Tibor Navracsics: rural Hungary must be further strengthened

Tibor Navracsics emphasized: the capital was previously in a privileged position for decades, the goal is to restore the balance between Budapest and the countryside in order to give rural Hungary a chance. That is why rural development, support for the agricultural economy, and the development of public services are necessary. Within the support of the common EU agricultural policy, the Hungarian government undertakes an exceptionally high co-financing rate, thus creating opportunities for farmers – he added. The efforts of the past sixteen years have borne fruit, and rural Hungary is much stronger today than it was in 2010. The machinery, the modernisation of farming, the spread of responsible farming and the support for generational change all strengthen Hungarian farmers, and we must continue on this path – said Tibor Navracsics.

István Jakab, Vice-President of the Parliament and President of MAGOSZ, said that it is important that “no decision is made about us, without us.”

He stressed that the agreement recently reached between Magosz and the government already applies to the future, to joint construction. What is important is that we do high-level professional work in everything, to bring knowledge, information and EU opportunities to farmers. There are seven hundred rural economic advisors in the country, and they help to implement this – he added. István Jakab also spoke about how the land law created by the government protects Hungarian farmers, the tax system is structured in such a way that primary producers do not pay taxes up to 150 million forints, and he also called it important that the farm can be transferred using a simplified procedure. Viktor Nagy, Deputy Secretary General of Magosz, said that a government decision was made in 2021 that for every euro of EU agricultural development, three euros would be provided by the national budget. Last year, approximately 150 thousand unified applications were submitted, advances were paid from mid-October, and by the end of March, nearly 837 billion forints of support had been received by farmers. Of the 5,600 billion forint plan to be completed by 2027, approximately 3,900 billion forints are available to farmers in the form of tenders, and of this, nearly 1,700 billion forints have already been awarded. The documentation has been significantly simplified, and additional tender opportunities have opened up. Hungary has been able to draw the second most EU agricultural resources in proportion to time, he added. He called it a serious danger that Brussels wants to eliminate the autonomy of EU agricultural resources by introducing a nearly 20 percent reduction in resources. Balázs Sövényházi, president of the Veszprém county organization of Nak and Magosz, emphasized that Hungarian agriculture needs strong interest representation, which is a prerequisite for farmers to be able to access their money.

MTI