For more than three hours, Dacian Ciolos, the Romanian commissioner-designate for agriculture, made hardly the slightest reference, on 14 January, at his hearing before the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI), to his predecessor, the very liberal Mariann Fischer Boel. Questioned ceaselessly by MEPs, Romania’s former agriculture minister presented a radically different version of the Common Agricultural Policy, particularly on budget aspects and market management.

“The CAP’s credibility has to be strengthened,” he argued, after a lengthy defence of a policy that offers “more foreseeability for farmers, safe and wholesome foods for consumers and a guarantee to taxpayers that their money is being well spent”. “We are reassured,” commented Paolo de Castro, chair of the Agriculture Committee, whose members gave unanimous and warm support to the candidate.

A BUDGET “WORTHY OF THE NAME”

Ciolos has not dropped the idea of a CAP reform, however. On the contrary, there is a “need for a reform. […] The agriculture sector has changed a great deal,” he said in reference to climate and environmental challenges. This explains why “the CAP budget must remain sizeable. […] I am prepared to discuss the distribution of funds but the cost of not subsidising agriculture would be too high.” Ciolos pledged to defend a budget “worthy of the name” among his future colleagues. Remaining vague at this stage on the breakdown of funds, which is not his decision alone, the future commissioner defended the principle of two pillars for the CAP.

“MODERN” MARKET MECHANISMS

The commissioner-designate also defended modern market mechanisms that “correct market limitations”. They must be “swift” and “flexible”. “We cannot afford crises that irremediably affect whole sections of our agriculture,” he noted. According to Ciolos, “going back to earlier market instruments is not a solution for the future”. Although he refused to go into detail on this point, the candidate nevertheless mentioned the possibility of widespread use of tools already tested in certain sectors, such as agriculture guarantee funds and harvest insurance or mechanisms used in the fruit and vegetable sector.

In this connection, as the milk sector struggles to get back on its feet after a brutal market crisis, the future commissioner ruled out the idea of putting back on the table the programmed abolition of quotas in 2015. This decision “has been taken; discussions have already been held,” he noted, adding that “we have to make sure that the abolition of quotas, which gives certain farmers new possibilities, will not affect certain regions that have particular problems”. The candidate said he is open to new forms of regulation but opposed to a return to administrative interventions or “small pockets of regulation” on the common market. He mentioned the idea of developing greater use of contracts between different players in the agriculture sector to structure the market, even if this sometimes means granting “certain derogations to competition rules”. That comment was welcomed by European agricultural interests.

FAIRER DIRECT SUPPORT

Direct income support for farmers is also a regulation tool, pointed out the commissioner-designate, and it has “demonstrated its effectiveness”. Such support makes it possible to maintain a fair amount of stability in farmers’ earnings. On the other hand, in the future it must be allocated on a “new more realistic basis” so as to ensure “fairness among farmers, regions and member states,” said Ciolos. He is particularly opposed to the use of historic references in calculating aid, as is the case today in the old member states. “I have to identify new criteria,” he explained, for the distribution of aid.

WTO

On the WTO, Ciolos said that the EU has already “made major concessions. We have reached the limit on market access”. However, the future commissioner seeks an agreement “that is beneficial to everyone”. “It is not my intention to opt for liberalisation for the sake of liberalisation, but agriculture’s potential competitiveness must be developed,” he explained. Ciolos is less cut-and-dried on this matter than Fischer Boel, saying export refunds are “not an essential solution for the future”. They can be maintained in “some sectors”.

Roger Waite as spokesman

The Commissioner-designate for Agriculture, Dacian Ciolos, has selected British journalist Roger Waite as his spokesman. Editor-in-chief of Agra Factsfrom the time of its creation by Agra-Europe Bonn (Germany) and Agra Presse (France) in autumn 1995, Waite has made the publication a benchmark on EU agriculture issues. Ciolos has also named to his cabinet Yves Madre, agriculture adviser at the French Permanent Representation to the EU. Austrian Georg Häusler will be his head of cabinet and Romanian national Sorin Moisa deputy head of cabinet.