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The new President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, published on 10/09/2019 a list of candidates nominated for Commissioners, together with a proposal for the distribution of individual portfolios. As expected, Polish candidate Janusz Wojciechowski is to maintain the EU agricultural policy as of November this year. Wojciechowski is currently an auditor at the European Court of Auditors and in 2014-2016 he was a member of the European Parliament for the Polish side of Law and Justice (ECR). From July 2014 to May 2016 he served as Vice-Chairman of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. Within the European Commission, agricultural policy, together with the environment, energy, health and transport, will come under the supervision of Commission Vice-President Franz Timmermans, who should be in charge of the introduction of the European Green Deal, achieving carbon neutrality in the EU. The structure of the Directorate-General for Agriculture will more or less be retained, but the State Aid Unit will be transferred to the Directorate-General for Competition.

After assigning portfolios, Ursula von der Leyen sent each candidate a letter defining the basic priorities of the portfolios. Wojciechowski, according to a letter from der Leyen, should reach an agreement without delay in the negotiations on the Common Agricultural Policy, which should be ambitious in terms of efforts to ensure food security and environmental and climate protection. The agricultural sector should foster sustainable food production across the food chain, including organic production. The future CAP should also contribute to environmental objectives, including zero pollution. In particular, the CAP should ensure a reduction in the volume of pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals used. According to Leyen, the new Commissioner for Agriculture should also ensure the protection of geographical indications of foodstuffs (GIs) and develop a long-term strategy for rural areas (in cooperation with Dubravka Šuica, Commissioner for Democracy and Demography). Wojciechowski will also have to ensure support for the digitization and use of modern technologies, secure support for young farmers, and maintain the competitiveness of the agricultural sector.

Janusz Wojciechowski's standpoint so far: the CAP should be a policy with a long-term strategic plan reaching as far as to 2050, while food safety must be strengthened. The different levels of direct payments per hectare in the EU Member States should be balanced as much as possible, and the CAP must be fairer in this context. Moreover, much of Europe's money still goes to the largest farms, according to Wojciechowski, often at the expense of the small ones. Wojciechowski has therefore pledged support for small and medium enterprises, which must finally be recognized by the EU policy. According to Wojciechowski, European agriculture is gradually disappearing, especially in the case of family farms - so he believes that this trend needs to be changed to avoid over-industrialization of EU agriculture. Wojciechowski said in an interview with the European media that one of the first things he would do as a Commissioner was to carry out an in-depth analysis of the state of agricultural policy in the European Union and a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the draft Mercosur trade agreement. As regards the Mercosur Trade Agreement, Wojciechowski also plans to conduct an evaluation of the use of pesticides and other active substances in the Mercosur countries to ensure that European production requirements are also respected under this Agreement. The reform of the CAP will require more time, so rules for transitional measures will have to be introduced. Wojciechowski said that he is unlikely to support a total rejection of the Commission proposal for the CAP from June 2018, but some parts of the proposal should be revised. The Commissioner-designate also stressed the need to strengthen incentives for young farmers to join the sector, strengthen environmental and climate ambitions, strengthen animal welfare, reduce pesticide use, and shorten supply chains to support local producers. He added that the European Commission's proposal for a capping of direct payments in excess of EUR 100,000 has aroused political emotions, but he personally considers the proposal justifiable and understandable given the efforts to strengthen support for small businesses. Wojciechowski is currently setting up a team of Polish and international experts who should be in charge of the European agricultural policy if the new Commissioner is approved by the European Parliament.

Wojciechowski is now being investigated by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), due to irregularities in reimbursement of travel expenses from 2004-2014, when Wojciechowski served as Polish MEP. Wojciechowski said that he had already reimbursed EUR 11,250 on his own initiative for under-documented travel expenses in 2009-2011. However, according to the German media, OLAF examines the expenditure for the entire 2004-2014 period, with the transactions examined in five-digit figures.

Wojciechowski has to defend the portfolio in the European Parliament, where MEPs will test his suitability during the public hearing on 07/10/2019. One of the key themes for this three-hour event will probably be the Commission's proposal on the CAP Strategic Plans - that is, whether Wojciechowski would be interested in continuing to work on the previous Commission proposal, or whether he would really only want to adjust the position. His success with the European Parliament is not guaranteed, but the EPP's largest faction of the European Parliament is likely to support Wojciechowski. Previous hearings have shown that candidates cannot be certain of getting approval, the European Parliament is expected to reject at least two of the nominees. Given the investigation conducted by OLAF, the Polish candidate could be one of the candidates for whom it will not be easy to succeed during a public hearing in the European Parliament; similarly, Romanian Commissioner-designate for Transport Commissioner Rovana Plomb may not succeed because of suspected corruption. Candidates who successfully pass MEPs’ questions will then be approved by the EP plenary session on 23/10/2019.

New Commission composition is available here, the letter from the President to Wojciechowski here.

The new President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, published on 10/09/2019 a list of candidates nominated for Commissioners, together with a proposal for the distribution of individual portfolios. Cyprian candidate Stella Kyriakides should become Commissioner for Health, who should oversee issues of food safety and the sustainability of food production in addition to ensuring the supply of affordable medicines. Kyriakides will oversee the implementation of a new 'Farm to Fork' strategy that aims to strengthen the sustainability of food production. Within the European Commission, health, together with the environment, energy, agriculture and transport, will come under the supervision of Commission Vice-President Franz Timmermans, who should be in charge of implementing the European Green Deal. In a letter to candidates, Ursula von der Leyen urged Kyriakides to implement the European Action Plan One Health Against Antimicrobial Resistance and to strengthen communication on animal vaccination. In addition, Von der Leyen has included consumer protection against the negative effects of endocrine disruptors, reducing Europe's dependence on pesticide use, combating food fraud, strengthening consumer information, and enhancing welfare and animal health among the priorities of the Health Commissioner's portfolio. Kyriakides should also ensure that food imports from third countries meet the EU safety and safety requirements.

Lithuanian candidate Virginijus Sinkevičius, current Lithuanian Minister for Economy and Innovation, should become Commissioner for the Environment and Oceans. Sinkevičius could thus become the youngest Commissioner of the European Commission (born 04/11/1990).

The current Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan has been nominated as Trade Commissioner. Among his main priorities will be, inter alia, the establishment of relations with the United Kingdom in the event of its withdrawal from the EU, even in the case of hard Brexit. In addition, Ursula von der Leyen has mandated Hogan the balancing of world market conditions, addressing unfair commercial practices (NOPs) on the EU market as well as international trade agreements, and setting up sanctioning rules for violations of NOP rules.

Austrian Commissioner Johannes Hahn should become Budgetary Commissioner. Hahn's portfolio should then come under the direct supervision of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

New Commission composition is available here, the letter from Commission President Kyriakides here, Hogan’s here.

In early September, the agricultural coordinators of the different political factions of the European Parliament agreed not to reject the opinion of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development on the CAP post-2020 Strategic Plans adopted by the Committee in April this year. The Conference of Presidents of the EP Committees should decide, by 25/09/2019, whether the April opinion of the Committee on Agriculture should be forwarded to the plenary vote of the European Parliament in its current version or returned to the Committee on Agriculture to amend certain parts of the opinion. Chairman of the EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, FR) and Chairman of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) Norbert Lins (EPP, DE) supported the reopening of some parts of the April opinion; allowing new amendments to be tabled, given the desire to achieve a better compromise between COMENVI's and COMAGRI's positions, and to allow new MEPs to express their views on CAP reform. The recommendation of 25/09/2019 should then be adopted by the EP plenary in November 2019, and the opinion is expected to be returned to COMAGRI for finalization. Therefore, after the November vote, a new deadline should be announced for tabling amendments, which should then be translated into all COMAGRI working languages. This should be followed by a period of compromise proposals, their approval in COMAGRI, followed by a vote in plenary again.

Europe's largest political group The EPP Group should publish the name of a new rapporteur for the opinion of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) on CAP strategic plans in the coming week. The current rapporteur, Esther Herranz García (EPP, ES), has failed in the European elections in May, and there are now several candidates. One of them is German MEP Peter Jahr (EPP, DE), who is a substitute member of COMAGRI, not a full member. According to EPP representatives, however, Peter Jahr is a respected experienced expert and is therefore a favourite for many EPP members in the fight for the post of rapporteur. However, if Jahr became rapporteur, the reform of the CAP after 2020 would largely be the responsibility of German MEPs - in addition to Jahr, in particular Norbert Lins (chairman of COMAGRI, EPP, DE), Ulrike Müller (political agricultural coordinator Renew Europe (DE), Martin Häusling (Agricultural Policy Coordinator of the Greens, DE), and Maria Noichl (Agricultural Policy Coordinator of S&D, DE). The possible German superiority of other EPP members and other political factions is of particular concern for the future of some CAP instruments, which Germany has long opposed to maintaining. These include coupled support (VCS), the abolition of which Germany has long supported. The position of the rapporteur should be decided by the agricultural coordinator of the EPP political group, German-speaking MEP Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, IT) on 18/09/2019.

Last week, the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) published a report assessing the opinion of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) on the CAP Strategic Plans post 2020. According to IEEP, the opinion of the Committee is vague, has only limited potential and lack of ambition. By contrast, the opinion of the EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) is more in line with the European Union's environmental and climate commitments, according to IEEP. According to IEEP, COMENVI's opinion is better focused on achieving the objectives and at the same time it is more ambitious - also in terms of the allocation of funds for individual measures. In its opinion of February 2019, COMENVI proposes to secure 30% of the envelope for the first pillar for climate and environmental schemes (eco-schemes), and to strengthen the envelope for AEKO measures under the second pillar with 30 to 40%. In contrast, COMAGRI proposes to allocate only 20% of the envelope for the first pillar for eco-schemes. According to IEEP, COMAGRI's opinion will lead to environmental policy stagnation in a number of areas, and in some areas the opinion is even less ambitious than the current CAP.IEEP supported the introduction of performance-based criteria for the payment of CAP support, which would strengthen the agricultural sector's contribution to meeting the EU climate targets; and to changes in the structure of direct payments.
More information is available here.