Agriculture Commissioner designate Dacian Ciolos will appear in a confirmation hearing at the European Parliament in Brussels this Friday. Here is a list of 25 questions that MEPs should put the man who – subject to their approval – will set the agenda for European food and farming policy over the next five years.

The hearing will be webcast live, between 9am and noon, Brussels time.

The basics

1. Should maximising food production in Europe be a central objective of the CAP?

2. How would you respond to those who say it is hard to make the case for the CAP as a policy to support farm incomes when there are six and seven figure subsidies being paid every year to the likes of the Queen of England and Prince Albert of Monaco?

3. What is your opinion on the variation in rates of direct payments between new member states and the EU-15? Is any action is required to to address the issue?

4. Do production controls have a role in the future of the CAP?

5. Are you in favour of strengthening or relaxing the cross compliance conditions for those receiving direct payments?

6. Has the CAP gone too far down the road of decoupling subsidies from production – or not far enough?

7. What is your opinion of the US’s programme of counter-cyclical farm subsidies? Could such a system of direct payments that vary according to market prices be appropriate for the EU?

Farm economy

8. In terms of farm structures and farm sizes, where is European farming headed? What farm structures should be encouraged in the New Member States?

9. Do you agree that direct payments increase the market price of land and therefore make it harder for young farmers to start new farm businesses? What should be done?

10. What lessons should be drawn from the crisis in the dairy industry in 2009?

International trade

11. What is needed to reach an agreement on the trade negotiations in the Doha Development Agenda?

12. The EU maintains high tariffs on certain key agricultural commodities and products even though this makes food more expensive for European shoppers. Will you seek to reduce tariff levels?

13. Do you pledge the end of all EU export subsidies by 2013?

Environment and rural development

14. There is currently a lot of talk about public goods. What, in your opinion, are the public good that are most relevant in the context of agricultural policy?

15. Is it your opinion that some types of farming are better for the environment than others that, in some cases, can be very damaging to the environment. How should the CAP take account of these differences?

16. Should agri-environment support be restricted to farmers or should anyone who manages land and can potentially provide environmental services be eligible for aid?

17. Do you consider that the proper place for European rural economic development policy is as part of European regional policy, not as part of the CAP?

18. Do you agree that agriculture should be included in any European plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and not given special exemptions?

19. Should the CAP have a new ‘third pillar’ to help Europe mitigate and adapt to climate change? If so, what kind of policy measures would it contain?

Reforming the CAP

20. What will be your main objectives and guiding principles for the CAP post 2013?

21. Are you in favour of retaining the two pillar structure of the CAP and if so, what advantages do you see?

22. Would you favour the further use of modulation to shift funds from Pillar 1 to Pillar 2 of the CAP?

23. Is there a linkage between the CAP and the issue of national budgetary imbalances and various corrections and rebates in the EU budget?

24. How do you regard the connection between decisions on the shape of the CAP post-2013 and decisions on the EU financial perspectives for 2013-2020?

25. In future, should the first pillar of CAP, like the second pillar, and much of the rest of the EU budget, be nationally co-financed?

Over at the excellent farmpolicy.com Roger Waite, editor of Agra Facts, has posted a thorough account of the appointment of the new EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos. He says that while Romania had sought the powerful position, it was really a case of appointment by default:

I tend to feel that Barroso was left with no other option, as no one was willing to put forward a good candidate – and that he was the only suitable candidate from among the nominees.

[...]

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Until recently, I have walked through Brussels with this grey-blue bag that all participants of the 2008 budget review conference received. In the meantime, it has fallen apart, and I don’t have anything to replace it. This is somewhat similar to the CAP & EU budget debate: the 2008 conference presenting the results of the consultation process briefly attracted broad attention, but subsequently, the debate fizzled out and was overwhelmed by the financial and economic crisis. [...]

The next agricultural commissioner will have the chance to shape the future development of the CAP. So who will it be? [...]

It’s a familar scenario: the milk price falls; farmers come out to the street; and the Commission starts to panic. Following a ‘milk strike’ across Europe, an emergency meeting is to be held by farm ministers on October 5th. Nineteen member states have signalled support for a Franco-German initiative for an aid package for dairy farmers. However, farm commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, insists that there is no prospect of reversing the decision to abandon dairy quotas as part of the CAP reform process. [...]

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The 66-year old Dane, who sports a trademark shock of snow white hair, has invoked the spirit of Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston in the L’Oréal commercials, insisting the payout is entirely justifiable “because I’m worth it”. It’s just as well that the Commission scheme is so generous since Fischer Boel, who together with her husband owns several large livestock farms, is too old to qualify for the EU-funded early retirement scheme for farmers, which pays out a maximum of €18,000 a year to farmers who quit before turning 55. The typical ruse is for farmers approaching 55 to “retire” and apply for the early retirement money while passing the legal title of the farm on to a son or daughter who, in all likelihood, will qualify for an EU-funded young farmers startup grant worth up to €40,000. Both continue to work on the farm as before.

I’m told that the Finnish and Swedish governments (backed by the French EU Presidency) are working right now to insert a loophole to new EU biofuels sustainability standards that would allow the destruction of the world’s peat lands, with appaling consequences for increasing global greenhouse gas emissions. Chapter and verse from BirdLife International after the jump.
[...]

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