on by Jan Grabiec, head of the prime minister’s office.

“Wojciechowski should do his job instead of appealing (to Tusk),” Grabiec said. “Most of the problems of Polish farmers are the result of his activities.”

In 2022, the European Commission adopted a Temporary Crisis Framework to allow EU countries to support their economies by compensating companies and other entrepreneurs, including farmers, for damages directly linked to the exceptional circumstances of the war in Ukraine.

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.

Piotr Maciej Kaczyński, an EU expert at the Geremek Foundation, disagrees, calling Wojciechowski “a parody of a commissioner”.

“If he remained in the Commission until the end of his term, he would not have much significance there,” Kaczyński told Euractiv.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)