Poland will take over the six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 January, and its Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekiersk has promised to push for a review of the EU's Green Deal.

„During the presidency, we want to launch a review of the Green Deal to simplify it further and make it less of an administrative and costly burden for farmers“, said Mr Siekiersk‘ on Friday, adding that issues relating to EU enlargement and the impact of trade agreements will also be raised.

The head of the Polish agriculture ministry was referring to the liberalisation of trade between the EU and third countries, such as the free trade agreement recently signed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with „Mercosur“. The agreement is said to destabilise certain markets in Poland.

It was the Ministry of Agriculture that persuaded the Government to oppose the agreement with „Mercosur“. Mr Siekierski assured journalists that farmers' views would continue to be listened to and that farmers would be supported if they needed it. Polish farmers will receive around 20 billion zlotys (€4.69 billion) of EU funds by the end of this year. This year, the government has allocated 9 billion zlotys (€2.11 billion) from the national budget to farmers just for so-called drought aid, fuel subsidies, and subsidies for grain and maize purchases.