Balázs Győrffy, the head of the National Agricultural Chamber (NAK), said on Monday that the agricultural chambers of the four Visegrád Group countries will organize a demonstration together with their Latvian and Lithuanian peers on Feb 22 to call the public’s attention to their situation caused in large part by the unrestricted inflow of Ukrainian grain and food products.
The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has gone nowhere over the past years and European farmers have been labelled “climate criminals”, with the term officially codified in community law, Győrffy told public news channel M1. He called the European Green Deal, a set of policy initiatives proposed by the European Commission, “an unprofessional and unfounded diktat”, adding that “in light of the recent farmer demonstrations, decision-makers are now backpedalling”, which, Győrffy said, he believed “could be because of the upcoming EP elections”. “The unlimited inflow of grain and food products, mainly poultry, eggs and honey, from Ukraine makes the situation worse by creating uneven competition for European farmers and consumers also because they are not subject to strict EU regulations,” said Győrffy. Speaking to public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió, Győrffy said “farmers across Europe are in an uproar and have lost their patience”. “What we can see is that the elite in Brussels absolutely ignores our opinion and does not listen to our problems”.