NAK president: area-based subsidies must be protected

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György Zsolt Papp recalled that, according to the European Commission’s aspirations, area-based support may cease in the future, which would be replaced by income-based support. The expert considers this unacceptable, according to him, the change would adversely affect more than 160,000 farmers who produce on five million hectares in Hungary alone. He added that disbursements began in mid-October, and HUF 100 billion in area-based subsidies were paid until then, which contributes to improving the efficiency and competitiveness of agriculture.

György Zsolt Papp also touched on the fact that the EU would cut back on animal husbandry under the pretext of climate protection, and the ultimate goal is the transition to plant-based consumption

In this regard, he noted: 90 percent of the cattle are kept outside the EU, which, in his opinion, does not justify EU restrictions. He explained that in the next EU cycle, the budget of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is 387 billion euros, which is one third of the entire budget, and that it contains the possibility of renewing agriculture. Efficient, competitive farming that is in harmony with the environment and that also takes into account consumer needs is needed, which serves renewable agriculture and the renewable countryside – emphasized the president of the chamber. He emphasized: for this purpose, a national petition was launched to ask for the support of farmers and consumers in order to effectively represent their aspirations. György Zsolt Papp also said that there is agreement and cooperation between the V4 countries on the preservation of area-based subsidies and the strengthening of animal husbandry.

István Jakab, the president of the Association of Hungarian Farmers’ Associations and Farmers’ Cooperatives (Magosz) sharply criticized the document entitled “Strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the European Union”, which, according to him, was developed by the EC with a humanities professor

He added: if it is realized, the farmers will receive minimal funds, the planned income-based subsidies will also be linked to rule of law conditions, that is, “the committee can decide on the subsidy at will”. According to the president of Magosz, Hungary must take united action against the efforts of the EC, the V4 member states do not support the change uniformly, according to his knowledge, the Italian, German, and French farmers are also organized in this matter, and if necessary, they emphasize their demands with protests and demonstrations.

MTI