During the plenary session, except for Deputy Prime Minister Kowalczyk, Vaclav Klaus, former Prime Minister and President of the Czech Republic, and Mykola Solskyi, Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food of Ukraine, discussed the challenges facing Europe and the world.

Food security

"Food security should be the number one issue in Europe," said Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk during today's plenary session.

He took the opportunity to thank Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski for his quick reaction and for acceding to the Polish request to suspend the need to set aside 4% of land this year. He assured of the strong support for the Commissioner's declaration to increase funding for food security.

"In the current situation, we cannot afford to limit agricultural production," stressed the Head of the Ministry of Agriculture.

One of the consequences of the war in Ukraine is the disruption of supply chains, which threatens food security in North Africa or the Middle East.

"I am surprised by the lack of such reflection on the part of many European countries, as the problem of migration could arise in just a few months," said the Head of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Strategic Plan for the CAP for 2023-2027

In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk also drew attention to the already approved Strategic Plan for the CAP for 2023-2027.

"The Common Agricultural Policy for 2023-2027 in the Polish Strategic Plan is complementary, as plant and animal productions are strongly supported in conjunction with each other," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

In doing so, he stressed that both carbon farming and animal welfare supplement each, which encourages farms to be complementary. The Head of the Ministry of Agriculture pointed out that soil well supplied with humus is resistant to the effects of drought, which is very important these days.

Shortening the path from field to table

"Both the Strategic Plan and the National Reconstruction Plan include very significant funding for local processing," the Head of the Ministry of Agriculture informed.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, local processing offers a considerable opportunity to dramatically shorten the path from field to table.

Flow of goods from Ukraine

Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk pointed to the limited possibilities of exporting agri-food products from Ukraine.

"We are very much counting on the help of other European countries in terms of technical equipment of border crossings to increase reloading capacities," appealed the Head of the Ministry of Agriculture.

At the same time, he warned that we can expect a large wave of migrants at the turn of the year if the issue of increasing exports from Ukraine is not resolved.

Increase in energy prices

The Deputy Prime Minister also pointed out that the huge increase in energy prices in Europe has a significant impact on the increase in food prices.