BUDAPEST, January 26. /TASS/. European farmers need to oppose grain imports from Ukraine and member-countries of the Southern Common Market (Mercorus), Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

"Cheap imports from Ukraine and Mercosur meet interests of merchants and not our farmers. If local agriculture is not protected, then sovereignty will be lost. The time has come for European farmers to unite," Orban wrote on the X. "A clandestine war between merchants and producers is being unveiled in Europe," he added.

The Hungarian government voted against the agreement with Mercosur at the meeting in Brussels on January 9 and said it would file a lawsuit to the EU Court of Justice because the agreement does not comply with EU laws. The agreement was approved by the qualified majority of votes. Austria, Ireland, Poland and France were also against it together with Hungary as they do not want cheap agricultural products from South America to come freely to the European market.