News / EU

Polish farmers demand govt. compensation for losses

Thursday, 19 February 2015 2:00 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 19 February 2015 2:09 PM ]

Polish farmers demonstrate in front of the Prime Minister's office in the capital city of Warsaw on February 19, 2015. (AFP photo)

Hundreds of Polish farmers have staged a protest rally to demand compensation for profits cut by Russia's embargo on some Polish products and for crops lost to wild boars.

The farmers are expected to march from the parliament building to the office of Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz in the Polish capital city of Warsaw on Thursday.

Holding sirens and banners, the demonstrators are demanding government funds for crops destroyed by wild boars and for profits undercut by sanctions imposed by Russia against a number of Polish meat and dairy products.

Some 10,000 participants are estimated to attend the rally, with the protesters planning to put up tents outside the premier’s office.

The march is the latest in a weeks-long move, which also urges the resignation of Poland’s Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki.

The farmers represent an organization that left talks with Sawicki last week due to the government’s failure to heed their demands. Leaders of other organizations, however, are reportedly continuing talks.

Earlier this month, hundreds of Polish farmers put “bank-owned” notes on their tractors and drove them to Warsaw, suggesting that they need bank loans to run their farms.

The European Union has slapped several rounds of bans against Russia, including on its financial and energy sectors, and put a number of Russian nationals close to President Vladimir Putin under sanction, claiming that Russia is playing a destructive role in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

In a tit-for-tat measure, Moscow imposed year-long food bans on the United States, the EU, Australia, Canada and Norway last August. The move is estimated to cost European agricultural industries millions of dollars in damages.

The West accuses Moscow of having a hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, which erupted when Kiev launched military operations in mid-April last year to silence pro-Russia protests there. However, the Kremlin denies the accusation.

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