Eastern European heads of state and government jointly request help for their agriculture from the European Commission

(Photo: Pixabay)

He explained that the increased energy prices and input costs due to the Russo-Ukrainian war and the failed Brussels sanctions in response are also affecting European farmers very seriously. In the member states bordering Ukraine – including in Hungary – all this is compounded by the never-before-seen quantity of grain and oilseed imports arriving and remaining in these countries. In addition, Ukrainian agriculture, which enjoys full duty-free status, has begun to export large quantities of poultry, eggs and honey to the European market, which displaces Hungarian products from its traditional markets and lowers farmers’ sales prices below the level of production costs, he emphasized. István Nagy said that seeing the helplessness of the Eastern European states and heads of government in Brussels, in their letter yesterday they are asking the president of the European Commission to immediately develop a complex package of measures, which includes immediate help for the affected farmers and the management of the root causes.

It’s in the letter

The minister also touched on the fact that in order to immediately help farmers who are having sales problems due to Ukrainian imports, they are calling for an increase in the amounts that can be used for extraordinary support by involving additional funds, because it is clear that the resources that can be used for this purpose within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy and the national budgets cannot solve the situation management. Also, in order to deal with the situation in the short term, we ask the Commission to examine the possibility of the EU buying up for humanitarian purposes the stored grain grown in bordering member states and unsalable due to the drop in prices caused by imports. And in the field of trade policy, we recommend that if the market disruptions caused by imports cannot be avoided in any other way, then the Commission should take steps to reduce customs duties and tariff quotas, he noted.

István Nagy emphasized that the Hungarian Government trusts that the European Commission will not forget Eastern European farmers when helping Ukraine

It is neither expected nor fair that the farmers of the bordering member states pay the price of the common solidarity provided by the 27 EU member states towards Ukraine. It must be avoided that the same thing happens as in the case of sanctions, that is, that the EU causes more damage to itself and its agricultural producers than the amount of help that the customs-free admission of agricultural products by land means to Ukraine, he stated.

AM