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Polish lawmakers reject bid to oust agriculture minister

17.09.2021 08:15
Polish lawmakers have rejected a bid to oust the country’s agriculture minister amid a bitter dispute over rural policies.
Agriculture Minister Grzegorz Puda speaks during a session of the Sejm, the lower house of Polands parliament, late on Thursday.
Agriculture Minister Grzegorz Puda speaks during a session of the Sejm, the lower house of Poland's parliament, late on Thursday.Photo: PAP/Piotr Nowak

A total of 233 MPs on Thursday night voted to defeat a no-confidence motion put forward against Agriculture Minister Grzegorz Puda by the opposition.

Meanwhile, 214 deputies supported the motion, and two abstained, state news agency PAP reported.

The bid had little chance of succeeding because the country’s governing conservatives hold a comfortable majority in parliament.

The vote came after the opposition last month accused Puda of failing to "conduct dialogue with farmers and agricultural organizations" and dragging his feet on new legislation needed in the countryside.

Conservative politicians including Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki defended Puda in parliament on Thursday, saying he was a good minister amid efforts by the government to "defend the Polish countryside" against misguided policies drawn up by former decision makers.

"The Polish countryside is not only a treasure trove of great values, traditions, faith and culture, but also a modern business sector" that drives the country's exports and ensures "our food security," Morawiecki told the house.

Morawiecki in December announced a support programme worth PLN 250 million (USD 67.7m, EUR 55m) for areas in which now-vanished communist-era state-owned farms were a major employer.

He told reporters last year that some villages whose residents worked for state-owned farms “were doomed to oblivion and poverty” under previous governments in the 1990s and 2000s.

(gs)

Source: PAP