Commissioner-designate Boel comes under fire
Speaking after the Dane’s three-hour grilling by MEPs last week, the centre-left MEPs said they were concerned at Fischer Boel’s liberal approach to farming policy, lack of vision; and laissez-faire approach to agriculture policy.
They also accused her of being unwilling to provide straight answers on major policy areas.
Several members of the Parliament’s Agriculture Committee complained about Fischer Boel’s “vague answers”, particularly on EU sugar policy, rural development and CAP reform.
Questions were also raised over a potential conflict of interest, as her husband runs a farm in Denmark which receives substantial EU subsidies.
“I am married to a farmer but never considered it as a disadvantage to the post,” said Fischer Boel. “I am not hiding anything.”
She said there is no alternative to the CAP.
“On their own the markets would not provide the desired public goods which the citizens expect,” she said.
“I cannot accept a depopulation of the European countryside.”
“There has to be a place for the family driven farm,” she told MEPs.
On animal transport, the Commissioner-designate said she was “personally against animal transport over long distances, although we cannot ignore reality”.
She said long animal journeys happen and must be regulated, but unfortunately no agreement had been reached yet by the member states.
Fischer Boel said the main challenges for EU agriculture over the next five years would be to implement the last CAP reform, including an overhaul of some sectors, such as sugar, to settle details of the agriculture budget and to defend farm products at WTO negotiations.
The former Danish Agriculture Minister promised to improve dialogue with the general public, to explain better the benefits of the CAP.
“I support the decoupling of aid”, she said, “and I will personally monitor very closely the implementation of this system of direct payments in each country, to avoid the distortion of competition”.
Speaking about the budget for agriculture, Mrs Fischer Boel said she did not think the budgetary framework would be increased and added, “We will have to fight even to keep this figure”.
