AM: our country opposes the EU-Mercosur trade agreement

The minister recalled that the European Union would conclude the EU-Mercosur (members of which are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) trade agreement after almost two decades of negotiations.

According to the European Commission, this agreement would open up a market worth hundreds of millions to European businesses and save billions of euros in customs duties annually.

However, the agreement has many negative effects on European agriculture and also threatens farmers’ livelihoods, competitiveness and food security.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that Brussels’ opening of the market to Ukraine and the simultaneous entry into force of the EU-Mercosur agreement would destabilize the entire European agriculture, they wrote.

István Nagy explained that as a result of the agreement, agricultural products of questionable quality that do not comply with European production conditions – including plant and animal health regulations – would arrive in the EU in unmanageable quantities, such as poultry and beef, and honey.

Hungary continues to insist on the fundamental principle that products entering the European Union must also comply with EU rules on food produced in the EU, otherwise farmers here will be at a competitive disadvantage, which we cannot allow.

But let’s not forget that the world’s 2nd and 3rd largest GMO crop producers are Brazil and Argentina, 7th Paraguay and 10th Uruguay, so the spread of these countries’ crops in Europe and Hungary is contrary to Hungary’s GMO-free strategy

– the statement says.