Lázár sees ‘war’ with EC over foreigners’ right to buy farms

History

MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák

The European Commission’s announcement today of an infringement procedure against Hungaryʼs law preventing foreigners from buying farmland will start a “war” between Budapest and Brussels, Hungary’s Cabinet Chief János Lázár said today.

Cabinet Chief János Lázár at his regular weekly press conference today. (Photo: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák)

Speaking at his regular weekly press conference today, Lázár said the government does not want to allow foreigners to buy farmland in Hungary, and he expects a feud to erupt over this issue, Hungarian online daily origo.hu reported. The EC said today it requested Hungary to comply with EU rules in connection with farmland acquisitions, and it wants the country to amend related legislation to enable foreigners to bid for farmland as well. 

The other infringement procedure against Hungary announced by the EC today regards the charge that Roma children do not receive the same educational opportunities as other children. Lázár said it is “impossible to understand” the EC complaint because the ethnicities of school children are “not kept track of anywhere”. He added, however, that a dialogue should be conducted on the issue to help the parties demonstrate their views on the matter. “We do not know what data the Committee uses to work with, we would like to learn about it”, Lázár said.

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