Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk held talks, among others, with Mr. Samuel Vlčan, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Slovakia. The purpose of their meeting was to strengthen Polish-Slovak cooperation and to address important issues in the field of agriculture in the context of the war in Ukraine and the current EU agenda.

Food security in Europe

The Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland and Slovakia agreed that in light of the war in Ukraine safeguarding food security in Europe and in the world as well as the adaptation of the EU agricultural strategies to new challenges were taking on key importance. The proposals for making the EU food system independent of the imports of food and the inputs to its production are also becoming especially topical.

The main subject of the talks was the difficult situation on the agricultural markets and the possible actions to respond to the Russian attack on Ukraine and increases in the prices of raw materials and feeds. Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk stressed that the war demonstrated the susceptibility of the EU food system to various types of crises. The dependence of the EU on the imports of energy, fertilisers and animal feeds increase the costs incurred by producers, destabilises the markets and has an adverse impact on food prices.

Plant protection products and the legislative proposals of the EC

Another subject of the talks was the cooperation on the objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy in the scope of plant protection products and fertilisers as well as in relation to the future EU legislation in this scope.

“The EU Member States should be able to set out their national reduction targets for the consumption of plant protection products in agriculture, taking into account the local specific circumstances, the differences in the consumption of these products among the States and the needs of plant protection, in accordance with the subsidiarity principle,” Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk stressed.

“While waiting for the European Commission to present its legislative proposals regarding the sustainable use of plant protection products, the states in our region should closely cooperate in order to present their common position at the EU level and to effectively influence the final content of the provisions, in line with the interest of our region,” the head of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture added.

The international cooperation in the scope of research and innovation

The Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland and Slovakia also discussed the strengthening of their cooperation in the scope of research and innovation to ensure the development of food systems and bioeconomy.

“Our ambition is to ensure that the research units in Poland and other states in the region are perceived as important actors in international initiatives and projects. It is important for us to participate to the extent corresponding to our potential in the programmes targeting research and innovation so that we can base the further development of agriculture more strongly on new technologies,” Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk pointed out.

Food safety in the border region

The Ministers also talked about the issues of food safety and quality. Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk stressed that the Polish products sold on the domestic market and placed on the markets of the EU Member States and third countries were fully safe for consumers and that the Polish inspection services operated efficiently. The Ministers agreed that it was necessary to strengthen and operationalise to a greater extent the cooperation of Polish and Slovak inspection services so as to ensure quick detection of any irregularities affecting food safety, especially in the border regions.

Solidarity in response to threats

In the conclusions of their talks, the Ministers stressed that in the present political situation the unity and solidarity in response to common threats was of key importance and that the basic task of agriculture was to safeguard food security.

In the conclusions of the intergovernmental consultations, the Prime Ministers of Poland and Slovakia - Mateusz Morawiecki and Eduard Heger – signed a Common Declaration, which emphasised, among others, the importance of global food security in the context of the war in Ukraine and also the need for EU agricultural producers to be supported in the scope of fertilisers and feeds as well as for measures to ensure self-sufficiency of the EU as regards the production of fertilisers and protein plants.