Hungary cannot accept the planned reduction of farm subsidies in the next budgetary cycle of the European Union, the state minister for agriculture said at a farmers’ forum.
According to Rmx.news, the state minister said that the current budget draft for the 2021-27 period would mean a reduction in farm subsidies to Hungary of about two billion euros a year.
“The majority of these funds will be diverted towards migration, supporting immigrants and some sort of integration of those, which goes against both European and Hungarian interests,” Zsolt Feldman said.
He added that between 2008 and 2018 – in large part due to the subsidies Hungary received within the framework of the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP), the output of the Hungarian agricultural sector has grown the fastest among all EU member states and its exports have doubled.
Feldman also said that farmers’ associations are gathering signatures against the planned budgetary cuts and are looking for allies and support in their lobbying against the changes.