President Karol Nawrocki announced today a legislative initiative concerning laws aimed at protecting the production function of rural areas. “The new law I have prepared states clearly: animal husbandry, fieldwork, and the movement of machinery are not nuisances that need to be justified. This is food production, this is service to the nation. We must put an end to a situation in which a farmer has to defend or explain the fact that they are working”, said the President.
At the same time, he announced that he is sending a letter to Donald Tusk demanding the immediate filing of a complaint against the European Union’s agreement with the Mercosur countries to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
In a statement delivered today, the President of Poland said that “the truth is simple and timeless: there is no strong state without strong agriculture. There is no sovereignty without food security. And there is no future without respect for those who cultivate that future with their own hands, through their daily toil – working from dawn to dusk. With care and dedication”.
President Nawrocki assessed that the situation of the Polish countryside is not easy today – on the one hand there is hard work, and on the other “the agreement with the Mercosur countries, rising production costs, expensive fuel and fertilizers, market uncertainty, the pressure of cheap imports, and increasingly frequent conflicts that disrupt the peace of work”.
In response, Karol Nawrocki proposed a law on protecting the production function of rural areas.
“The Polish countryside is a wonderful place to live. But it must be said honestly: it is above all hard, everyday work. It is animal farming, but also the sound of machines at dawn and during harvest. This is the natural rhythm of life and work in agricultural areas. Without it, there is no countryside, without it, there is no agriculture. However, sometimes tensions arise precisely for this reason, because these realities are not always understood by all residents. In such difficult situations, two things are needed: common sense and good law. When understanding is lacking, there must be clear regulation – regulation that organizes neighborly relations and restores balance. And this is exactly what my legislative proposal is for”, said the President.
He assessed that “this is a law for building a good community”.
“The new law I have prepared states clearly: animal husbandry, fieldwork, and the movement of machinery are not nuisances that need to be justified. This is food production, this is service to the nation. We must put an end to a situation in which a farmer has to defend or explain the fact that they are working. We are introducing the principle that if a farmer acts in accordance with the law, they have the right to work, and the burden of proving any potential abuses no longer rests on them”, added Karol Nawrocki.
As the President pointed out, “an extremely important element of the new law is a mandatory notarial information mechanism”.
People purchasing property in rural areas will be required to officially declare that they are aware that in their vicinity there may be burdensome but fully legal agricultural activity. “Anyone who decides to live in the countryside must understand that the countryside is not an open-air museum. The countryside works, produces, and lives. This restores fundamental fairness”, he said.
President Nawrocki also informed about sending a letter to the head of government, Donald Tusk.
“I am sending Prime Minister Donald Tusk a special letter demanding the immediate filing of a complaint against the European Union’s agreement with the Mercosur countries to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The government promised this. To this day, that promise has not been fulfilled. The countryside cannot wait any longer. I am attaching a ready draft of such a complaint to the letter. Everything is prepared. All that is needed is to act. All avenues and possibilities must be used to stop the Mercosur agreement”, he announced.