farmland sales

LMP: Government land auctions “betrayal”

Budapest, December 17 (MTI) – In the course of auctioning off state farmland, the government has “betrayed the country for the sake of a couple of hundred families,” green opposition LMP party lawmaker said on Thursday.

Government statements on the issue of farmland sales following a ruling by the Constitutional Court annulling certain passages of the law are not congruent with the court’s position, Benedek Sallai told a press conference.

The court ruled that revenue from farmland auctions cannot be used by the government for general developments.

Government office chief Janos Lazar has said the revenue will be used to set up industrial parks in cities with county rights. Sallai said this would be unconstitutional. The law on the land fund clearly states that the revenue from farmland sales must only be used for land purchases serving the country’s farm policy, he added.

Sallai said the state would act as a speculator selling and buying farmland in light of Farm Minister Sandor Fazekas’s statement that revenue for land purchases would be used for such purposes. Furthermore, the revenue is not sufficient to buy the same amount of farmland as that being sold, so in the long term the community’s assets would be depleted, he added.

He noted that government commissioner Laszlo L Simon’s wife has purchased farmland for 600,000 forint (EUR 1,900) per hectare in an area where the price is normally 3 million forints per hectare. In some other cases, people linked to government members have been able to buy farmland despite not being local residents, he insisted.

Top court axes parts of farmland decree

Daily News Hungary

Budapest, December 15 (MTI) – Hungary’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday scrapped part of the government decree on the Farmland for Farmers scheme.

The part in question, setting rules for how the state can use land sales revenue, is incongruous with an earlier law, the top court said on its website.

Fully 52 opposition lawmakers had asked the top court to review the decree on the use of land auctions and rules on how land is managed by the National Land Fund.

The the constitution allows limited options for the transfer of national assets and the purposes for which revenue for land sales can be used under the decree is too broad.

At the same time, the court rejected criticism that government offices are allowed to run auctions for farmland 3 hectares or larger.

95,000 hectares sold to farmers in Hungary

agriculture farm land

Budapest, December 15 (MTI) – Around 95,000 hectares of state-owned farmland have been sold so far to local farmers under a government scheme adding revenue of 130 billion forints (EUR 410m) to the central budget, the government office chief told a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday.

There have been only 10 “foreign customers” bidding to purchase 725 hectares of farmland, Lazar said, and added that those bidders live in Hungary and hold dual citizenship.

Plots unsold in the auctions will be transferred to local governments for social purposes, he said.

Lazar said he was informed about the state of the land sales on a daily basis, adding that the auctions would continue in January-February according to need.

The scheme is transparent and is fully in line with EU rules, Lazar said.

Election committee towards Socialist initiative against farmland sales

Budapest, November 30 (MTI) – The National Election Committee has thrown out a referendum initiative submitted by the opposition Socialists aimed at the government’s programme of selling out plots of state-owned farmland.

The committee rejected the initiative on grounds that it would impact the budget law, and argued that its wording was not clear.

Parties of the opposition have repeatedly protested against the land auctions, which started earlier this month under the government’s motto of helping local farmers to state-owned land and preventing foreign investors from buying.

The Socialists earlier called the programme a “swindle” and argued that the plots being auctioned were already on lease, and the leaseholders, who had obtained those leases in “crooked” ways, would have options to obtain them easily.

State farmland law amendment on Parliament’s agenda next week

Budapest, November 29 (MTI) – Lawmakers will address a law amendment on the sales of state farmland on Tuesday, with proposed modifications in response to the law being rendered unconstitutional in a June ruling of Hungary’s top court.

On Monday, lawmakers will start the session by posing questions to members of the government.

Tuesday’s agenda also includes proposed scrapping of several administrative fees and amendments about chimney-sweeping, gambling and mandatory car insurance, as well as other educational, military and energy bills. Still on Tuesday a debate will be held on the reduction of the banking tax. Economy Minister Mihaly Varga’s proposal would offer incentives to banks which increase their lending to businesses and the general public.

On Wednesday a debate will be held on modifications to the ethnic minority law and lawmakers will adjourn until the following Monday when they would end the two-week session with another Q&A.

Photo: MTI

Jobbik to file complaint over farmland sales

Budapest, November 18 (MTI) – The radical nationalist Jobbik party said on Wednesday that it would file a criminal complaint over suspected forgery of information pertaining to farmland auctions.

Referring to recent media reports, lawmaker Zoltan Magyar said that details about the most valuable plots of land that are presented at land auctions do not match the parameters listed in the land tenders. Magyar said this could indicate that interest groups close to the government may try to use tactics like this to prevent other buyers from obtaining land.

Magyar said Jobbik would examine all tenders for plots valued over 20 million forints (EUR 64,000) and compare their parameters to the information presented at land auctions.

Magyar denied that his party now supports “big business”, arguing that Jobbik has continuously supported local family businesses. He demanded that the government stop the sale of state-owned farmlands immediately.

Fidesz lawmaker Balazs Gyorffy, who chairs the agrarian chamber, responded saying that all information on Hungarian farmlands can be viewed and accessed by anybody in Hungary’s land offices and can then be compared with the information available on the website of the National Land Management Fund (NFA). He insisted that the information available there is the exact same that is presented at the land auctions.

Photo: MTI

Parliament passes taxpayer classification, red tape reduction laws, supermarket oversight fees and farmland leases

Budapest, November 17 (MTI) – Lawmakers on Tuesday approved bills on cutting red tape and classifying taxpayers based on tax compliance risk. Lawmakers approved an amendment to the Farmland Act on Tuesday that will allow the periodical review of leases by landowners. Also the lawmakers voted to reduce Hungary’s supermarket oversight fees to come into line with a European Commission recommendation which addressed complaints earlier.

Lawmakers approved the red tape reduction package which will amend a total of 110 laws with 148 votes in favour, 2 against and 37 abstentions. The bill was put forward by government office chief Janos Lazar and aims to simplify and speed up tasks in public administration, scale back the activities required for obtaining permits and reduce completion deadlines.

Under the amendments, activities no longer requiring permits will include the sale of precious metal jewelry, setting up animal shelters or hotel services. Regarding activities that will still require permits, the amendment stipulates that if the relevant authority fails to rule on an application within two months, the applicant will automatically be granted a permit. The law enters into effect on January 1, 2016.

Parliament also approved the taxpayer classification bill with 125 votes in favour, 3 against and 58 abstentions. To be classified as a “good” taxpayer, companies, having operated for at least three years, cannot have tax arrears of more than 500,000 forints (EUR 1,600) in the past five years. For such companies, tax audits will last a maximum of 180 days after April 1, 2016, and the deadline for VAT reimbursements will be reduced from the current 75 days to 45 days from January 1, 2017 and to 30 days from 2018.

Taxpayers categorised “at risk” will be those who violate tax laws and amass a significant amount of debt in unpaid taxes. Individuals who have over 10 million forints of outstanding tax will be classified as risky taxpayers, while this threshold will be 100 million forints for companies. Taxpayers in this category will be subject to stricter tax laws, tax audits for them will be extended by 60 days and they will have to pay higher default charges.

The classification system will apply to some 525,000 taxpayers.

Parliament also passed a law that will allow the tax office to prepare the tax returns of 1.5 million private taxpayers who only collect an income from their employer and are not entitled to a tax benefit. From 2017, the tax office will prepare the tax returns of all private taxpayers.

Economy ministry state secretary Andras Tallai said the system will make it easier for both individuals and companies to pay their taxes.

Lawmakers approve amendment on farmland leases

A part of the proposal, regulating the retroactive effect of the law, required a two-thirds majority of votes, but this failed to pass.

In line with Tuesday’s decision, landowners will be allowed to adjust the lease to match market prices within 90 days after acquiring the ownership of the land and every three years after that.

If the leaseholder disagrees with the new lease, it can ask a court review of it within 30 days.

When Gyorffy originally submitted the amendment proposal, he said this was needed to create equal conditions for landowners who signed lease contracts in the past at a quarter or fifth of the current market prices.

Lawmakers pass bill to restore across-board supermarket oversight fees

Under the law passed with a vote of 152 in favour, 28 against and 6 abstentions, the 0 percent bracket for the supermarket oversight fee will be scrapped and all supermarket chains will have to pay the same fee. Below annual revenue of 500 million forints (EUR 1.6m) net retailers will now again have to pay the 0.1 percent fee, while they were exempt before. The fee is based on revenue from the previous year. Micro and small retailers can choose to pay a flat fee of 20,000 forints or 700,000 forints a year instead.

The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over the fees which were changed as of Jan. 1. this year, in a way that companies with revenue up to a certain threshold paid no fee. Before that date the fee was payable in a unified way, so the current legislation restored the previous system. It is estimated to cause the central budget losing 23 billion forints in revenue.

Photo: MTI

Jobbik sees land issue as Orban’s failure

Budapest (MTI) – Prime Minister Viktor Orban has suffered a defeat in connection with the sale of state-owned land and blamed Jobbik for “his erroneous land policy”, the radical nationalist Jobbik said on Friday.

Jobbik responded to a statement by the ruling Fidesz group earlier in the day which accused the opposition Socialists and Jobbik of joining forces “in the interests of foreign speculators”. According to the statement, the opposition parties have together attacked Hungarian farmers at the European Union and Hungary’s Constitutional Court.

Jobbik called it shocking that Fidesz was “building a new system of large farms for the party’s oligarchs” and at the same time blaming Jobbik for its “own erroneous land policy”.

Even Fidesz has now admitted that foreigners will be allowed to buy Hungarian farmland, Jobbik said. This shows that their former combatant approach to the European Union was purely rhetoric and has diminished into opportunism.

Jobbik noted that Prime Minister Viktor Orban had asserted farmers’ association Magosz delegates in March 2010 that the future of Hungarian farmland would not depend on Brussels decisions. Orban said at the time that regardless of what decisions Brussels makes, foreigners will not be allowed to buy Hungarian farmland if Fidesz is in government.

Orban’s war of independence has ended in a spectacular defeat, demonstrating that the Orban government’s land policy depends entirely on Brussels, Jobbik said.

Head of the government office Janos Lazar told his regular briefing on Thursday that the European Commission has insisted allowing non-Hungarian citizens who farm land in Hungary to be allowed to participate at land auctions starting on Monday.

Government’s regular press briefing about Germany’s migration decision, land sales, mayors of small towns

Budapest, November 5 (MTI) – If Germany wants to let migrants into its territory Hungary will respect its decision, but it will not accept being told to do the same, government office chief Janos Lazar said on Thursday. By turning to the Constitutional Court over the government’s planned farmland sales the opposition is turning against farmers, Lazar said. Mayors of small localities could receive a 30 percent pay rise if they can generate the funds to finance it, government office chief said.

Hungary respects Germany’s migration decision but won’t be dictated to

In response to the German chancellor’s statement that immigration should be legalised, Lazar said Germany wants to force its own will on Europe.

“If Germany feels remorse about something and wants to settle people it is free to do so, but this should not become an obligation for Hungary,” he said.

The Hungarian government decided at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that the “state of crisis” due to mass migration declared for four counties in the south of the country should stay in place, Lazar added.

He said he did not want to comment on Austria laying a razor wire at its border with Slovenia because he wanted to avoid the mistake made by Austrian politicians who “talked down to” and passed judgement on Hungary and its prime minister for building a fence. “Our interest lies in restoring and strengthening Austrian-Hungarian relations”, Lazar said. Hungary will not demand explanations from Austria in connection with human rights issues and European values as Austria did with Hungary, he added.

He said the cooperation between Visegrad Four countries in the issue of migration was exemplary. Poland has now also sent off 43 border police to help Hungary, he added.

In response to a question about the possibility of migrants expelled from western Europe being send back to Hungary, he said around 40,000 requests had been received so far but Hungary “will not take anyone back”. It was not in Hungary where these people initially entered the European Union, he added.

Opposition attacking farmers by turning to top court over land sales

By turning to the Constitutional Court over the government’s planned farmland sales the opposition is turning against farmers, government office chief Janos Lazar said at his regular press conference on Thursday.
Lazar said it was a “shocking” development that opposition LMP, radical nationalist Jobbik and the Socialists had joined a coalition to “raise their voices in favour of foreigners getting hold of land and protecting the interests of aristocrats”.

Lazar said the National Land Fund has already received 100,000 inquiries about the farmland auctions and 60,000 indicated they were potential buyers. He added that the government will meet on Nov. 18 to discuss setting up a system of model farms which will affect, among other things, state-owned stables.

Lazar proposes mayors of small towns could earn more

Mayors of small localities could receive a 30 percent pay rise if they can generate the funds to finance it, government office chief Janos Lazar said on Thursday.
Lazar said the move would affect mayors of villages with a population of 1,500 or less. In some cases mayors now earning a net 75,000 (EUR 250) a month could raise their pay to 95,000 a month, he said, emphasising that this can only be paid for from their own sources.

He said conflict of interest rules for mayors in localities with a headcount of 3,000 or below could change so that these leaders can find other ways to earn income besides their mayoral office.

Photo: MTI

Opposition criticises government farmland sale in parliament debate

Daily News Hungary

Budapest, October 26 (MTI) – Opposition parties criticised the government’s farmland programme in a parliamentary debate dedicated to the plan on Monday.

The opposition LMP party said the debate was about the future of the entire Hungarian society, and not only about the rural livelihoods. Benedek R Sallai, a lawmaker for the party, told a press conference on Monday that all elites have been “stealing whatever they could put their hands on” over the past 25 years and now they are stealing what is left: the most important natural resource. He said the move would not serve the interests of small farmers.

The Egyutt party said “Fidesz’s land reform” went against Hungarian laws and all “stolen land” would be returned after a change in governments. It said in a statement that Fidesz’s “friends and oligarchs will be held to account for stealing from the Hungarian people”.

The radical nationalist Jobbik party said at a press conference that it would be “standing guard” by each and every land auction in the country. Zoltan Magyar, a lawmaker for the party, said the government has failed to put forward a single convincing argument in favour of the sale of state land in the past months and it is shameful that the opposition has to call a parliamentary debate to get any answers. He said Jobbik will be taking reports from the general public regarding “anything suspicious” they may see during land auctions and if there are reasons to suspect corruption, Jobbik will take legal steps.

Photo: MTI

Farmland programme completes century-long plans, says minister

Budapest, October 26 (MTI) – The government’s farmland privatisation programme will take to fruition an idea started nearly a hundred years ago by smallholders, Hungary’s farm minister said in his expose in parliament on Monday.

Addressing lawmakers ahead of a parliamentary debate on the government’s plans to auction off farmland, Sandor Fazekas said plans were to put 20 percent of state land into the hands of farmers. The move is set to strengthen family farming and improve farmers’ livelihoods and competitiveness, he said. The government has the farmers’ best interests at heart, as becoming owners they will not have to pay a lease. The move will strengthen small farms against big companies and will protect land from being bought by foreigners, he added.

Fazekas told a press conference on the sidelines of the parliamentary debate that the opposition had created a “league” against farmland sale plans and will “do anything to prevent Hungarian land being owned by Hungarian farmers, who cultivate it”.

He said auctions would start mid-November and the cap on the size of land to be sold will be set at 300 hectares. Some 80 percent of land up for auction are 10 hectares or smaller, he added. The aim is to help local farmers increase the size of their existing land, he added.

Auctions cannot prevent foreign ownership of farmland, say Socialists

Budapest, October 26 (MTI) – The government’s auctioning off state-owned farmland will not prevent foreign nationals from obtaining estates in Hungary, the Socialist Party said on Monday.

On the contrary, foreigners could not buy land if all those plots remained publicly owned, Socialist deputy chair Zoltan Gogos told a press conference.

He argued that Hungarians now buying farmland could sell their property after a moratorium of twenty years, when they could end up with foreign owners, and added that the government’s land sale programme was the “greatest swindle of the past 25 years”.

Gabor Harangozo, Socialist deputy head of Parliament’s agricultural committee, insisted that the plots to be auctioned were already on lease, and the leaseholders, who had obtained those leases in “crooked” ways, would have options to obtain them easily.

Earlier in the month, government office head Janos Lazar said that the government programme was aimed at preventing foreign nationals from acquiring farmland in the country. He insisted that it was important to ensure that Hungarian farmers have the opportunity to buy state-owned land.

Land must go to farmers, says Orban

Budapest (MTI) – Farmland should be entrusted to farmers, who know how to cultivate it, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in Parliament on Monday, in his reply to opposition questions concerning the government’s programme of selling off state-owned plots.

The prime minister said that some 20 percent of Hungary’s state-owned farmland would be sold out, and added that he thought that ratio was too low.

Socialist MP Gabor Harangozo said that “selling out state-owned farmland equals to selling out national independence”.

In his response, Orban suggested that the Socialists may “wish for (communist-era) cooperatives and state farms” and insisted that “the state should have no agricultural ventures, but delegate those tasks to those who have the skills”.

Responding to Zsolt Legeny, another Socialist MP, Orban repeated his position and said that “we do understand that you prefer keeping farmland in state ownership, since it was you who had seized it from private owners”. The government, on the other hand, seeks to give that land to farmers and “implement a hundred-year-old smallholder programme,” Orban said.

In his answer Legeny noted that he was born in 1978 and had not been “in a position to seize anything”.

Radical nationalist Jobbik MP Zoltan Magyar asked the prime minister about businessman Lorinc Meszaros, who had “snatched 800 hectares of state-owned land leaving no chance for local farmers”.

Orban responded that Meszaros, who is also mayor of Orban’s native Felcsut, employs 700 people and “we are glad that he is prosperous”.

Photo: MTI

Socialists want local councils to have priority in state land sales

Budapest, October 19 (MTI) – The opposition Socialists have motioned that local councils should have pre-purchase rights when state land is sold, deputy leader of the party Zoltan Gogos said on Monday.

The Socialists have filed an amendment proposal to the relevant law, Gogos told a press conference, adding that his party still opposes the sale of state land altogether, but if it still goes ahead, local councils should have priority.

Tamas Csige, the Socialist mayor of Hajdudorog, in eastern Hungary, told the same press conference that his local council had last year filed a request with the National Land Management Fund for land in the area, but were told there was no land for sale there. In contrast, last week it was announced that one of the biggest plots of land, on 250 hectares, will be sold right next to Hajdudorog. He said giving the land to local governments would be the right thing to do, as they could use it to run farmland programmes to benefit the poor.

Photo: mszp.hu

Weekly government press briefing – Borders protection, land auctions and tax admin reform

Budapest, October 15 (MTI) – The government is likely to decide within a few days whether to seal the border with Croatia, the government office chief said on Thursday.

Janos Lazar told a weekly government press briefing that the decision would depend on Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s current talks in Brussels and on upcoming consultations in the next few days. There are no physical or technical obstacles in the way of sealing the border, he added.

The government is ready and able to seal the green border with Croatia and protect it both physically and through legal regulations, Lazar said.

Lazar expressed thanks to all those involved in the construction of the fence and to the Visegrad Group for the help they are providing to protect the border.

He said a decision on Hungarian steps against European Union quotas for distributing refugees would be made by mid-December.

Lazar: land auctions to start on November 16

Janos Lazar told a weekly press briefing that the auctions would be started in six counties and the details of the plots offered for sale were likely to be made public later on Thursday.

The government wants to get the best price possible for farmland he said, adding that it was inconceivable that sales would go ahead for prices below market value.

The Hungarian Development Bank (MFB) has offered a total of 150 billion forints (EUR 482m)credit line for the farmland sale scheme. The loans come with twenty years maturity with interest set at 1.95 percent in the first ten years under the arrangements of the central bank’s lending for growth scheme. The minimum loan available is 3 million forints and the maximum 300 million forints, he added.

The MFB has commissioned Budapest Bank to make a loan available to every buyer, he said.

Comprehensive tax admin reform planned

The government is planning comprehensive reform of tax administration, the head of the government office said on Thursday.
Janos Lazar said at the weekly government press briefing that a proposal on the structural transformation of the tax authority will be submitted to parliament soon. Also in the pipeline is are tax changes coming into effect in 2017-2018.

In order to boost competitiveness, it is necessary to introduce a service-oriented tax system which views taxpayers as partners rather than as enemies, Lazar said.

He said that starting on January 1, 2016, public administration duties can be processed online, which will signify a breakthrough.

Government demands Altus files be made public

The government wants documents connected with the Altus case to be made public, the government office chief said on Thursday, commenting on a contract the European Commission awarded to the company run by Hungary’s former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.
Further, the government objects to keeping committee hearings behind closed doors, Janos Lazar told the government’s weekly press briefing.

A closed hearing is being held by Walter Deffaa, Director General of Regional Policy at the European Commission, on Thursday.

Lazar said it was strange that the EC regularly criticised Hungary for a lack of transparency, yet it is handling this issue secretively. The government has not even been allowed to view related documents, he added.

Supporting opposition Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc Gyurcsany is an interference in Hungary’s domestic politics and contravenes the European Union’s basic treaty, he said. Lazar expressed hope that the European Parliament would pay sufficient attention to this matter.

Photo: MTI

Government starts farmland auctions

Budapest (MTI) – The national land manager (NFA) on Tuesday put out advertisements for the first auctions for state-owned plots aimed to be purchased by Hungarian farmers, the agriculture ministry told MTI.

The first auctions will cover 2,700 plots, each under 3 hectares, while 25,200 further plots will be advertised in the near future.

Farm Minister Sandor Fazekas said earlier that some 50,000 plots, 80 percent of which are smaller than 10 hectares, will be sold at a starting price of the local price plus 10 percent. He insisted that the auctions will be reserved for local Hungarian farmers.

Parties of the opposition have sharply criticised the land-sale programme, suggesting that the government would attempt to help its own clientele to state-owned assets.

Dialogue for Hungary presses for court review of farmland privatisation

Fidesz

Budapest, October 3 (MTI) – The Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party will ask the fundamental rights ombudsman to initiate a review by the constitutional court of the government’s planned privatisation of state-owned farmland, a board member said on Saturday.

The sale of the land goes against the constitution, Rebeka Szabo told MTI. The constitution clearly stipulates that it is the state’s duty to protect, as well as preserve, arable land for the future generations, she explained, adding that selling the land would destroy it.

She said that the party would join a demonstration on Monday organised by opposition parties against the privatisation.

Green LMP said on Friday that it would organise a demonstration across Hungary on Monday. Lawmaker Benedek R Sallai said that the Socialists, Jobbik, Egyutt, the Democratic Coalition and the green Human Chain for Hungary would all join in.

Farm ministry closes loophole allowing big landowners access to farm subsidies

Budapest, July 15 (MTI) – Hungary’s agriculture ministry is closing a loophole that big land owners use to get around an exclusion from European Union farmland subsidies, daily Napi Gazdasag said on Wednesday.

Owners of more than 1,200 hectares of farmland are ineligible for the EU’s single area subsidies, but some are still collecting them by “artificially” dividing up their holdings to bring each piece under the area threshold, the paper said.

The farm ministry has transposed a 2013 EU directive into national law that sanctions such divisions of land holdings. The regulations, in force retroactively from 2011, will prevent landowners who are ineligible for the subsidies from collecting them in this way, the paper said.

Photo: splitshire.comsplitshire.com