On September 17, the European Commission announced how member states would be affected by cuts to agricultural subsidies. Fidesz MEP Csaba Dömötör revealed that Hungary faces particularly heavy losses.
“They are preparing for brutal cuts, wanting to reduce subsidies for Hungarian farmers by 21 percent. And they are doing everything they can to conceal this intention,” said the MEP.
He said that EU Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen told the EP’s Agriculture Committee that member states could spend extra money on their farmers if they wanted to. “This is not an answer, because the Hungarian government has already spent a significant amount of money from national resources, but this does not negate the intention in Brussels to drastically cut the Common Agricultural Policy budget,” Csaba Dömötör pointed out.
In his view, the withdrawal of subsidies is justified by military spending and the repayment of EU loans.
They want to take money away from farmers so they can spend it on military spending, war policy, and expansion into Ukraine,” he said, adding that this would mean withdrawing 33 trillion forints (82.5 billion euros) in agricultural funds, while at least 40 trillion forints (100 billion euros) would be earmarked for Ukraine.”
According to Csaba Dömötör, it is an aggravating circumstance that EU markets would be opened to Ukrainian agricultural products even before Ukraine’s accession. Duty-free imports would increase by 30 percent for wheat, 53 percent for corn, 200 percent for eggs, and 483 percent for honey. “If the agricultural subsidy system is dismantled at the same time as markets are opened up to the east and south, it could ruin hundreds of thousands of European farmers,” he warned.
Photo: Pexels
He also criticized Péter Magyar, a member of the European Parliament and leader of the Tisza Party, the main opposition party in Hungary, who had previously said that no one wants to take away area-based subsidies. “This is a blatant lie. Since the EU Commission’s plans are public, Péter Magyar now has proof that he lied,” Csaba Dömötör said.
The politician also sharply criticized the representatives of the Tisza Party in connection with minority rights after Zoltán Tarr spoke about the importance of learning Ukrainian at an EU-Ukrainian committee meeting. “What he refers to as non-native Ukrainian speakers are, for us, the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia (Ukraine). Their main problem is not that they cannot speak Ukrainian, but how they can get by in Hungarian,” he said.
Via MTI; Featured photo: Pexels
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