Csaba Dömötör, an MEP of ruling Fidesz, told public radio on Sunday that phasing out area-based farm subsidies would be a huge blow to Hungary's agriculture sector as 160,000 farmers currently receive around 550 billion forints (EUR 1.37bn) from the European Union.
Dömötör noted that under a document titled Strategic Dialogue announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, there were plans to phase out the area-based farm subsidies, in a way that only a smaller group of farmers would receive them in the future, and the proposal also called for reducing meat consumption, he said, adding that he was not certain whether farmers had been consulted on this.
He said there were large farmers' organisations, for example in Spain, who said they would take to the streets again, if necessary.
Dömötör pointed out that Ukraine's EU accession would put farmers in the current member states at a huge disadvantage because that would bring as much farmland to the European Union as one-third of the current cultivated area.
"This would really be too much for the current common agricultural policy to handle from the budgetary point of view, but I believe the interests of European farmers should come first, and enlargement should only come after," the MEP said.
He said Peter Magyar, the head of the opposition Tisza Party, argued that organic farms should be supported rather than extensive farming.
"This is exactly the same argument as the one they use for phasing out area-based subsidies, so the Tisza Party has taken Ursula von der Leyen's side, against the interests of Hungarian farmers," Dömötör said.