Code against multinationals?

Hungarian farmers have been waiting for the government to help them in improving their one-sided position in bargaining with multinationals since our accession to the EU. The drastic drop in the value of the HUF seen last year has made imported food 20-30 percent more expensive than in the past and also made retailers open to accepting limitations on a voluntary basis. The Food Supply Code signed in April is intended to provide some degree of protection for local farmers and distributors against multinationals. The proportion of Hungarian products on shelves is to reach 80 percent soon. It has been defined in the Code what is to be regarded as a product of Hungarian origin and this definition is quite lenient. The Code attempts to remedy all the main grievances complained about by farmers in quite detailed provisions. Unfortunately, most of these provisions have long been in effect as legal provisions and have long been overlooked. Any breach of the Code will result in no more than a symbolic sanction in the shape of a formal warning by the competent committee. I do not see the heads of multinational chains spending sleepless nights worrying about the possibility of such consequences. In fact, such a formal warning sounds rather ridiculous as a sanction. Then on 21. May, even the minimal practical use which farmers had hoped the Code would offer was threatened when the Competition Office announced that it was launching an enquiry, as several provisions of the Code are contrary to provisions of law. In any case, the Competition Office might provide more help to farmers than the Code.