News /
Poland -- Europe's only counterweight to Russia [271]
I wonder what that's got to do with Poland as a counterbalance to the Russian threat.
Is your memory that abysmally short? Too much marijuana? I stated that Poland is increasingly looking for trade deals elsewhere and not just in the EU - like the deal with Kazakhstan. To which you commented that they are corrupt and copied delph's post that they have a lack of democracy - which has nothing to do with Poland nor Russia. To which I unfortunately fell for your tangent bait and responded that democracy doesn't necessarily mean a high standard of living and happy citizens and explained how certain countries that are run by dictators offer (or in this case offered) their citizens healthcare, education, dividend checks, etc. to which you ignorantly thought I was speaking of Russia due to your poor reading comprehension skills.
Those would be the same farmers who have done very well out of the EU.
The same farmers who have seen a drop in agricultural income since 2011 and a significant decline in employment.
ibtimes.co.uk/poland-norway-be-hardest-hit-by-russian-sanctions-1461013
The country exports over $1.12bn of agricultural products to Russia every year and its fruit sector, apples in particular, would face a severe blow.Some sources like Bloomberg say that the figure is closer to $2 billion a year in losses for the agricultural industry thanks to the Russian sanctions.
I'll use apples as an example as up until recently, I had a hectare sized apple orchard on my property and loved making wine out of apples. Say that I was under contract to provide x kilos of apples to two companies - one in Germany, one in Russia - as most farmers sell their harvests to either one or very few customers - they don't have 100's of customers (unless they have like a small market stall type of operation where they sell their goods locally). Like my uncle for example lives on a farm and sells all his goods to a company named Golpasz. For the most part it involves a contract and filling a quota with a certain good of a certain quality by a set date. If suddenly sanctions prevent me from sending my apples to my Russian customer - well my contract is now null and void and it'd be illegal for me to go through with it. I just lost 1/2 my customers. So now, not only did I lose what could've been my only customer - if I was only exclusively selling to a Russians, but now I have to find a new customer to buy the apples from me - which there aren't many in the EU that want Polish apples. Meanwhile, the Russian customer is upset because now he also has to find a new source so that he can fulfill his own contractual obligations - whether they're providing apples to a grocery store, or apples to a company to make apple sauce, or whatever. Now, the consumer at the Russian supermarket feels this effect as suddenly the price of apples has gone up 50% if not more. So a person already hit hard by the decline of the rouble now has to spend even more money on a basic food item.
bbc.com/news/business-28879165
Specifically about Polish apple growers feeling a squeeze:
"We are happy with the quality, but just don't know whether we can sell our apples or what price we can now get. The kind of apples we grow are good sellers in Russia but less popular in many other places in Europe."
Now is it worth for a poor Polish family to face financial ruin just because a guy in Brussels can decide for them who they can and cannot sell apples to? I think not...
