Hungary. Agriculture Minister Discusses CAP in Brussels

Agriculture could only contribute to the fight against climate change if it has goals that can be practically implemented, István Nagy, Hungary’s minister of agriculture, said in Brussels on Tuesday.

Nagy attended a session of the European Union’s council of agriculture and fishing, with the community’s Common Agricultural Policy high on the agenda, his ministry said in a statement.

The document quoted the minister as saying that the EU’s targets aimed at reducing the use of chemicals and increasing eco-farming are too ambitious, and meeting those goals could reduce production, increase prices and harm competitiveness. “When defining benchmark figures the measures so far taken by member states should be considered,” Nagy said.

At the talks, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Slovenia urged the European Commission to tighten rules concerning the labelling of imported honey, with regard to the country of origin. Under the proposed rules, honey of “dubious origin” from third countries could be traced and so indicated on the shelves.

HUNGARYtoday