The Council of the European Union has begun preparative work in the interests of banning neo-nicotinoid pesticides; Hungary opposes the ban -- Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas told Hungarian news agency MTI on Monday following the meeting of EU agriculture ministers.

Several member states have previously reported that these pesticides are responsible for the mass deaths of honey bees. However, according to Sándor Fazekas it would be difficult to replace these pesticides, which are required to enable to safe cultivation of agricultural seeds. It is especially bee keepers from Western Europe who claim that these chemicals are dangerous to bees, but "we have not experienced similar problems", Mr. Fazekas told the press, adding that the continued availability of these pesticides are important to ensure safe production.

"We are against the ban, because these chemicals cannot be replaced", said Mr. Fazekas, making clear the Hungarian standpoint on the issue and going on to say that he sees no proven relationship between these pesticides and the deaths of honey bees. The Minister also told MTI that he would like these chemicals to remain available for use in Hungary in future. No decision has been made so far as to whether the proposed ban would be implemented at an EU-level, or if the new regulations would allow each member state to decide on the possible ban of these substances.

The agenda for Monday's meeting also included the common agricultural policy, and more precisely the related direct payments and the restructuring and unification of the system of agricultural funding. According to Mr. Fazekas the European Council would like to cut funding for labour intensive animal husbandry and horticulture, but it is in the interests of several member states including Hungary that any decrease in funding should not be too significant and occur very gradually.

"It is important that farmers from newer member states enjoy similar conditions to those afforded to older members of the EU", the Minister said, adding that the possibility of extending the SAPS direct funding system by a few years had also been discussed, but that the details would be decided in March.

Mr. Fazekas also said that Hungary too supports the Austrian proposal that so-called conservation target areas should also include land used for the cultivation of protein crops such as soybeans. According to Minister Fazekas, this would provide an incentive for the cultivation of protein crops within Europe, which in turn would decrease import dependency and improve the state of the soil

Sándor Fazekas also said that the agriculture ministers had discussed the recent horsemeat scandal, stressing that Hungary has always supported the inclusion of the precise origin on food labelling and the traceability of food products. "Consumers must be guaranteed that what they buy is safe and good quality, and they should also be aware of the product's origin", emphasised the Minister, who also told the press that EU regulations on origin labelling and its monitoring are expected to become stricter as an aftermath of the horsemeat scandal. According to Minister Fazekas, since horsemeat is a "valuable, high quality category of meat", it would seem obvious that in these cases the meat used in the products in question is of unknown origin, which would otherwise have made the horsemeat cheaper or unmarketable.

(MTI, Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)