The ministers of agriculture of the Visegrád Group (V4) countries and the relative ministers from Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria held talks in Warsaw on 2 June 2017. The topics of discussion at the last meeting of agriculture ministers prior to the Hungarian V4 presidency beginning on 1 July included issues of importance to the Central and Eastern European region such as the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2020, curbing unfair commercial practices, joint participation in the EU’s research & development programmes, and land regulations.
The ministers adopted a joint declaration with relation to the future of the Common Agricultural Policy following 2020, in which the undersigned clearly adopt a stance in favour of a strong, two-pillar CAP that must continue to have suitable community funding in future. Head of the Hungarian delegation, Deputy Minister of Agriculture István Nagy highlighted the fact that the adopted declaration includes important Hungarian priorities such as the continued application of the SAPS system and production-based funding, as well as retaining the high ratio of non-returnable funding within rural development programmes. “The capacity of the Eastern and Central European member states to cooperate and enforce their interests will play an extremely important role in negotiations concerning the future of the CAP after 2020, in which Hungary, in view of its one-year presidency of the V4 that begins in July, wishes to play a leading role”, the Deputy Minister added.
In the interests of curbing the existing unfair practices on the part of distributors within the food chain, the parties called on the European Commission to develop community guidelines to improve the situation of farmers within the food chain. Mr. Nagy stressed that the implementation of the related Hungarian legislation indicates that primarily in view of the compounded presence of multinational supermarket chains in several member states there is a need for the development of EU-level community regulations that clearly define the framework for what may be regarded as equitable behaviour on the part of retailers.
“With regard to the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research & development programme, we have asked the European Commission to take into account the jointly determined and submitted research & development priorities of the Central and Eastern European member states during the distribution of the funding available for the 2018-2020 period”, the Deputy Minster said, summarising the results of the negotiations.
“With regard to land regulations, an agreement was reached on the fact that farmland is a unique and finite resource to which, as a result and also in view of its important role in food security, general business and commercial regulations cannot be applied. We expect the European Commission to assure members states the right to protect their farmland from speculators”, Mr. Nagy said.
Continuing the excellent work performed by the Polish presidency of the V4, the Ministry of Agriculture will be striving to improve cooperation between the countries of the Visegrád Group even further during the Hungarian presidency of the V4, which begins on 1 July.
(Ministry of Agriculture Press Office)
