In the frame of the Polish Presidency of the Visegrád Group the Meeting of the Committees on Agriculture of the Parliaments of the Visegrád Group (V4) countries, with participation of Romania and the baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) took place on 22–23rd of May 2025 in Warsaw. The Hungarian National Assembly was represented at the event by Sándor Font, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture. The two main topics of the meeting were: “Trade relationships with Ukraine and the impact of the agreement with Mercosur countries on the agricultural sector in the European Union” and “Common Agricultural Policy – conclusions from the current perspective and the future”.

The hosts of the event were Mirosław Maliszewski, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the Polish Sejm and Ryszard Bober, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the Polish Senate. The other participating delegations were headed by: Ivan Ševčik, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and the Environment of the Slovak National Council, Petr Fiala, Deputy Chair of the Committee on National Economy, Agriculture and Transport, member of the Subcommittee on Agriculture of the Czech Senate, Sebastian Cernic, Chair of the Committee for Agriculture, Food Industry and Rural Development of the Romanian Senate, Peeter Ernits, Member of the Rural Affairs Committee of the Estonian Riigikogu, Jana Simanovska, Chairperson of the Environmental, Climate and Energy Subcommittee of the Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee of the Latvian Saeima, and Kęstutis Mažeika, Chair of the Committee on Rural Affairs of the Lithuanian Seimas. 

The Polish position on both issues was presented by Czesław Siekierski, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, who outlined the Polish presidency's activities, objectives and achievements related to agriculture, as well as its vision for the future of EU agricultural policy. Prof. Marek Wigier, Director of the Polish Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute outlined the opportunities and threats arising from the agreement with Ukraine and the Mercosur countries.

In his contributions, Sándor Font underlined that in his opinion the countries, which were present at the meeting (as well as Bulgaria, which was invited but did not participate) form a community of interest in the issues discussed. He outlined Hungary's critical stance on the accelerated accession of Ukraine to the European Union and expressed his concerns about the likely impacts of the Mercosur agreement on the agricultural sector. He raised the need for an impact assessment of the agreement with Ukraine and the Mercosur countries prepared by the European Commission. Regarding the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), he stressed that the shaping of the new multiannual financial framework was happening amidst enormous dangers and uncertainties, and asked that the member states took as a basis the Council conclusions adopted under the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council, in which they agreed to maintain the independent, 2-pillar CAP. Finally, he indicated that during the Hungarian V4 Presidency, that would succeed the current Polish V4 Presidency from 1 July 2025, he would take the initiative to bring the committees on agriculture together again.

+Photos (Polish Senate)