V4 Agricultural Chambers Sign 'Tatra Declaration', Disagree with EC's Proposals

Vysoke Tatry, 5 December (TASR) - By signing the Tatra Declaration on Friday, representatives of the agricultural chambers of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) expressed a joint stance rejecting the European Commission's (EC) proposals concerning announced changes to the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–34, said Slovak Agricultural and Food Chamber (SPPK) head Andrej Gajdos following the meeting with V4 partners plus Austria. He warned that the EC's proposals are risky, while the partners will try jointly to reverse the decline in European food production. Simultaneously, they declared that they'll participate in a major protest in Brussels on 18 December involving more than ten thousand farmers and food producers. "The corrections in the Commission's proposals are negligible and will not bring stability to the European agriculture sector. We need to throw the proposal literally off the table and convince European politicians to finally start negotiations with us," said Gajdos. Agriculture sector representatives from 25 countries will gather in Brussels to warn that the EC's July proposals are absolutely unacceptable given the climatic, financial and security risks, said Gajdos, explaining that a reduced budget for agriculture is the biggest problem and that for Slovakia alone the reduction stands at €1 billion. They also criticised capping payments at €100,000 per final beneficiary, degressive payments starting from €20,000, merging the CAP's 1st and 2nd pillars and creating a so-called superfund. The proposal stating that farmers who have reached retirement age should no longer receive funding from some existing support schemes is also unacceptable, they said. The representatives of agricultural chambers also warned that EC President Ursula von der Leyen is set to conclude a trade agreement with the Latin American group Mercosur in Brazil on 20 December. They fear that this will further increase imports of high-risk foodstuffs. The planned protest is the fourth this year and has been organised by European organisations COPA-COGECA and the Walloon Federation of Agriculture. jrg/df