According to the Ministry of Rural Development, the information published by Austrian news agency APA, according to which the Hungarian and Austrian Ministers had agreed on a prearranged time for a meeting at the Berlin International Green Week agriculture fair, is incorrect, the Ministry told Hungarian news agency MTI on Friday.

The Ministry's Press Office said in a statement that staff from the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development had informed Austrian Minister of Agriculture Andrä Rupprechter in advance that Sándor Fazekas would be unable to attend the expo as planned because of other government business.

According to a report by Austrian news agency APA, at the international agriculture fair in Berlin, Austrian Minister for Agriculture Andrä Rupprechter again sharply criticised the new Hungarian Land Act, which according to his opinion strips Austrian farmers of Hungarian farmland they have acquired legally, something which is unacceptable and in contravention of European Union law.

Andrä Rupprechter said he was "sorry" that he was unable to meet his official Hungarian counterpart in Berlin, despite the fact that they had "agreed" on the meeting in advance with Hungarian Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas.

In a letter sent earlier this year to Minister Fazekas, Andrä Rupprechter objected to the fact that in accordance with the new Hungarian Land Act, foreign farmers' rights of use to Hungarian farmland will cease on 1 May, something that may also affect Austrian farmers who have complied fully with regulations and paid to use land in advance. According to estimates, 200 Austrian farmers, who have acquired the rights of use to a total of around 200 thousand hectares of Hungarian farmland since 1994, may be affected.

(Ministry of Rural Development)