Roads are being blocked in protest against threats to food security and employment.
On Tuesday, Polish farmers launched protests in over 170 locations across the country to express their opposition to the free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR).
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They blocked roads with agricultural machinery to denounce the threats posed by the EU-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to their agriculture, food security and jobs.
The farmers argue that European producers are not adequately protected from the effects of excessive trade liberalization. They say Poland has the capacity to be self-sufficient through its own agricultural production, which eliminates the need to import food from other countries.
The Samoobrona Agricultural Union warned that signing the EU-MERCOSUR FTA would condemn farming families to an unprecedented economic catastrophe. It also stressed that the protest is part of a struggle for the dignity of farmers against bureaucratic measures imposed from Brussels, which ignore the realities of Polish soils.
🇵🇱🚜💥🇪🇺💶
Farmers across Poland are protesting against the EU-Mercosur agreement. pic.twitter.com/qiDx0TOZOR— Based Poland 🇵🇱 (@Poland_Based) December 30, 2025
One of the main drivers of the protest is concern over sanitary standards, with farmers warning that the EU-MERCOSUR agreement would allow the massive entry of products produced using pesticides that are strictly banned in Europe.
Polish farmers say it is an unacceptable contradiction for the European Union to demand high investment costs to meet internal environmental standards while opening the door to MERCOSUR goods that do not comply with those safety regulations.
Poland’s resistance has joined a broader bloc of opposition that has also gained momentum in France and Italy, leading to another postponement of the signing of the FTA until early 2026.
#europeanfarmers #protest In the following countries, farmers stand up against the Elites: Belgium 🇧🇪 France 🇫🇷 Germany 🇩🇪 Italy 🇮🇹 Holland Norway 🇳🇴 Poland 🇵🇱 Romania 🇷🇴 Scotland 🏴 Slovenia 🇸🇮 Spain pic.twitter.com/4XaHTh0dzT
— Dolly van den Berg (@dendolly1) December 22, 2025
Polish farmers are calling for the implementation of so-called “mirror clauses” and a reduction in administrative burdens, arguing that competing under conditions of structural inequality will only deepen the crisis facing domestic farms.
Although Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised to impose unilateral quotas and tariffs in the event of disproportionate imports, farmers’ discontent persists due to Warsaw’s inability to consolidate an effective blockade within the EU.
After 25 years of negotiations, the EU-MERCOSUR deal aims to create one of the world’s largest free trade areas, facilitating the exchange of European machinery and automobiles for South American raw materials. However, for European social and agrarian movements, this free trade agreement would only deepen social inequality while favoring the expansion of large transnational corporations.
Brazilian political activist and Coordinator of the Brazilian landless Rural Workers’ Movement Joao Pedro Stedile commented on the agreement between #Mercosur and the #EU, considering it a mistake and of little importance to #Brazil. pic.twitter.com/5xhwbHc2cA
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 22, 2025
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: Sputnik – EFE
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