– Parallel to this process [the EU-Mercosur agreement], the adoption of a new EU budget for the next Multiannual Financial Framework is underway. In this draft budget, Polish Commissioner Piotr Serafin, a very close associate of Donald Tusk, presented a proposal in which funds for agricultural policy would decrease by 22% – Piotr Müller stated at a press conference.

– Beyond the Mercosur agreement being adopted, aid for policies targeting European rural areas, including Polish rural areas, is to be further reduced. Importantly, the so-called second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy, which concerned sustainable rural development and from which Polish rural areas particularly benefited, is also to be eliminated – he continued.

– This is a paradoxical situation, as this draft budget was presented by a Polish Commissioner – meaning, in short, a Polish Commissioner proposed reduced funding for Polish agriculture – he added.