The five-day Summer School has been organised on the initiative of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Czesław Siekierski. Its participants had an opportunity to become familiar with Polish experiences from the pre-accession period, as well as the effects of the transformation of Polish agriculture during the 20 years of our country’s membership in the European Union.

– We invited the representatives of the agricultural administration of Moldova and Ukraine to participate in this project. The International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture prepared a series of lectures, visits and presentations as well as meetings with people working in institutions in the field of agriculture and its surroundings – informed Minister Czesław Siekierski.

We share our knowledge and experience

– Joining the EU means benefits but also great challenges. It entails a need to adapt the state structures to the legal and institutional acquis of the European Union. The most important thing is to know how to do it – noted the Head of the Ministry of Agriculture and highlighted that Poland, sharing its experience regarding the process of integration with the EU and 20 years of presence on the common market, was able to help Moldova and Ukraine on their path to membership.

Minister Siekierski reminded that he personally had participated in the process of preparing Poland for accession.

– I was a representative of the Polish Government responsible for preparing the Polish countryside and agriculture for integration with the EU. That is why I wanted to meet with the guests from Ukraine and Moldova in person so as to share my experiences – stressed the Minister.

Membership in the EU in practice

The Summer School is an opportunity to show the participants how the opportunities and chances created by EU membership for Polish agriculture and rural development are used in practice. The guests visited the Local Product Centre in Rzuchowa and local vineyards. During the meeting at the Małopolska Agricultural Advisory Centre they discussed measures for farmers under the Leader programme, forms of association of farmers, family farms, role of local governments, direct sales, development of local products, renewal of culinary heritage of the region and organic farming.

Topics of lectures and meetings

Among the topics discussed during the lectures there were, inter alia, issues related to:

• negotiations with the European Union and preparation for this process

• European Union aid for the modernisation of farms and the restructuring of small farms;

• adaptation of national legislation and standards on food safety of animal origin to the requirements of the European Union;

• phytosanitary requirements for the trade in goods of plant origin;

• principles of the functioning of the Leader programme.

The guests from Moldova and Ukraine had an opportunity to become familiar with the functioning of institutions such as:

• Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection – with particular emphasis on the inspection of products imported from abroad;

• Institute of Animal Production – in the field of protection of genetic resources or cooperation with EPI groups;

• University of Agriculture in Kraków in the field of cooperation with foreign countries and international exchange;

• Center for Innovation and Research on Healthy and Safe Food.

Discussions at the official and expert level

– We want these countries to be well prepared for accession, as well as to show the complexity and diversity of problems that we had and still have ourselves in connection with the opening of the EU market to goods from Ukraine – said Minister Siekierski and stressed that the visit of the guests from Ukraine and Moldova was an opportunity to talk about this issue not only at the political level, but also at the official and expert levels.

The Head of the Ministry of Agriculture reminded that as a result of the talks and arrangements with the Ukrainian party and the European Commission, quotas for the so-called sensitive goods coming from Ukraine had been determined, and after exceeding those quota a protective mechanism was applied in the form of blocking their further inflow.

About the project

The “Summer School for representatives of the administration of Moldova and Ukraine” project was implemented in the Małopolska Voivodeship in cooperation with: Agricultural Advisory Centre in Brwinów, Branch in Kraków; National Support Centre for Agriculture; Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture and the Małopolska Agricultural Advisory Centre.

As stressed by the Head of the Ministry of Agriculture, the choice of Kraków as the central office of the project was not accidental.

– Here. there are branches of important institutions connected with agriculture and this is also a place exceptionally attractive for tourists – noted the Minister.