Government wants to keep Hungary GMO-free

Keeping Hungary GMO-free is one of the government’s priorities, and Hungary will insist that member states retain the right to decide on the technologies used on produce allowed into the country, an MEP of ruling Fidesz said on Tuesday in Strasbourg, in reaction to an European Parliament debate on new genomic technologies.

Edina Tóth said the report at the heart of the plenary debate “needs amendments”, calling for a clear distinction between NGT produce and organic agriculture.

Further, “GMO produce’s beneficial effect on climate change or food safety is yet to be proven,” she said.

The Fidesz delegation will not vote in favour of the report, she said. “We will protect Hungary’s GMO-free agriculture,” she said, adding that the rejection of such produce was also enshrined in the Fundamental Law.

Regarding the EC’s announcement on Tuesday on new climate goals, Tóth said “the timing is completely botched”. The announcement came at a time when “farmers are protesting against climate and agricultural policy decisions, and Europe is yet to catch up with its 2030 goal of cutting harmful emissions by 55 percent.”

Tóth said there was “cause for optimism” as the EC did not try to present the goals as draft legislation but kept it a simple proposal, “at right-wing pressure”. She also welcomed that, “at right-wing pressure and in view of the protests”, the EC announced that it was scrapping the proposal to slash pesticide use by 50 percent by 2030.

“That proposal would have ruined European and Hungarian farmers, as it would have sent food prices through the roof,” she said, pledging to “continue to protect European farmers, citizens and the industry from extreme, unrealistic EC proposals”.

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Government views farmers as allies

The “inconsiderate and short-sighted” green policies of Brussels destroy European farmers, whereas the Hungarian government views Hungarian farmers as allies, ruling Fidesz MEP Balázs Hidvéghi said on Wednesday. Hidvéghi told MTI that “this alliance is demonstrated by the decisions and politicial support from us”.

Last year, Hungarian farmers received 1,300 billion forints (EUR 3.4bn) and in the period until 2027, “we will be able to pay them 2,900 billion forints of support, of which only 600 billion forints will be European Union resources,” he added.

“We do this because we are aware that without supporting farmers and agriculture, there will be no safe and quality food on our table,” Hidvéghi said.

At the same time, Brussels has signed trade agreements that benefited farmers from outside Europe.

He accused Brussels of serving foreign interests, adding that “completely absurd and ill-considered decisions have been made, so the farmers’ demands and protests are completely justified and fair”.

“It is unacceptable that over the excuse of the war, Ukrainian grain, chicken meat and other products have been allowed to enter the territory of the EU which has caused huge problems to European producers,” he said. He welcomed the fact that Hungarian farmers also expressed their opinion and participated in the protests, adding that the situation was very different in Hungary and in western Europe.

He said the government had been protecting farmers’ interests for years, citing protectionist measures in Hungary and other forms of financial support.