Ministers of agriculture from the Visegrád Group (V4) and the Baltic states held an extremely significant meeting in Brussels of 18 July.

Following the meeting, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas told reporters that a never before seen attack, aimed primarily at reducing budgetary resources, had been launched against the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which was the European Union’s first true community policy and has been in existence for over 50 years. According to Mr. Fazekas, the widest and highest possible level of solidarity will be required to develop the framework for the post-2020 CAP.

“In light of the reflexive document on the future of the joint EU budget issued by the European Commission on 28 June, maintaining the CAP’S current budget will be a major challenge for all countries that have significant agricultural traditions, including Hungary. It is my firm belief that Europe needs a Common Agricultural policy that provides an effective solution for handling various emergencies and that enables Europe’s agriculture and food industry to remain a competitive market player at a global level” the Minister stressed.

“It is extremely important that the declaration we have jointly adopted today clearly rejects the introduction of national co-funding with relation to direct agricultural aid”, the Minister stressed, adding that according to the joint declaration the post-2020 CAP must continue to provide sufficient funding and direct payments to farmers must be maintained at at least their current level. “We cannot allow the European Commission to renationalise the CAP in this manner”, Mr. Fazekas declared.

“We also cannot forget that the Russian embargo that is still in effect, the various crises that have adversely affected agricultural markets in recent years and the increasingly extreme weather conditions are in themselves already requiring intense efforts on the part of Hungarian farmers. In view of the embargo, European farmers are to all intents and purposes paying for the EU sanctions introduced against Russia, and this must not be repeated, for instance with relation to migration”, he said.

The Minister pointed out that at the session of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 17-18 July, the European Commission had evaluated the results of the social consultation that ended in May on the modernisation and simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy. “Hungary’s goal is for the post-2020 CAP to serve the interests of farmers and for agricultural funding to continue to be received by agricultural producers”, he said.

In closing, Mr. Fazekas highlighted the fact that as the current President of the Visegrád Group, Hungary will be handling the representation of agricultural producers as a major priority during the upcoming year.

(Ministry of Agriculture Press Office)