The relationship between agricultural law and environmental law in Hungary

Abstract

The present paper provides a review on the relationship between agricultural law and environmental law from the point of view of a Hungarian lawyer. Taking this relationship into consideration, the Hungarian legal system applies similar solutions and provides legal institutions to the other Member States of the European Union (especially to Germany and Austria) in order to arrange differences between the interests of agriculture and environmental protection. The cause of this similarity primarily rests on the significant role of the European Union (EU) to regulate the relationship of these two laws. However, there are some challenging features of the Hungarian law that can be regarded as specialities, such as the specific theoretical approaches of the Hungarian lawyers or the constitutional basis of agri-environmental law (e.g., on GMOs) in the Hungarian constitution (the so-called Fundamental Law). Finally, this paper is a commitment to agroecology, as a scientific discipline and philosophical paradigm, which may play a remarkable role in bridging agriculture and environmental protection.