At the meeting of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development on 25 September István Nagy, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, together with the representative of German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, presented the European Soy Declaration. The document was signed by 14 EU Member States on 18 July 2017 in Brussels after a joint initiative of Germany and Hungary.
István Nagy stressed that Hungary has been the leader of initiatives and programs for GMO-free protein sovereignty within the EU. This is also indicated by the fact that Mr. György Hölvényi (FIDESZ-EPP) is the responsible rapporteur within the EP Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee.
The Deputy Minister recalled that in the framework of the agricultural policy in Hungary, it is of strategic importance to promote the production of protein feed and to create a toolkit for the provision of GMO-free protein sources for the livestock sector.
Legumes play a key role in sustainable agriculture, food security, healthy diets and mitigating the effects of climate change.
European consumers should be made aware that sustainable agricultural production is, inter alia, a combination of technologies that preserves soil fertility, does not pollute groundwater, protects biodiversity and preserves genetic resources.
The Hungarian Government is convinced that the future of a competitive and sustainable food production lies on GMO-free production. Hungary introduced its National Protein Program in 2013 in order to establish GM-free food production, in which legumes play a very important role.
The Deputy Minister added that according to Hungary, Europe needs a new and comprehensive protein policy in agriculture and food production. Dependence on imported soybean should be replaced by this new policy.
István Nagy concluded that the most important result of the visit in Brussels is that the importance of strengthening the cultivation of protein crops can be further promoted in Europe through the MEPs.
