Minster for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas has confirmed that his Austrian counterpart, Andrä Rupprechter, has asked to have a meeting with him with relation to new Hungarian farmland acquisition regulations that may affect Austrian farmers.

Mr. Fazekas stated that he would be happy to receive his Austrian colleague in the new year to discuss the issues raised by Andrä Rupprechter. Everyone in Hungary is bound to keep to the regulations on farmland, including all land owners and land users.

The recently adopted new Land Act applies equally to everyone, he added. Mr. Fazekas said that he was interested in the Austrian Minister of Agriculture's standpoint and wanted to hear what problems he raises. However, he added, he himself sees no problem from a Hungarian perspective with regard to Hungarian-Austrian relations in this field. There is not concrete date for the meeting as yet; the negotiations will take place in the new year.

According to press reports, the Ö1 Austrian public television channel said in its morning programme on Saturday that in a letter to Sándor Fazekas, Austrian Minister of Agriculture Andrä Rupprechter has complained that the legally acquired land use rights of Austrian citizens to Hungarian arable land would we terminated from 1 May of 2014.

The Minister has initiated talks on the issue with his Hungarian counterpart. According to Andrä Rupprechter, the new Hungarian regulations also affect those Austrian farmers who paid for their land use rights in advance and according to regulations. The Austrian Minister asked his Hungarian counterpart to take action to ensure that Austrian farmers working legally in Hungary be able to continue to perform their activities according to the same conditions as their Hungarian colleagues.

According to Ö1, the Minister's letter cited the fact that a discrimination free procedure is a principle of EU law. According to the Austrian news agency APA, there are currently some 200 Austrian farmers working Hungarian farmland, but it is unknown how many may be affected by the new regulations.

(MTI)