Jobbik launches campaign to protect farmland

The party wanted to include in Hungary s new constitution, approved last month, a ban on the sale of arable land and water resources to foreigners, but the governing parties voted against this proposal.   

    Tibor Bana said Jobbik would send its experts on a tour of Hungary to meet those affected, and to reveal "tricks" used by foreigners to buy Hungarian land, despite the European Union moratorium which is in force until the spring of 2014.

    Zoltan Magyar, a Jobbik lawmaker from Gyor-Moson-Sopron County, said as many as 12 "tricks" have been identified so far, including faked marriage between a Hungarian and foreign citizen and getting a Hungarian landowner indebted to a foreigner. 

    Magyar said the government should restart negotiations with the EU on the subject and protect Hungarian interests in the long term.

    Arable land makes up 87 percent of Hungary s territory as against the EU average of 27 percent and the global average of under 10 percent. According to data from the Austrian chamber of agriculture, some 2 million hectares of Hungarian arable land is already owned by Austrians, Magyar said.