More than 250,000 Hungarian farmers stand in favor of preserving area-based subsidies

(Photo: NAK)

The petition entitled “Hands off agricultural subsidies!” was launched by the Hungarian Association of Farmers’ Associations and Farmers’ Cooperatives (MAGOSZ) and the National Chamber of Agriculture (NAK). The initiative to preserve agricultural subsidies has been signed by more than 250,000 farmers to date. The more than 250,000 Hungarian signatures were reported on at a press conference held in Brussels today by István Jakab, President of MAGOSZ, and András Tibor Cseh, Vice President of NAK, representing the two organizations. One of the most prominent points of the EU proposal package previously presented by the European Commission, called the “Strategic Dialogue”, concerns the elimination of area-based subsidies.However, this step is unacceptable to Hungarian farmers, who a few weeks earlier, together with farmers from Central and Eastern Europe, voiced their opinion at a demonstration on the Slovak-Czech border. The planned accession of Ukraine to the EU, the joint European army or even the joint borrowing of the EU would entail significant additional expenses, and this would require funds to be withdrawn from agricultural subsidies. However, farmers do not receive these subsidies as a “gift”, and therefore they must comply with very strict food safety and animal welfare conditions.

However, with the abolition of area-based support, farmers would be at a significant competitive disadvantage compared to actors outside the EU

In addition, with the withdrawal of funds, production would also become extremely expensive, which would drive EU consumers towards cheaper, lower-quality, food safety-concerned foods produced outside the EU. Ukrainian imports have been putting EU agriculture under great pressure since the outbreak of the war, especially producers in the states bordering Ukraine. The situation could be further aggravated by Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. The admission of a war-torn country would cause serious blood loss to EU agricultural production. It would take away a significant part of EU agricultural subsidies from the Member States, including Hungary, and thus Ukraine would become the largest beneficiary of agricultural resources, receiving about a third of the entire CAP budget from the common fund. This is unacceptable and unethical at the same time.

The position of NAK and MAGOSZ on the future of the CAP and Ukraine’s EU accession is clear

Special attention must be paid to protecting the EU market, as imports from third countries cannot enjoy an advantage over goods produced in the EU. During EU decision-making, competitiveness aspects and the strategic role of food supply must be given priority. The expected effects of accession must be taken into account in connection with the accession of Ukraine. The most important thing is that EU decision-makers decide on the future of European agriculture not on ideological grounds, but on professional grounds! NAK and MAGOSZ fully support the preservation of Hungarian farmers and European food production. In response to a journalist’s question, it was stated that Hungarian farmers expect substantial assistance from the European Union in order to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease as soon as possible.

NAK