The EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy Jessika Roswall is visiting Poland in connection with the informal meeting of the EU Ministers for Environment organised by the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Seeking consensus on agricultural and environmental issues

During the talks, Minister Czesław Siekierski stressed that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was currently implementing many tasks related to the environment, in a situation when the expenditure on the CAP was decreasing. This is a reason for farmers’ concern.

The Minister noted that the excessive burden resulting from the European Green Deal had been the reason for violent farmers’ protests the previous year. He said that it was a mistake for both the European Commission and the Member States that the number of talks with farmers had not been sufficient.

– In the area of agriculture and the environment there are many disputable areas, e.g. the problem of wolves or peat bogs. An extensive dialogue is necessary so as to bring the positions closer to each other and reach consensus. For this reason, the motto of our Presidency is to strengthen dialogue with farmers – stressed the Minister.

First of all, incentives

Minister Siekierski stressed that the obligations imposed on farmers should be more like incentives rather than responsibilities.

– This is confirmed by the great interest of farmers in eco-schemes under the CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027. Farmers are very focused on maintaining a good condition of farms in terms of the environment and water management, since this determines the possibility of their good functioning in the perspective of many years – stated the head of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Minister also provided Commissioner Roswall with the information on the conditions of Polish agriculture concerning a large number of small farms and ongoing concentration processes.

Water management in agriculture

Minister Czesław Siekierski stressed that the area related to water management in agriculture needed attention in the coming years. However, he noted that many actions had been and were taken from the Rural Development Programme 2024–2020, the CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027 and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. It should be remembered that agriculture is responsible for only 9% of water consumption in Poland, and more than 70% is consumed by industry.

– Support in dealing with water-related problems will also be provided by solutions as part of the New Genomic Techniques or bioeconomy – said the head of the Ministry of Agriculture.

As the interlocutors stated, in the field of water management, the Baltic Sea was also an important area, the condition of which required enhanced cooperation between the countries of the region. Of importance is also the verification of the Nitrates Directive.

The importance of agriculture and water management for the European Commission

Commissioner Jessika Roswall stressed that agriculture was important for the new European Commission (EC). For this reason, during the first 100 days the EC prepared a “vision for agriculture and food”.

Commissioner Roswall supported the need for dialogue with farmers, as they had to be part of the solutions being adopted. The Commissioner highlighted that agriculture could not exist without a clean environment. She noted that EU countries and their agriculture were very diversified and we needed to ensure that a level playing field was created for it. The Commissioner also pointed out that we needed to step up work on securing water availability, which is why the Commission was adopting a European Water Resilience Strategy.