Agricultural Organizations Call for Joint EU Action against Ukrainian Crop Dumping

Protesting farmers in Romania

The Hungarian farmers’ association MAGOSZ and the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture (NAK) strongly reject the European Commission’s recent proposal to extend the unrestricted and completely free import of Ukrainian foodstuffs for another year, reports Világgazdaság.

In a joint statement, the two agricultural organizations claim that they were the first to say, both in negotiations and in demonstrations, that the ill-considered decision by Brussels on Ukrainian goods is destroying the entire EU agricultural sector and will continue to make it impossible for it to survive. They said that GMO products of uncontrolled quality, treated with banned chemicals, could pose a threat not only to consumers but also to EU agriculture. They warned at the time that if this unfair competition continues to be maintained by the European Commission, it will lead to the mass bankruptcy of European farmers, including Hungarian farmers. Judging by the protests in Europe, this is what has happened, they stressed.

That is why MAGOSZ and NAK support the demands of Western European farmers who are suffering not only from Brussels but also from the measures of their own governments.

They noted that the Hungarian government is providing domestic farmers with the conditions for which farmers in Western countries have taken to the streets, within its national competence.

Among others:

• the reimbursement of excise duty on gas oil has been and will continue to be guaranteed
• the tax system for family farms and small farmers is unique in Europe
• the possibility of levying a land tax has been banned
• Hungary was the first country to close its borders to Ukrainian agricultural imports, in defiance of the European Commission’s decision.

“Hungarian farmers stand by the Hungarian government, which is also defending our interests against Brussels,” MAGOSZ and NAK said in their joint statement. They added that they are also in constant consultation with the V4 and other European interest groups in order to ensure a united stand of European farmers.

The struggle of Western European farmers with Brussels, often against their own governments, shows the gravity of the problem, and we must fight together to ensure food sovereignty and quality food,”

MAGOSZ concluded.

Via Világgazdaság, Featured image: Facebook/Szatmári Friss Újság