The guarantee of support for farmers is the preservation of an independent, autonomous agricultural policy

(Photo: AM)

Arriving at the meeting of the agricultural ministers of the EU member states, the State Secretary emphasized that the Commission proposals submitted last summer on the future of the common agricultural policy (CAP) are not considered acceptable by most of the member states, including Hungary. According to him, the draft would reduce the resources available for agricultural subsidies, and agricultural funds would be put into one fund with cohesion funds, so that individual sectors would have to compete with each other for subsidies. This – in his opinion – would lead to the cessation of the independence of the common agricultural policy, and the specific uniqueness of agriculture and the food industry, which has been ensured so far by the independent agricultural policy, would be lost. He added: Hungary has consistently opposed the European Commission’s proposal in the past seven months and continues to represent this position. József Viski also mentioned that the weather conditions of recent years have significantly worsened the situation of Hungarian farmers, while several EU economic and trade policy decisions have further worsened the competitive situation of producers. He mentioned as examples the free trade agreements concluded with Ukraine and South American countries, which – as he said – result in the appearance of cheaper products produced under different food safety and animal health conditions on the European market.

The Secretary of State stressed that food security is a top priority in the EU, and that food for the European population should be produced primarily by agricultural actors operating in Europe

József Viski also announced that Hungary, together with Romania, Slovakia and Malta, had requested that the European Commission provide assistance in managing the crisis in the pig market. The purchase price on the pig market has decreased by more than 20 percent in the past year, and breeders are currently forced to contract below cost prices in many cases, which is why financial assistance in addition to previous support is needed, he stressed. He said that Hungary is taking the initiative to open the crisis fund of the common agricultural policy to support pig breeders. In addition, he had previously proposed to the Commission to increase the country’s “de minimis” framework, which would allow for additional support to be provided at national level, but no response has been received so far. The State Secretary reminded that the government has introduced a loan moratorium on producers’ outstanding loans in recent months and would provide extraordinary support, which, however, cannot be used by all affected parties due to EU rules. He also spoke about the fact that there has been no progress in the dairy market crisis, which is why Hungary has rescheduled the payment of certain subsidies, introduced a loan moratorium and is continuously assessing the market situation. The aim is to be able to intervene with EU crisis support instruments and provide substantive assistance to the affected producers.

AM/MTI