Hungary not to unilaterally lift ban on Ukrainian agricultural products import – minister
The Hungarian government will not open its market to Ukrainian agricultural products after the entry into force of the updated trade agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture reported, citing a statement by Minister István Nagy.
"Brussels is suffering from war psychosis, all their thoughts and decisions are determined by what threatens the food supply of the entire European Union," he said on the air of the M1 television channel.
Nagy is convinced that "EU bureaucrats are not at all interested in what will happen to the EU, in particular, to Hungarian farmers, because they subordinate everything to Ukrainian interests." As an example, he cited the 20-22% cut in the agricultural budget, and suggested that Brussels wanted to hide it by hiding it in a budget that is traditionally considered separately.
He said the money that European farmers will not receive will be transferred to Ukraine, while "a free trade agreement concluded with a country that is at war also raises serious questions."
The Hungarian minister asked a rhetorical question: what will the EU do with the 35,000 tonnes of honey, 1.3 million tonnes of wheat and 120,000 tonnes of chicken coming from Ukraine, or with the unlimited duty-free imports of corn that appear as a surplus on the EU market?
"These issues affect our daily lives, but these are not the questions they ask, they are more interested in how to make Ukraine more able to export to the European Union," Nagy said.
The minister is convinced that EU agriculture is losing its competitiveness and development prospects.
"If we do not wake up, if we do not join forces and we cannot prevent this, then this will lead to huge problems, because this is only half the trouble that awaits us," he said, adding that another challenge for European farmers will be the free trade agreement to be concluded with South American countries, where there is no monitoring and control of food production.
The Hungarian minister stressed that the government protects Hungarian farmers and unilaterally keeps the border closed to Ukrainian agricultural products.
"The government does not want Ukrainian goods to change the EU internal market," he said.