CAP to be upheld after 2020

The European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should clearly demonstrate its benefits for European citizens even after 2020, a Hungarian government official said at a joint session of the farm committees of the Visegrád Four parliaments in Budapest on Thursday.

György Czerván, state secretary at the ministry of agriculture, noted that CAP had been instrumental in creating the single market.

Its primary goals are still relevant and should not be overridden by others such as those of the EU’s migration policy, he said, adding that funding should continue to flow to the farmers.

The session is focussing on ongoing CAP reforms, double standards in food production and unfair trade practices, Sándor Font, head of the Hungarian committee, said.

The parties have signed a joint statement at the end of the meeting to be sent to EU leaders and the member states’ heads of parliament. The statement calls for the present subsidiary system to be left unchanged, Font said. This system guarantees safe and affordable food supply for all European citizens, and should not be curbed to channel funds into solving the migration crisis, as some states have proposed, the statement said.

Source: MTI