It would be completely unacceptable and would create a dangerous precedent for the future if the European Commission were to ban the promotion of the consumption of agricultural products that are part of the Hungarian gastronomic heritage, such as wine and red meat, said Zsolt Feldman, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture (AM) responsible for agriculture and rural development.
In the statement of the AM sent to MTI on Sunday, the state secretary explained: according to the document available on the committee's website, Brussels expects the submitted promotional applications to contribute to climate and environmental requirements, with particular regard to the sustainability of production and consumption, thus certain sectors - such as meat and wine - they may lose promotional support. And this is contrary to the main objective of the EU promotion policy, that is to ensure the competitiveness of all EU agricultural products, they pointed out.
They wrote: they do not dispute that agriculture should also contribute to the fight against climate change, and they also agree that attention should be drawn to the health consequences of irresponsible alcohol consumption. At the same time, they believe: "the European Commission overshot the mark with this proposal and may set an extremely dangerous precedent."
By excluding certain products from the promotional program, they risk that consumers will choose "poorer" quality products imported from countries outside the EU
– the announcement quoted the words of Zsolt Feldman.
Under the leadership of Poland, Hungary and several other member states asked the issue to be on the agenda of the meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on February 21 in order to give the European Commission a better view, they pointed out.
The EU's promotion program provides support to European agricultural companies in the amount of EUR 186 million per year to promote their agricultural products on the internal market and in third countries.
The program contributes greatly to the spread of food industry products produced in the EU and thus to the expansion of export opportunities, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement.
Source: MTI opening image: szekelyhon.ro
