The V4+4 agriculture ministers, attending a session in Budapest on Tuesday, welcomed the EUs ruling to allow member states to decide on the cultivation of GMOs within their own national sphere of authority, the Minister of Agriculture emphasised at a press conference following the meeting. The decision is a significant success for Hungarian agrarian diplomacy, Minister Sándor Fazekas added.
A diverse range of fun and interesting programmes await those interested in experience nature within the framework of Hungarian National Parks Week 2014 from 13-22 June.
Hungarian diplomacy could achieve a significant result in view of the fact that the Council of EU Environment Ministers is expected to adopt new regulations allowing member states to decide independently on the authorisation or banning of genetically modified plants at its meeting today. Accordingly, it would become easier for member states to ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops, because following the decision each country will be able to decide individually whether to authorise or prohibit the use of such agricultural seeds for cultivation. In future, such bans, which are a fundamental requirement to ensure the continued preservation of Hungary’s GMO-free status, may not only be issued for environmental and health reasons, but also on the basis of other criteria, such as for economic or social reasons.
The agreement realised on Thursday by the Ministers of Environment of the member states with regard to prohibiting GMOs is a success achieved by Hungarian agrarian diplomacy, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas told Hungarian news agency MTI.
Minister Sándor Fazekas presented the people involved in directing the activities of the new Ministry of Agriculture, his prospective Ministers of State, in Budapest on Wednesday.