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The European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) elected the Chairman and the four Vice-Chairs of the Committee last week. German MEP Norbert Lins (EPP) was elected Chairman of the Committee, Portuguese MEP Francisco Guerreiro (Greens, 1st Vice-Chair) and Romanian MEP Daniel Buda (EPP, 2nd Vice-Chair) were elected. The Committee's third and fourth vice-chairmen will be voted on at the Committee meeting on 23/07/2019. According to preliminary information, the Italian MEP Paolo De Castro, who expressed interest in re-opening the debate on the opinion on the CAP Strategic Plans (the Committee adopted the opinion in April 2019), is missing among the candidates for the Vice-Chairs. De Castro confirmed his interest in running for the post of S&D Agriculture Policy Coordinator after the first round of elections. Elsi Katainen (RE), a Finnish MEP, is among the candidates for the post of 4th Vice-Chair.

The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) has a total of 48 full members, of which half are new MEPs, and a half was re-elected. The re-elected MEPs include, for example, the new Chairman of the Committee, Norbert Lins (DE, EPP), former Agriculture Coordinator of the ALDE faction Ulrike Müller (DE, ALDE), new Vice-Chair Daniel Bud (RO, EPP) and Paolo de Castro (IT, S&D). Italian MEP Herbert Dorfmann, who has been with the Committee since 2009, has also returned to the Committee. According to Dorfmann, the COMAGRI opinion adopted in April should not be discussed again, but he fears hundreds of amendments tabled in the EP plenary.

Among the newly elected MPs in the committee are:
Simone Schmiedtbauer - Austrian EPP MEP, who presented her agricultural priorities, which include promoting further development of organic farming, supporting the retention of the two-pillar structure of the CAP, refusing to renationalise policy, strengthening the focus on family farms, or supporting the achievement of external convergence of direct payments towards 90 % of the EU average.

Álvaro Amaro - Portuguese EPP MEP, linked to the investigation of corruption and EU funds fraud in Portugal (see here). According to Amaro's earlier statement, he intended to abandon the immunity he received after being elected to the European Parliament, but, according to EP officials, he has not done so.

Asger Christensen - Danish MEP for Renew Europe, farmer who manages over 650 dairy cows in Denmark. The history of his family farm dates back to 1760, the farm is one of the milk producers for the ARLA group, which is engaged in dairy production. According to his statement, the farm is currently managed by his son; Christensen himself works about a week in a year, receiving over EUR 3,000 in reward.

Francisco Guerreiro - a Portuguese MEP for the Greens, was elected 1st Vice-Chairman of the Committee last week. Guerreiro worked as a political advisor for the People-Animals-Nature (PAN) Portuguese party, becoming the first MEP in history to be elected as an animal rights party representative.

Sarah Wiener - an Austrian Green MEP who used to be a sought-after chef in Austria, ran a number of restaurants and bistros in Berlin. She is interested in sustainable agriculture, healthy eating and biodiversity conservation. She acts against genetically modified organisms.

Dino Giarrusso - an Italian unclassified MEP who has worked as an actor in films and series and has also gained experience as an assistant director. He is a member of the populist 5-Star Movement.

Dacian Ciolos - Romanian MEP for Renew Europe, was elected president of Renew Europe in early July. Ciolos served as Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development from 2009 to 2014 and after that he got the post of Prime Minister of Romania. Ciolos negotiated the current CAP 2014-2020 and participated in the introduction of greening measures.

Jérémy Décerle - French MEP for Renew Europe, former president of a French organization representing young farmers. Décerle is an active farmer himself, breeding about 100 charolais cattle. He has been elected for La République en Marche of French President Emmanuel Macron.

The European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) voted last week on the posts of chairman and four vice-chairmen of the committee. French MEP Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe) has been elected Chairman of the Committee, known for his strictly pro-environmental approach. Canfin is a member of La République en Marche of French President Emmanuel Macron. MEPs Bas Eickhout (NL, Greens, 1st Vice-Chair), Seb Dance (UK, S&D, 2nd Vice-Chair), Cristian Silviu Busoi (RO, EPP, 3rd Vice-Chair), and Anja Hazekamp (NL, GUE/NGL, 4th Vice-Chair) were elected. As for the number of full members, COMENVI is now one of the largest members of the European Parliament (76 full members and 76 substitutes), which is a symbol of how important it is for the European Parliament to tackle the climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, or the protection of consumer rights. By 2050, the EU, according to Canfin, should achieve carbon neutrality. Since 2016, Canfin has worked as Managing Director of the French branch of the WWF environmental organization.

Phil Hogan, an Irish politician who currently holds the post of Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, has been officially nominated by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar for the post of Commissioner for the coming period (the new composition of the European Commission will be launched in November 2019). However, Phil Hogan is unlikely to seek the mandate of the Commissioner for Agriculture, and his aim should be to fill the post of Commissioner for Trade, now held by Swedish Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. The future Trade Commissioner will not only be responsible for resolving the trade agreement with Mercosur, which Ireland plans to block due to the high quota of beef imports into the EU, but also for setting up trade relations with Great Britain after leaving the EU. One of the most affected countries in the context of Brexit is Ireland. The nomination of Phil Hogan as Commissioner will need to be confirmed by the new President of the European Commission, the European Parliament will vote on the candidacy of Ursula von der Leyen on 16/07/201.
More information is available here.

A total of 28 European environmental NGOs have sent a joint letter to all members of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) regarding the CAP reform discussion. According to environmental organizations (including EEB, BirdLife, or Greenpeace), COMAGRI's opinion, adopted in April 2019, is completely non-compliant with environmental and social requirements and challenges and should therefore be revised. According to these organizations, the financing of the CAP needs to be changed to focus on promoting animal welfare and environmental and climate protection, and to stop promoting environmentally harmful practices.