Minister of Agriculture: Brussels has once again left Eastern European farmers alone

By: STA Date: 2024. 01. 31. 09:15

Brussels has once again failed Eastern European farmers, as it plans to extend the autonomous trade liberalization measure granted to Ukraine until June 2025 without proposing any solution to the problems caused by Ukrainian grain imports, said István Nagy, Minister of Agriculture.

(Photo: drnagyistvan.hu)

The head of the department highlighted that the European Commission’s proposal to extend the autonomous trade liberalization measure (ATM regulation) would continue to put European producers at a disadvantage and, with the facilitations granted to Ukraine, would have a negative impact on the agriculture of the Union. This could further threaten the stability of agriculture and the future of farmers. The committee would extend the suspension of import duties on Ukrainian exports without proposing any solution to the problems caused by Ukrainian grain imports. In the case of poultry, eggs and sugar, the proposed emergency braking mechanism would stabilize duty-free imports on the average of the quantities imported in 2022 and 2023. This would practically conserve the situation that has developed since the outbreak of the war, which only focuses on the interests of Ukraine, István Nagy added. He explained that it is clear that in the current situation, Hungarian farmers can still rely only on the government, which is why Hungary will maintain the national import ban on products from Ukraine until an equivalent international solution is found. The minister reminded that Ukraine’s agricultural exports were originally aimed mainly at third countries, but since the outbreak of the war, the products have been arriving on the markets of the European Union, causing significant disturbances. In addition, the differences between production standards put EU producers at a significant competitive disadvantage.

István Nagy urges the introduction of additional measures to protect the European agricultural and food industry

He explained that the farmers’ demonstrations also draw attention to the fact that the producers of the EU member states do not receive sufficient protection from the EU against Ukraine, and with the outsourcing of their market, a situation arises that makes their daily livelihood impossible. The European Commission must protect European interests against Ukrainians, not Ukrainian interests against European farmers, the head of the ministry stated.