The European Green Party counterattacked, on Friday 5 March, after Hungarian criticism of the group’s report to the European Parliament on the destination of EU agricultural funds in five Central and Eastern European countries (see EUROPE 12666/33).
In a statement, the European Green Party, (it reacted as the Hungarian statement was addressed to the party: Editor’s note) said that the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture, István Nagy, described the Greens/EFA group’s report on irregularities in common agricultural policy (CAP) subsidies as a “tsunami of lies”.
For the Greens, the minister’s statement “clearly shows that the Fidesz-KDNP government is living in another world and confuses family farms with the families of oligarchs”.
The statement, according to the European Green Party, portrays a “propagandistic” image of the Hungarian agricultural system that would support “smallholders”.
“The statements of Mr Nagy do not contradict a single sentence of our study”, defends Viola von Cramon-Taubadel (Greens/EFA, Germany), who is responsible for the study.
Even though the majority of the rural development programme goes to small and medium farmers, this is only a fraction of the CAP as a whole, she said.
The study points out that the top 10% of the beneficiaries have received over 77% of all agricultural funds. “These inequalities are ruining the local communities”, says Ms von Cramon-Taubadel. The study, she said, shows the close links between some politicians who benefit from EU funds through CAP support.
The report also shows, according to the Green Party, “how land grabbing in Hungary has been executed by the Fidesz-KDNP government”.
The European Green Party concludes: moment of truth revealing where the Fidesz-KDNP government stands will come when it supports the proposal of the European Parliament of maximising subsidies at €100.000 per owner/holding in the CAP at the Council of the EU.
Link to the press release: http://bit.ly/3rwDRLv (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)