Tobacco gives us bread, not smoke. Polish growers warn: The EU is burning our future

Tobacco growers protesting in Warsaw on Monday called for the protection of Polish tobacco crops and the Polish authorities' opposition to the recommendations of the World Health Organization in this regard. In their opinion, accepting the WHO's proposal may mean the end of Polish tobacco cultivation.

On Monday in Warsaw, in front of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister – as the organizers informed from the stage – a group of approximately 600 people gathered, mainly representatives of tobacco growers, who warned about the potential consequences of the recommendations of the World Health Organization regarding tobacco cultivation.

– This is about the WHO's idea of ​​extinguishing crops, eliminating jobs, and attacking the economy of a sovereign country, i.e. Poland. Unfortunately, the European Commission (…) applauds all these ideas, and we oppose them – one of the protest organizers, a representative of the Polish Tobacco Growers Association, Przemysław Noworyta, told PAP. According to him, Polish tobacco will be replaced by “imports from countries such as India”, where the quality of crops is lower.

As he said, the protesters' demand is for Poland to oppose and react to the “not very wise ideas of the World Health Organization.” According to him, although WHO can only adopt recommendations, “knowing the European Commission's approach, they will quickly become binding law.”

Protesters in front of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister came with vuvuzelas, hand sirens, whistles and Polish flags. There were also numerous banners, e.g. “WHO only evil”, “The Ministry of Health is burning down the countryside!”, “The European Commission is killing Polish agriculture!”, “Tobacco gives us bread, not smoke” and “The EU is burning our future.”

A delegation of protesters submitted a petition to the prime minister's office, the content of which was obtained by PAP from the protest organizers. It concerns the event planned for November 17-22 this year. meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the 2003 WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The EU is expected to confirm its position on this matter on November 5. The protesters want it to include Poland's opposition. They also appeal for a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture to participate in the meeting in Geneva, who could defend the interests of Polish growers.

They also postulate that the final position of our country should clearly be against the support of, among others, WHO document on ending government support for tobacco farmers. In their opinion, such a phasing out will lead to a gradual shutdown of production.

Additionally, growers express their opposition to the so-called EC excise directive published in mid-June this year. It assumes that raw tobacco delivered to first processing points is to be treated as a finished excise product. “The practical effect of such a change will be the bankruptcy of the Polish tobacco growing and processing sector, as entities engaged in this activity will be obliged to do the impossible, i.e. to submit excise security of several hundred million, i.e. security at a level approximately 60 times higher than before,” argue the protesters in the petition.

According to them, the two largest domestic tobacco processors are to declare that instead of the current security amounting to approximately PLN 5-7 million, they will have to provide approximately PLN 300 million. “It is simply impossible,” growers say.

The petitions were signed by representatives of seven organizations associating tobacco growers, including: Polish Association of Tobacco Growers, National Tobacco Association and the Young Tobacco Growers Movement.

On Friday, Minister of Agriculture Stefan Krajewski assured that the ministry “is fighting for the future of Polish tobacco growers.” – EU directives and the work carried out by the World Health Organization cannot stop tobacco production. We have 3,000 in Poland. growers, 9 thousand hectares (of crops) and 22 thousand tons (of raw material) that are processed and we are one of the largest exporters of tobacco. We understand health issues, but we also need to understand the needs of growers. We are participating in the talks taking place in Brussels, he noted. (PAP)

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