A joint online petition was launched to protect farmers

(Photo: AM/Tibor Vermes)

Sándor Farkas said that the reason for launching the petition is that Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, has published a proposal that will affect all farmers and consumers living in the European Union. This EU program is about how to change the scope of activities in agriculture, how to withdraw a significant part of the subsidies, which they would like to use for the Ukrainian economic situation at some point, he explained. He announced that, according to the proposal made public, support for the meat industry and the production of meat will be withdrawn so that people consume as many alternative plant-based proteins as possible. The state secretary assessed these measures as saying that “not only the farming community, but also the entire Hungarian and European consumer society is in danger”. Sándor Farkas emphasized: The Hungarian government is doing everything to ensure that agriculture functions as a predictable, strategic sector and produces food for the markets of Hungarian and European consumers in a safe, environmentally conscious way. That is why they act together with the V4 countries.

 György Zsolt Papp, the president of NAK, said that the draft report on the strategic dialogue of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should be discussed because it determines the future of farmers

In addition, the draft targeted area-based support, which is the most necessary for the Hungarian farming community, since it is worth almost HUF 500 billion annually and affects more than 160,000 farmers. The NAK president also mentioned that this report calls agriculture the main culprit for climate change. However, this is not the case – he emphasized, adding: European agriculture is not responsible for environmental pollution and climate change. The president of the chamber requested that the farmers express their agreement by signing the online agricultural petition against the draft report. The petition is available at agrarpeticio.hu.

According to István Jakab, the president of Magosz, the main issue is hidden in the European Union proposal

How can the area-based subsidies be abolished, how can these be provided as income replacement subsidies for certain member states or certain regions, so that in practice this happens according to the European Commission’s “will”? The president of the association believed that if the European Commission is given the opportunity to provide funds to certain groups not on a normative basis, but on a targeted basis, then these will be tied to the rule of law conditions, and from this point on, the chairman of the committee will decide which country’s farmers will receive the funds. to sources. However, with this step, subsidies would be withdrawn from those who produce healthy food and those who create a healthy environment. Summarizing, he said: they want to transform the entire agricultural support system in Europe, subject to the rule of law, and this is a harsh step against the farmers. He added that the German Peasants’ Association had already indicated that this was not why they took to the streets before, and that they would continue the movements if necessary, and the French farmers were already organizing demonstrations on November 15. István Jakab, in order to avoid new farmers’ protests, asked the EU organizations to rethink their steps and not want to transform the support background of Europe’s agricultural and food economy system without impact studies.

István Jakab – like the president of the chamber – encouraged people to join the petition

At the end of the event, István Jakab and György Zsolt Papp were the first to join the petition. Referring to the EU proposal, the page reads: “It is outrageous that some Hungarian members of the European Parliament support this proposal. Hungarian farmers deserve more than this! Enough of creating sentiment against farmers, enough of the blackmail!”

MTI