Agriculture: counteracting unfair trade practices

The Polish Deal provides for numerous positive changes for farmers. This includes defining 16 unfair trade practices in business-to-business relations in the food and agriculture supply chain. The new solutions will give the suppliers of food and agricultural products a greater certainty of operating in the domestic market. The changes introduced will have a positive impact on the competitiveness of the economy and entrepreneurship in the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises sector. Additionally, they will ensure an adequate standard of living for the rural population, which is the goal of the Common Agricultural Policy.

In the supply chain of agri-food products, due to the very structure of the agri-food market, there are often significant differences in bargaining power between suppliers and buyers of such products. Unfair trade practices occur throughout the entire food supply chain. Differences in economic potential between suppliers and buyers may result in bigger players imposing unfair trade practices on smaller ones. Thanks to the changes, farmers and small and medium-sized entrepreneurs operating in the agri-food sector will gain protection against such practices.

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Agriculture: increased reimbursement of excise duties on agricultural fuel

The government wants to reduce production costs on farms. The new proposal consists in increasing the limit of diesel oil used per 1 ha of agricultural crops from 100 litres to 110 litres. Additionally, the limit of diesel oil consumption per 1 livestock unit (LU) is to be increased from 30 litres to 40 litres. Reimbursing part of the excise duties included in diesel fuel prices would constitute significant financial support for farmers.

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Health care: increased health care spending

The Polish Deal includes solutions that will significantly improve the way Polish health care works. The government wants to increase the amount of public funding allocated annually to health care financing. The goal is to accelerate the plan to attain the previously specified health care expenditure level, amounting to 6% of GDP, by as early as 2023. The changes proposed also concern determining the path for further growth of the minimum health care expenditure until reaching the level of 7% of GDP in 2027. This will ensure improved access to health care services, medical staff salary increases, modernisation of health care facilities, as well as developing state-of-the-art technologies in this area.

Once introduced, the proposed regulations will help ensure wider access to guaranteed medical services and improve the quality of health care services provided, offering the citizens a higher level of health security as a result.  Another positive aspect is the increase in medical staff remuneration. Today, there is also an urgent need to ensure stable functioning conditions for hospitals during epidemics, as well as access to hospital treatment services. Apart from removing the limits on admissions to health care specialists, this is yet another vital step in repairing Polish health care.

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Agriculture: opening up agricultural retail trade

The Polish Deal introduced by the government will provide farmers with better perspectives, with one of its key solutions consisting in increasing the tax-exempt income amount from PLN 40,000 to PLN 100,000. This will help ensure higher sales income for farmers. The changes will also enable farmers to produce and sell food as part of Agricultural Retail Trade (Pol.: Rolniczy Handel Detaliczny – RHD) to establishments dealing in retail trade for the final consumer; this includes e.g. shops, restaurants and canteens throughout the country. Farmers will also be able to sell unlimited quantities of food to such entities.

Agricultural Retail Trade is a specific form of retail trade introduced in Poland in 2017. Its basic condition is that the food produced and placed on the market must come in whole or in part from the given entity’s own cultivation, breeding or rearing. ART enables small-scale production and sales to final consumers within a limited area of the country. Currently, this area corresponds to the voivodeship in which the entity carries out food production under the ART, as well as each commune or city that is adjacent to this voivodeship and is also a seat of a voivode or a regional parliament. Additionally, many agricultural producers decide to limit their production volumes to take advantage of this system and avoid additional administrative obligations.

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Environment: offshore wind farm investment projects

Since renewable energy sources are a crucial part of the Polish Deal, it provides for such things as wind farm investment projects. To that end, the government will create appropriate facilities to support offshore wind farms (OWF) in the Port of Gdynia. The installation terminal will ensure effective offshore wind energy development in the Polish exclusive economic zone of the Baltic Sea. This will make it possible to improve Poland’s energy security and boost economic development. These actions fulfil the aims of “Poland's Energy Policy until 2040”.

Offshore wind farm installation terminal in the Port of Gdynia.

The location for the offshore wind farm installation terminal was chosen with the technical conditions of Polish seaports taken into account. The seaports’ locations were also considered as they are crucial in terms of the economic efficiency of OWF investment projects in the Baltic Sea.

Based on the above factors, the Port of Gdynia is the optimal choice. It is located the closest to the location of the offshore wind farms planned to be constructed as part of the first stage of the so-called “Polish offshore project”. Additionally, the Port of Gdynia is already being used for the transshipment of many structural components of wind farms. According to the adopted assumptions, the facility is to be strictly dedicated to OWF purposes. The act provides for creating appropriate facilities and infrastructure to support offshore wind farms (OWF) in the Port of Gdynia.

Science: building little Copernicus Science Centres

The Polish Deal Government Fund also provides for initiating a Little Copernicus Science Centre – Imagination and Activity Zone Construction Programme. The Science Centres are meant to equalise educational opportunities for children and youth by improving their access to science resources. The Programme also aims to support social and scientific capital in local communities. The maximum amount of co-financing for the construction of the Science Centres will be PLN 5 million. The Programme will be implemented using funding from the COVID-19 Prevention Fund.

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