Polish farmers meet Duda, end 10-day occupation of parliament

The Orka farmers’ movement in Poland has ended its 10-day hunger strike and protest against the European Green Deal after meeting with President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday.

The protest, which started on 9 May, had farmers from the new Orka movement oppose the European Green Deal and demand a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

“Here is Poland, not Brussels, here traitors are not supported,” protesters, of which many started a hunger strike, shouted outside the Polish parliament on Wednesday.

“Let Brussels eat insects. We eat Polish pork chops,” they added.

The protesters were allowed into the parliament building by opposition PiS (ECR) lawmakers, prompting accusations from the ruling camp that the protest was orchestrated by PiS to undermine the government’s efforts to reach an agreement with the farmers.

On Wednesday, the farmers met with President Andrzej Duda in the parliament corridor and were invited to the presidential palace for a longer meeting.

Szymon Hołownia, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, the Sejm, promised to convene a round table to discuss the farmers’ demands.

“We are finalising talks with the Agriculture Ministry about the roundtable in the Sejm in order to talk about the problems of Polish agriculture,” Hołownia told Euractiv Poland and other media there.

“We must discuss instead of using agriculture for political demonstrations,” he insisted.

While protesters have ended their protests and left the parliament building, they are still waiting for a meeting with Tusk.

“We want to survive this strike, but he forces us to make a sacrifice in the name of his ego,” Hubert Kraft, one of the protesting farmers, was quoted as saying by RMF FM private radio.

One of the protesters addressed Tusk in German, arguing that “he does not understand us. He only understands the language of von der Leyen.”

Other major Polish protest movements say they do not know the Orka movement or any of its members.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)

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