EP hearing of Commissioner-designate for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos

Dacian Ciolos, the Commissioner-designate for Agriculture and Rural Development, received positive feedback from his hearing. Ciolos had a strong grasp of technical issues and received very few critical questions.

In 2007 Ciolos was the Undersecretary of State for European Affairs with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and was Romania’s minister of agriculture from 2007 to 2008. Since July 2009, Ciolos has been the Head of the Presidential Commission on Agricultural Development Public Policy of Romania.

In his opening statement, the Commissioner-designate emphasised that the priority of his mandate "is to define the perspective of the Common Agriculture Policy after 2013". Ciolos mentioned 3 key elements:

 More equitable direct payments and convergance between regions

 Developing modern market mechanisms that correct market failures and price fluctuation, and avoid crises that affect whole sectors

 Restructuring and modernisation of farms so that they can adjust to climate change, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emmissions using partnerships, innovation networks and new social models.

The Romanian Commissioner-designate said that a reformed policy should give European farmers a stable and predictable environment, consumers safe and healthy food, and taxpayers assurance that funds are being spent in an efficient manner.

Key Issues

Budget The Commissioner-designate stated that the current CAP budget is justified. The price of reducing the agriculture budget would be too high, particularly for food security. Although Ciolos said he was a "reformer" in his opening statement, he also stood firm on having "a budget commensurate to our objectives".

Equity of direct payment Ciolos stressed that direct payments are an important element of ensuring farmers’ income and should be maintained. However, a more equitable system of distribution to farmers across the EU 27 is necessary. Payments are currently made per hectare in the "new" member states and per holding in the ’"old" ones. Ciolos proposed that "one system" should be used after 2013.

Promotion of local production According to Ciolos "we are not necessarily seeking to make farms bigger, but to develop smaller farms to make them contribute to local food production and create local production circuits". He also stated that local production and markets can play a role in the move from energy-intense agriculture to a more energy-efficient agriculture.

GMOs The Commissioner-designate said that both consumers and farmers should be allowed to choose whether they want to purchase or cultivate genetically modified foods, and that Member states’ choices should be respected. He was particularly concerned about the EU’s dependency on GM-soy imports for animal feed and suggested that European feed producers should be given the opportunity to produce GM feed.

For more information:

CV of Dacian Ciolos

EP summary of Dacian Ciolos hearing

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