Polish authorities recommend citizens collect firewood from forests to heat their homes as energy costs continue to rise.
For opponents of the country’s government, this recommendation is an indicator of the fragility of the national economy in the face of rising inflation.
Inflation in Poland is now almost 14% and fuel prices exceed 8 zlotys (approximately 1.74 euros) per litre.with the government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, of the Law and Justice party, blaming “Putinflation”, that is, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, for the increase in costs.
But critics of Morawiecki’s party claim that war is only responsible for part of the problemarguing that costs rose as a result of seven years of social spending policies by the ruling party, including measures such as distributing financial support to families with children and the elderly.
The billions of euros in funds from the European Union (EU) can alleviate the country’s crisis, but access to this aid continues to be conditioned by Brussels to changes in the Polish judicial system.
According to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who was in Warsaw last Thursday, European financial support will only reach Poland when the country agrees to meet certain requirementsnamely, to abolish the current disciplinary chamber and replace it with an independent and impartial court established by law.
“After Thursday’s visit, I can say that in theory we are billionaires and in practice we all continue to collect firewood from the bush,” said the leader of the largest opposition party, Donald Tusk.
Regarding the collection of firewood recommended by the Government, Tusk also added that “This seems to be the latest idea to prevent Polish poverty that Law and Justice has prepared for all of us”.
For a long time the public has been allowed to buy the surplus left after logging in state forests.
“Collecting branches for fuel has always been allowed, with the consent of the ranger,” Deputy Climate and Environment Minister Edward Siarka said last week.
According to him, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the ensuing turmoil in the energy market, more and more people want to know how to get firewood.
Source: Observadora
