Debate contributions by Waldemar BUDA

Mr President, thank you very much. $11 billion. Commissioner, do you know this number? This is, Ladies and Gentlemen, the number for which every year for several years, for three years exactly, Brazil imports from Russia all possible goods. This has increased, ladies and gentlemen, by several thousand percent. Brazil is the largest importer of fertilizers from Russia worldwide. Attention, ladies and gentlemen, that's not all. It was only after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine that it began importing oil, which it has not yet carried out, and increased imports in this respect by 4600 percent. And, ladies and gentlemen, today we are discussing this topic in order to trade with Brazil. So I understand that all of us here, with the Commissioner in the lead, support a situation where we buy drones, planes and tanks for Putin, because that's what's going to happen. And I understand that these drones, these planes and these tanks may not reach Luxembourg, but we in Poland understand what it is to feed Putin and buy him new equipment. Today we should discuss how to impose sanctions on Brazil, not to trade with them in any way. And we are discussing that we will give them more funds. They will buy more fertilizers and transfer these funds to Russia. Today we have such a policy. Europeans suffer austerities of all kinds, we restrict the import of everything, and here we will trade with Brazil. And you agree to that?

Madam President, I'm sorry. Mr. Commissioner, I'm sorry. There should be a big black coffin in front of us. Today we are discussing budget proposals for the next perspective with cohesion policy being halved, by 50%. This is clinical death, this is catastrophe. And I have no grievances against Commissioner Fitto here, because, horribly, this budget was prepared by a Pole, Piotr Serafin. But, ladies and gentlemen, we cannot agree to this. If there are other tasks, please, but not at the expense of cohesion policy and not at the expense of the regions. Unfortunately, this project looks like this. And I also have to make sure that these funds are simply fairly and decently disposed of. We in Poland have stolen KPO funds for yachts, techno music on the balcony and similar projects. So here I am also appealing to the Commissioner to look at how European funds are spent in Poland, when I was responsible for European funds spending in Poland, we were leaders in Europe. Today you buy yachts, more than a hundred yachts were bought with funds from KPO and this is a scandal. This cannot be translated into cohesion policy.

Madam President, Commissioner! All the voices that came before me were voices of fear, voices of doubt. Today it turns out that you, as a Commissioner, can be the one who will allow or lead to everything that the previous Commissioner blocked, that is, to the limitation of the common agricultural policy, to the agreement with Mercosur, to the liberalisation of trade with Ukraine. Do you want to go down in history as the Commissioner who led and agreed to this? Today we have the voices of protest and dissent. So let us express this opposition, let us bring the European Commission to real action at this crucial moment. We all have doubts as to which direction this is going. In a moment, next week and the next, very important decisions will be made. If you are not against it, please refrain from supporting the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Let them get to work. Let this be a warning sign for them. Do you really not understand that importing food from all over the world is not the solution for Europe? Today will be cheap and great, but in a moment this food may just be missing. It simply may not come to Europe, because there will be some conflict that will lead to it. Didn't Covid teach us anything? Haven't the world's wars taught us anything? Do you want to trade with Brazil today? Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not a solution. So today we're showing Ursula von der Leyen's yellow card. Let us make sure that today there are ambitions of the European Union, the European Commission, and not sailing and thinking like 20 years ago. The world has changed and the European Union should change too.

Madam President, I'm sorry. Sustainable development of the whole of Europe and of all countries is an absolute priority. I congratulate the report because it really makes a diagnosis that is quite obvious to us, that is, depopulation, underinvestment, lack of quality public services – that is what we know every day. Ladies and Gentlemen, in the era of such diagnoses, the question should be how much more we will pass on to cohesion policy, how much more we will pass on to the common agricultural policy, in order to minimize these problems. And this is what we stand here today in this room, when in a moment decisions will be taken to limit the common agricultural policy and reduce regional policies in the new financial perspective. That is, we diagnose well, but in a moment we want to do what will deepen these problems that we diagnose in this report. In Poland, in 2021-2023, we transferred over PLN 100 billion, one could say, to such a local cohesion policy, a strategic programme for the benefit of areas of small cities and small towns. This program was blocked last year and we are already seeing the effects. We see these problems, that small towns are once again becoming unattractive, again they are not some kind of alternative to large cities. So let us consider in this new perspective whether, in fact, the plans we hear about, the reductions in CAP funds, the reductions in cohesion policy will lead to even deeper divisions, even greater difficulties in comparison and life in small towns.

Mr President, thank you very much. Mr. Commissioner, I'm sorry. A month ago, President von der Leyen declared that the Common Agricultural Policy would be abolished. It will be combined with other programs. She signed an agreement, negotiations with Mercosur, and we have a clear tendency to cut funds for agriculture. And I would expect the Commissioner in charge of agriculture to come out today and talk about these three things. I am against Mercosur, I am in favour of maintaining the common agricultural policy and I am in favour of maintaining or increasing resources. Have we heard any word and assurance in these three basic matters? Do you want to be a farmer? Do you want to be remembered as someone who developed agriculture? The former commissioner fought for agriculture, he was attacked from all sides. Timmermans attacked him, Dombrowskis attacked him, and he said, I will defend agriculture. We would like a similar attitude towards you, so that you will be well remembered in the history of Polish and European agriculture as well. There is no assurance on this. I am afraid that the next financial perspective will be the degradation of European agriculture. What have we achieved in the European Union? Buried industry, buried competitiveness, just agriculture. And we are on the right track to eradicate agriculture as well.

Yesterday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz admitted in a debate with Friedrich Merz that he was simply breaking the law, that is, sending immigrants back, transporting them from his own country to his neighbours, including Poland. In 2024, it was already several thousand people. This is a clear and obvious violation of the rules, including European ones. This is why I am calling for a response from the European Commission. Today, the migration pact is not yet in force, so we cannot do this type of treatment to save our own citizens, because we as Poles do not agree with this. The information that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has agreed to this is scandalous. And I would like to inform you that Donald Tusk does not have the consent of citizens for this type of action, he does not have the consent to sign the migration pact, which he has already done. And we are preparing a referendum in Poland that will show opposition to you, to the European Commission, to the Germans and to the harlotry that we have in Poland today.

Adjust, overregulate and kill. This is the regulation and this is what the European Union does in many respects. That was the case with farmers, that was the case with farmers. And now we are approaching blockchain and cryptocurrencies in exactly the same way. Soon it will turn out that the whole world is profiting from it, the whole world is developing, and we do not treat it as an opportunity, we treat it as a threat. Today, China and the United States have the largest assets in cryptocurrencies, and Europe is wondering how to limit it? What do you mean, fight it? Soon, one billion people in the world will have cryptocurrencies. In Poland, 12% of people of working age already have cryptocurrencies. So I am more afraid that you will regulate than that you will do nothing, because it will probably kill this market and others will earn from it. Irregularities must be prosecuted, but sensibly. Today, when one tries to regulate it in Poland, lobbyists have taken over offices and institutions and it is difficult to do anything. And those who are going to make money from it, they're going to make money anyway. And ordinary people, unfortunately, cannot invest and develop in this matter.

The reason for this is that we have submitted our request, which has not been passed either. So our proposal had a chance to get more support, because we have a bigger group, and he didn't get support either. We wanted to talk about Mercosur here today.

Mr President, thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mental Health of Farmers. I thought I wouldn't live to see times like this. You can't talk about a deal with Mercosur today, but a debate about mental health is possible. I will tell you why farmers today are concerned and mentally ill. Because there's a deal with Mercosur, 700 pages. The Commission even hides this from farmers. I managed to get it from the European Commission. This is the problem of farmers. That's why they have a problem today and they can't sleep. Today, they have a problem with the profitability of agricultural production. Ladies and Gentlemen, if today we have a situation in which poultry or beef are half cheaper in Brazil, let us not delude ourselves that this will affect the countries of Europe. Today, read the Spanish-language portals that talk about the great success of Brazil, which is already preparing to send food to Europe, frozen food to Europe. If we don't stop it, of course we can sacrifice agriculture. Then say it honestly. We can sacrifice it for volkswageny, but Polish farmers will not die for volkswageny.

Mr President, thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, The fact that things are going badly in agriculture and industry, we all know. After the Draghi report, almost everyone adds the words "the need for competitiveness", "let's take care of competitiveness" to the problems. This is the only shock that hasn't led to the right conclusions. Let's call things by their first name: climate policy and the Green Deal have led to the current situation. It feels like we're on the Titanic today. There are no clear lines of action today. The new Commission which has just been set up, but which is really old, will do exactly what it did for the first term, that is, it will strengthen climate policy and impoverish society, farmers and entrepreneurs. Today we have no answer in this regard. There is no answer in this House, and I am sure that the elected Commission will also, if there is no shock here, be so real. Today we have French farmers on the streets. You are trying to sign a contract with Mercosur, that is, to worsen this situation, but these industries, these representatives of various professions and branches of the economy here will be a whole lot. Everyone will come until we really learn from what's going on. We're losing to China, we're losing to the United States.

Mr President, thank you very much. Mr. Commissioner, I would like to thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen, There is no doubt in this Chamber that regions, but also cities, are a very important element, the strength of the European Union, the strength of individual regions. They absorb funds, spend them and know things locally best. This principle of subsidiarity, which indicates that the smallest matters should be dealt with where it is closest to these authorities, is still valid. But the messages coming from the European Commission are no longer so optimistic. We are hearing about the reform of cohesion policy and the dismantling of, for example, regional programmes or their reduction. And that's very disturbing. When there was a desire to use strong, strong regions to limit the influence of individual governments in Europe, you used it. And today, if you don't know what it's about, it's probably about money. That is, on the occasion of the reform of cohesion policy, you want to reduce the funds that formally and finally flowed to these regions. And we certainly won't let that happen.

Mr President, thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, Yesterday we discussed the problems, the gigantic problems of the automotive market. At the previous meeting there were debates on the problems of agriculture, and earlier there was also a debate on the chemical industry, etc., etc. Every sector of the economy has exactly the same problems. Show me any industry that says today: It's great, we're going in the right direction. Each of them will come here and point to exactly the same thing. And, ladies and gentlemen, we have to admit what is causing this situation. Appointment of a Commissioner for Housing, adding an additional element to the dossier that he won't do anything about anyway? It doesn't make any sense. Ladies and Gentlemen, the reason is one: The Green Deal that led to this. No industry is competitive with other regions of the world. It's exactly the same with construction. Please note this: Europe 30 cents per kilowatt hour, USA 14 cents, China 8. This is the cause of these problems. If we don't realize it, we're going to get into more trouble. And today we must stop, for example, the building directive and the payment for the emission of buildings, because they will cause a 30% increase in property prices. So let's find a real cause and fight it, and let's not say round words here.

Mr President, Commissioner Dombrovkis, but also Mr EPP: You have been pushing for the Green Deal policy for years and today we have consequences. Another industry has a problem. And we will meet at each subsequent session and all industries will come here one by one as victims of the Green Deal. Why, as long as we competed with traditional diesel cars, was there no problem with Chinese competition? Suddenly, when we compete with electric cars, it turns out that we lose this competition. It will be exactly the same as with photovoltaics. First, we introduced green energy, and later it turned out that 95% of photovoltaics are produced in China. It is through our actions, and more specifically your actions, that we have today brought about a dramatic situation in the automotive industry. And it is worth admitting that you are right and withdrawing from these decisions, which are related to the Green Deal and low emissions, as well as penalties for producers.

Madam President, thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, We have here the wonderful, ardent speeches of my previous speakers. So what does that mean, ladies and gentlemen? Today, the European Parliament should call on the Commission to present a concrete plan: how much, for whom, at what time, what measures will be taken? There is no such thing, and these people expect it. And for that, ladies and gentlemen, we have – beware! – A debate on drought is scheduled tomorrow. Tomorrow we will be debating drought in a situation where concrete action is needed today. Let's stop this dialogue that doesn't bring anything. Concrete actions. The Commission, the Commissioner, is here: What money will be allocated from the Solidarity Fund? In which countries, in what order and at what time in the first place? Ladies and Gentlemen, there was a very interesting debate here. Mr Vondra from the Czech Republic, Mr Rzońca from Poland – they pointed out that many European countries were making efforts to build, for example, polders or even retention reservoirs. And what does it turn out to be? It is either European policies and regulations that have extended the construction of such facilities, or environmentalists and greens are physically blocking opportunities of this kind. So let's stop being hypocritical, because Green Deal policies have been terribly blocking investments that would help today. Climate change is inevitable. On the other hand, we must build infrastructure, not make it difficult to build it, because today politics aims to do so.

Mr President, thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, When a wave of protests swept through the European Union, across Europe, a few months ago, we all hoped that this strategic dialogue would bring the expected results, that it would be a turning back from the path of the Green Deal. Unfortunately, that's not gonna happen. Most agricultural organisations, for example from Poland, are opposed to the effects that this dialogue and this report have produced. First of all, this dialogue took place without their participation. How is it possible that agriculture is discussed without the participation of the farmers themselves? This is the de facto powdering of the Green Deal. There is not a single place that we can turn from this wrong direction. Where is the discussion about supporting farmers? We are talking about limiting production, we are talking about limiting payments. Where is the support for farmers? Where is the production support? The Green Deal has eliminated industry in Europe. Now he's fighting the car. Where will the food be produced in 10 years? Certainly not in Europe, if we maintain these regulations. In Brazil? In Ukraine? Certainly not in Poland, because in Poland it will not pay off. And the only man who understood this and tried to block it, Janusz Wojciechowski, is leaving the European Commission. So we demand real change, real change and withdrawal from the Green Deal as part of agricultural policy.