NAK-Magosz: online petition launched to protect food safety and Hungarian farmers

The leader of the NAK urged a united stance to overcome the obstacles facing agriculture. Zsolt Papp welcomed the fact that in December, at the farmers’ protest in Brussels, a coalition was formed against the elimination of development opportunities, the destruction of agriculture and the selling out of Europe’s future. The European Commission is responsible for all of this, as well as for the Mercosur agreement and the withdrawal of funds, so there will be another European farmers’ protest on Tuesday. The petition now published supports the maintenance of the EU’s common agricultural policy, as subsidies have been helping the countryside, agriculture and the processing industry to function for decades, improving competitiveness and efficiency – he stressed. The NAK President believes that the protest makes sense even if Ursula von der Leyen signed the Mercusor agreement, and according to the plans, the resources allocated to agriculture would also be significantly reduced, endangering Europe’s production opportunities. The European Commission cannot make the lives of farmers any more difficult, it cannot give the resources they are entitled to to Ukraine, it cannot force free trade agreements on the EU market, and it cannot deprive consumers of healthy, high-quality food – he added.

According to Jakab István Magosz President, farmers now have to deal with the biggest challenge so far

If there is no firm stand, irreversible processes may begin in Europe. The Greens would also have reason to join forces with farmers, because the South American states affected by the Mercosur agreement have become competitive through deforestation and genetic modification. The possibility of Ukraine’s EU membership also portends long-term difficulties, although agricultural goods from there often already enter the internal market as EU products. István Jakab called “ideologically driven economic policy” unacceptable, adding that it will be difficult to prevent the Mercosur agreement from coming into force, but Hungary can also count on French, Irish, Polish, Austrian, Czech and Slovak support. When the time comes for the vote in the European Parliament, it will become clear who represents and who does not represent the interests of Hungarian farmers, he said. According to the protest on the agrarpeticio.hu website, a more than 20 percent reduction in EU agricultural subsidies would make it impossible for farmers, and imports from countries outside the EU without restrictions and controls pose a threat to food security. Therefore, agriculture must not be allowed to become a victim of trade deals and faulty EU decisions, they wrote.

MTI