Agro Plovdiv will be headed by the new agricultural commissioner Hansen

2024-09-19 06:12:31

Animal Welfare, Pesticides and GMOs is awarded to Oliver Varhei from Hungary, whose portfolio is Animal Health and Welfare

Christoph Hansenthe chosen one Ursula von der Leyen European Commissioner with agriculture and food, she includes her plan to make peace with resting farmers affected by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and climate change.

The centre-right politician from Luxembourg does not only belong to the self-proclaimed agricultural party – the European People’s Party – which won European elections in June. He also comes from a farming family, and his cousin Martin Hansen is Luxembourg’s agriculture minister, reports Politico.

At 42, Hansen, if approved by the European Parliament, would be the second youngest member of von der Leyen’s second college of commissioners.

One environmentalist described Hansen as a “political animal” and “a politician respected outside his political family” by a think tank. Apart from politics, he is also a fan of Led Zeppelin and a cycling enthusiast.

“His parents had a farm and he was the youngest boy in the family,” said Charles Welbs, a young farmer from Luxembourg. “So, yeah, if the brother hadn’t been raised on the farm, he might have been a farmer instead.”

Maybe at some point he wishes he had.

There are just under 2,000 farms in Luxembourg, which mainly produce milk, meat, wine and cereals. Unlike outgoing Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski’s home country of Poland, farmers in Luxembourg have remained calm during this year’s protests against unfair prices, high costs and EU bureaucracy.

“Our sector and the Ministry of Agriculture had good discussions during the protests, so we decided not to protest,” said the young farmer.

The cup of poison

The big question is how much of a voice Hansen will have in shaping policy — and how long his reputation will last in office.

During her first term von der Leyen cut the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, which he is supposed to lead, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. While launching her flagship Green Market strategy, Wojciechowski was tasked with overseeing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU’s farming budget.

Hansen’s remit will cover food security, a key issue addressed in von der Leyen’s strategic agricultural dialogue held this year, which she wants to turn into a 100-day action plan for agriculture. But food safety – including issues such as pesticides and genetically modified crops -, along with animal welfare, will remain the responsibility of Hungary’s designated health commissioner Oliver Varhei.

“His main challenge is to limit his role as commissioner to the structural funds aspect of the CAP, but to have the necessary room to maneuver to oversee the various policies that affect the agricultural sector such as nutrition, trade and climate dimensions,” said Luc Vernet of industry think tank Farm Europe.

However, agriculture is “a head of worms,” ​​claimed Martin Hoisik, a liberal Slovak MEP who is vice-president of the European Parliament and sits on its environment committee. “You want to be very lucky to come out of it healthy politically.”