Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 14 • Number 2 • 20th January 2010

Incoming EU Ag Commissioner Fields Questions on CAP, Doha

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In a hearing on 15 January, Dacian Ciolos, the EU Agriculture Commissioner-designate, outlined his agenda on agriculture trade and subsidy reform in front of the European Parliament.

The only agronomist on EU President José Manuel Barroso’s slate of commissioners, Ciolos made strong statements in support of greater spending under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and stronger protections to shield European farmers from volatile prices.

Many considered the 40-year-old Romanian’s assent to the post an impossibility. The importance of agricultural employment in Romania — a recent addition to the European bloc — coupled with the country’s interests in increasing subsidy spending led some analysts to view his candidacy as an unlikely event. But Ciolos secured the nomination, no doubt aided by his recent experience as his country’s minister of agriculture.

A reformer?

In a written response to questions from Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), Ciolos emphasised the need to continue with the ongoing reform of the CAP. An essential element of the CAP reform process has been to make the subsidies less costly to European taxpayers. New subsidy rules have also been aimed at bringing the support measures into compliance with WTO rules.

Addressing a variety of constituencies, Ciolos’s statements, written and otherwise, acknowledge the need for reform but do not commit him to reducing spending. The Romanian says he would need significant funds to “tackle the new challenges.”

Ciolos has laid out a reform agenda that would encourage sustainable agriculture in the EU, increase investment in rural areas, and align agricultural production with market needs while providing farmers with a safety net.

On Friday, Ciolos made it clear that he thinks that the CAP could use greater EU funding, and vowed to fight to secure it. “If it was just up to me, I think we would probably get a lot more money” for the CAP, the commissioner designate said in response to a question.

But just how much of an influence the new commissioner will have is a matter of debate. According Valentin Zahrnt of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), the “commissioner will play smaller role than in the past” in implementing subsidy reforms. He added that the “strong forces at play” elsewhere in European politics would limit the new commissioner’s ability to make changes to the reform proposals that have already been put forward for the EU’s next budgetary cycle, which begins in 2013.

A European trade official in Geneva told Bridges that since the “commissioner leaves national interest at the door,” in making the move to Brussels, worries about a Romanian threatening the reform process were overblown - even if EU “member states have more ambitious ideas about what [reform] means.”

Doha Round

Responding to an MEP’s question on the WTO’s Doha Round of world trade talks, Ciolos told the European Parliament that the EU “cannot go further” in its offers. He added that he would be tough on trade negotiations and that Europe should not engage in trade agreements “to the detriment of our agriculture.”

Ciolos further argued that “a global [trade] agreement is needed,” but that the EU should “wait for our partners’ proposals.”

Geneva-based WTO delegates are eager to see movement from any of the key players in the Doha Round, which seems to be stuck in neutral more than eight years after its launch.

Zahrnt of ECIPE told Bridges that officials in Brussels will “carry out domestic reforms without worrying about Geneva,” where the WTO is headquartered. Such an attitude would no doubt do little to mollify those who want to see more progress in the Doha talks.

Perhaps acknowledging those fears, in his written statement to the European Parliament, Ciolos said that he intended to “continue working hard in order to conclude a balanced agreement on the ‘arrangements’ for agriculture under the Doha Development Agenda.”

Confirmation

Ciolos and his fellow nominees for the new European Commission were to be confirmed by a vote in the European Parliament on 26 January, but it now appears as though the recent withdrawal of the Bulgarian nominee for the will cause that date to be pushed back.

Rumiana Jeleva, who had been nominated to the post of Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, withdrew her candidacy after questions arose regarding her qualifications for the job, as well as her financial interests. Bulgaria quickly put forward another nominee, Kristalina Georgieva, a World Bank official, who has already won wide support.

“The new Bulgarian is better than the old,” said one commentator on agriculture politics in Brussels.

The parliamentary vote on the entire new commission is now expected to come on 9 February. MEPs will vote on the full slate of commissioners, and all 26 will be approved or rejected with a single vote. Observers of politics in Brussels do not expect the vote to be held up.

A trade official in Geneva noted that the rise of Ciolos, “shows what being bright, able, and at the right place at the right time can do.” Other trade officials who spoke to Bridges lacked strong views on Ciolos, a relative novice to European politics. Due to protocol, little about the new commissioner’s views on controversial topics - beyond what he has said in his public statements -is likely to emerge before he is confirmed.

ICTSD reporting.