At an extraordinary meeting, the government adopted several regulations and a bill to help farmers, stressed Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. He added that this is the largest agricultural aid in history. In turn, the Minister of Agriculture, Robert Telus, indicated that the support would cost about PLN 10 billion.
– A week ago we announced very specific actions, (…) today, on Friday, at an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers, we adopted several regulations (…) and also adopted a draft act related to our obligations – said the Prime Minister during the Friday conference press release.
Aid for farmers in the amount of PLN 10 billion
He added that this is the largest aid to agriculture in history in many respects.
As he said, the government is raising the amount of excise duty refund per liter of diesel oil from PLN 1.20 to PLN 1.46 and at the same time will apply to the European Commission for permission to allocate another PLN 0.54 per liter of diesel oil.
The Prime Minister explained that wheat producers will receive PLN 1,400 per ton of wheat; condition of having a farm up to 300 ha and an invoice for the sale of wheat from April 15 to June 15 this year.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Robert Telus, announced that the cost of government aid for farmers is about PLN 10 billion.
Where do the funds for subsidies for farmers come from?
Morawiecki pointed out that the funds to support farmers come from the state budget. – We allocate our funds from the Polish state budget, but the consent must come from the European Commission – so that the European official does not then knock on the farmer’s door somewhere and does not demand the return of the payment that we pay from the Polish state budget – stressed the Prime Minister.
– Brussels, European Union is of course important, but this ongoing assistance is provided by the Polish state. Thus, we show that we stand guard over the Polish farmer and do not look back at Brussels – he said.
As he assessed, agriculture is currently a “heavy piece of bread”, due to, among others, to dynamic price fluctuations.
Main photo source: tvn24