On Monday 7 October, at the (belated) presentation of the current EU Council Presidency’s priorities in the field of agriculture, István Nagy, Hungary’s minister of agriculture, indicated that he didn’t want to bury the debate on the proposal to regulate the use of new genomic techniques (NGTs), but rather to channel it.
“There’s been a misunderstanding. We don't want to bury the issue, we just want to channel it. This is why we’ve introduced new questions to break the deadlock”, he told the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italian) and Carlo Fidanza (ECR, Italian) discussed the NGT issue in particular.
The Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council has relaunched the debate on NGTs (see EUROPE 13451/7). Several agriculture ministers, on the contrary, have called for progress on the basis of the February 2024 text supported by 17 countries (see EUROPE 13472/6).
Mr Nagy stressed the need to overcome differences in order to determine the shape of European agriculture in the 21st century. The Agriculture and Fisheries Council hopes to adopt conclusions on the future of the common agricultural policy (CAP) on 20 or 21 October. It opposed the idea, in the strategic dialogue’s recommendations, of abolishing area aid. “This is a very bad idea. We’re making sure that doesn’t happen. Farmers need all these euros”, said Mr Nagy.
Dario Nardella (S&D, Italian) attacked him on the dismantling of family farming structures in Hungary and the accumulation of land in the hands of wealthy landowners. The attack, which also came from Thomas Waitz (Greens/EFA, Austrian), “misses the point”, protested the Hungarian minister. “Of course we’re interested in small farmers. In 2010, when we came to government, there were 5,000 small producers, and that number has grown to 23,000”, Mr Nagy responded. He argued that aid is needed to encourage the cultivation of all land.
He criticised agricultural products imported from third countries that arrive in the EU “without any controls”. All food arriving in the EU must meet the same requirements as EU products, Mr Nagy concluded. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)