Cries of farm sellout clouding EU bid

This year's wheat crop is ripening nicely in the patchwork of fields scattered across Poland's northern plains. But instead of looking forward to a bumper harvest, farmers here fret over slumping prices and fear their produce will be undercut by cheap, subsidized imports from the European Union. "The Polish economy is like the Titanic - up above the party is still going on, but down below, people like us are sinking," said Andrzej Sapalski, who has sown most of his 36 hectares (90 acres) of land near Lubiewo, northwest of Warsaw, with grains this year. Like Sapalski, 38, many of Poland's 2 million farmers and smallholders have lost faith in the country's rulers and believe that, in its determination to join the EU, the government will sell them out to Western Europe's agribusiness lobby. "It's all a dictate, and for us things will just get worse," said Sapalski, sitting out in his farmyard with his family on a hot June day, his elderly father Stanisław nodding in agreement. Nostalgic for the certainties of life under communism and angry at the broken promises of elected governments, Sapalski has rallied to Andrzej Lepper, a populist who has given a voice to the losers of Poland's transition to the free market. He is not alone. Support for Lepper's Self-Defense party has surged to 18% from 10% in a general election last year, and could rise further as the rabble-rousing pig farmer threatens a long, hot summer of discontent. Lepper recently led an occupation of the Agriculture Ministry, dumped German grain at a Warsaw depot and caused uproar in Parliament by accusing government supporters of cashing in on cheap EU imports at the expense of hard-pressed Polish farmers. He has threatened to paralyze this Eastern European nation of 39 million at a road-block protest on June 25 and Sapalski, Self-Defensee branch head in Lubiewo, a village 200 kilometers from Warsaw, said he would be taking part.

A hard sell The left-wing government has made a top priority of getting Poland into the EU, but is finding it tough to make a convincing case for joining. It rejects as unfair the terms for farming aid proposed back in January by the European Commission. Poland, the largest of 10 countries hoping to join the EU in 2004, sees no reason why its farmers should get just one quarter of the subsidies paid to farmers in existing EU member states. It complains that tight output quotas would ruin hopes of boosting dismal farm productivity. Disputes among EU members on reforming the bloc's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) mean last weekend's EU summit in Seville would not tackle the controversial issue of farm subsidies, leaving it to be settled later this year. The delay has put Agriculture Minister Jarosław Kalinowski under pressure as his Peasants Party (PSL), junior coalition partner to the ex-communists, is losing support to Lepper on perceptions that it is not sticking up for farmers. "We expect fair membership terms," said Kalinowski, who has cranked up his rhetoric lately. "There can't be two agricultural policies - a better one for existing EU members and a worse one for candidate states."

Caving in Kalinowski has caved in to Lepper by propping up grain, meat and milk markets and by trying to block cheap EU grain imports, in a rearguard action against what even moderate farmers fear could be a harbinger of things to come. "If the terms on offer stay as they are, that would spell disaster not only for Poland but also for the enlarged EU," said Józef Waligóra, head of Poland's Federation of Farming Chambers. Waligóra said that if entry terms are not improved, up to 1.5 million Polish farmers could end up on the dole, joining the country's record 3 million registered jobless. The limbo in farm talks has coincided with the worst rural slump in Poland since the fall of communism in 1989, with farmers' incomes tumbling to just 40% of pay for non-farm workers, down from 80% four years ago. More than a quarter of the workforce derives at least some income from farming, but the average plot is a tiny seven hectares (17.30 acres) and farmers account for just a few percent of gross domestic product, reflecting huge inefficiency. Many eke out a subsistence, but even farmers with more land, like Władysław Hoppe, are finding the going increasingly tough. "The last year has been a tragedy," said the 27-year-old Hoppe, who has a 50-hectare (123-acre) mixed farm in nearby Bysławek, but has to do odd jobs on the side to keep his head above water. He complains that the price of a liter of milk from his 15 dairy cows has slumped to just over zl. 0.60 (15 cents) a liter - half the retail price of a bottle of mineral water. Hoppe tops up his income by importing and repairing old farm machinery. He also helps out now and then on a big farm in Germany, getting a glimpse of the competition he can expect when customs barriers are torn down after EU enlargement. "They don't dream of buying a tractor, they dream of buying a Porsche," said Hoppe, who sympathizes with another anti-EU party, the arch-nationalist League of Polish Families (LPR). "Within a year, I have turned from being a big supporter of joining the EU to being an opponent," Hoppe said.

Bad timing Analysts say the EU Commission's farm proposals may have allayed fears in member states about the costs of enlargement, but their timing has made the project vulnerable to populist attack in Poland. While public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of joining the EU - surveys put two-thirds of Poles in favor and one quarter against - pollsters say that the government must be seen to win a fair deal for farmers for that support to hold. Lepper will be looking to make a strong showing in local elections this October as a launchpad for a big protest vote in an EU entry referendum scheduled for next year. But while Lepper's loyalists may be ready to take to the barricades, the wider mood of rural Poland may be less volatile as people try to get by by doing extra jobs and cashing in on welfare benefits, which make up 30% of their income. "People are depressed, but not militant," said Professor Jerzy Wilkin, an economist at Warsaw University who specializes in rural development. "Most farmers fear for their competitive position after EU enlargement ... But despite dissatisfaction over the current situation, they know their future will be better inside the EU." Instead of letting rural hardship get them down, local men in Bysławek have instead got organized, forming an "Attractive Bachelors Club" to make light of the rural depopulation that has left the village short of marriageable women. "Things are tough, but we don't want to give in," says Krzysztof Deringowski, 27, at the club's headquarters - a school that had to close down due to a shortage of children. - Reuters