PM criticizes EU response as Poland gives farmers $2.4 billion. After the government authorized 10 billion zlotys ($2.4 billion) in aid for Polish agriculture, the Polish prime minister warned on Friday that EU initiatives to support farmers hit by a glut of Ukrainian food imports are too little too late.
After unilaterally banning Ukrainian food imports, Central European countries are negotiating with Brussels on EU-wide agriculture aid.
“What the EU is offering us is offered with a delay, it is too little, a drop in the ocean of needs,” Mateusz Morawiecki said at a news conference.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, several central European countries became transit routes for Ukrainian grain that couldn’t be transported through Black Sea ports.
Bottlenecks kept millions of tons of wheat in surrounding nations, forcing local farmers to compete with cheap Ukrainian imports.
The European Commission has added 100 million euros to its 56-million-euro package for central European farmers.
The central European states want it to include honey and some meats in its emergency “preventive measures” for wheat, maize, sunflower seeds, and rape seed.
On Friday, the Polish government increased diesel excise duty refunds for farmers to 1.46 zlotys from 1.20.
Morawiecki said the government would also urge the European Commission to allow a 2 zloty return. It will also guarantee farmers 1,400 zlotys per ton of wheat through subsidies.
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