Farmers Say No to the EU’s Agriculture-wrecking Plans

István Jakab, President of Hungarian farmers’ association MAGOSZ

Hundreds of Hungarian farmers gathered on Wednesday in Budapest, organized by the Hungarian farmers’ association MAGOSZ and the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture (NAK), to protest at the European Commission’s office in Hungary. Simultaneously, a pan-European farmers’ protest took place in Brussels, attended by some 70 European agricultural organizations. Farmers find it unacceptable that the European Commission is planning to drastically reduce agricultural subsidies.

“Brussels cannot make decisions about farmers without consulting them, and it cannot finance the war in Ukraine at the expense of agricultural subsidies,” said the President of MAGOSZ at the farmers’ protest in Budapest. István Jakab stressed that stealth legislation in Brussels is not a new practice; the European Commission is once again trying to make decisions over the heads of farmers, bypassing them.

He added that international interests and large investors with land holdings in Ukraine want to operate their agricultural businesses as EU farms, which is why they want Ukraine to join the EU quickly. The largest of these operate on over 500,000 hectares, and “we should not believe that they will convert their farms to comply with EU regulations, because they have not complied with anything so far,” he explained.

“As long as Hungarian farmers produce healthy food, the same must be required of others, because it is not competitive if farmers outside the EU are not subject to EU regulations, and rural development funds are tied to the rule of law,” he said.

Jakab believes that in this situation, there is no choice but to resist, as this is the only means of protesting against the destruction of farmers.

Sooner or later, their Western European counterparts will also wake up, as they are facing similar problems, only they are not supported by their own governments. Hungarian farmers have fought hard for what they have achieved, they will not give up their gains, and if there is European cooperation among farmers, the situation can be improved.”

Based on the Brussels document on EU agricultural policy after 2027, Zsolt Papp, President of NAK, fears that the European Commission would jeopardize Hungarian producers’ markets, destroy rural areas, and bring food of dubious origin to family tables. It has long been known that the EU wants to destroy agriculture with its “disgraceful” ideas, withdrawing funds while ignoring farmers’ protests, he pointed out.

Hundreds of Hungarian farmers from all counties of the country protested in Budapest against the European Commission’s plans in front of the organization’s Hungarian representation. In Brussels, over 70 agricultural interest groups protested today against the European Commission’s anti-agriculture plans, with Hungarian participation, reads a joint statement by MAGOSZ and NAK.

“The planned restructuring of the EU funding cycle after 2027, the reduction of area-based support and its transformation into income-based support pose a serious threat to farmers in Europe and Hungary.

According to the Commission’s proposals, farmers would receive significantly less support than they do now, and the reduction in subsidies would affect everyone from the smallest farmers to the largest producers. Without these resources, they would lose their competitiveness and efficiency and become more vulnerable,”

the organizations wrote.

They added that the Commission would thereby jeopardize agriculture and the processing industry, endanger consumers, and allow products of dubious origin from third countries onto families’ tables. Ukraine and other non-EU countries that already threaten the EU’s agriculture and food industry would be given access to the market.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stood up for farmers on his social media page, stating that the government had given priority attention to the European Commission’s seven-year budget proposal at its meeting on Wednesday. “This Brusselian plan is not even fit to be a starting point for negotiations. We suggested they withdraw it and come up with a new proposal that does not serve the interests of Zelenskyy and Ukraine, but the interests of Europeans,” he said in the video uploaded on X.

From Brussels to Budapest, discontent is spreading. While globalist bureaucrats plot to drain Europe’s money into Ukraine, our farmers are rising up to defend their future. The EU Commission’s budget proposal isn’t just unfair, it’s not even fit to be negotiated. Hungary… pic.twitter.com/wtPOVkodjm

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) July 16, 2025

Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Purger Tamás