Polish farmers marched through Warsaw on Friday to protest against the European Union’s climate policies and to oppose the pro-EU government of Polish prime minister Donald Tusk.
The march was organised by Solidarity, a farmers’ trade union that is strongly opposed to the EU’s farming policies, in particular a policy known as the Green Deal which aims to make agriculture more climate friendly.
The farmers say it interferes with their work and imposes high costs on them.
The march took part under the slogan “Down with the Green Deal”.
“Let Brussels eat worms, we prefer pork chops and potatoes,” said one banner held by protesters.
The demonstration comes as Poland’s political parties are campaigning ahead of elections next month at the European Parliament.
The protests were supported by Poland’s right-wing opposition party Law and Justice, which held power from 2015 until late last year and is looking to regain political momentum.
With an eye to the election, Mr Tusk on Friday announced a reshuffle of his Cabinet to replace four ministers running for the European Parliament next month.
The changes are also seen as a chance to bring new energy into Mr Tusk’s government, which took office in December and embarked on deep reforms in many areas, including justice, foreign policy and the media.
“Today comes the time of bringing order and this is one of the reasons for which we jointly decided to have these changes,” Mr Tusk said.
He said there will be more changes in the future that would be dictated by the “interest of the state”.
Mr Tusk’s pro-European Union government has embarked on a wide reversal of the policies of its right-wing predecessors, the Law and Justice party, who between 2015 and 2023 put Poland on a collision course with the 27-member EU.
Mr Tusk’s team is taking steps to free the judiciary and the state media from the political control that Law and Justice tried to impose, and bring to account those responsible for mismanagement and loss of funds by state-owned companies.
