The European Commissioner-designate for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, delivered what has been generally viewed as a confident performance during crucial confirmation hearings in Brussels.
The confirmation hearing, is one of the hoops that prospective commissioners have to go through before they officially get the job.
The general consensus around Brussels is that Hansen, as commissioner for agriculture, will bring a strong understanding of agriculture and rural issues to the commissions table.
Agriland spoke to three Irish MEPs in Brussels in the wake of Hansen’s hearing to get their impressions of the new commissioner.
For Fine Gael MEP for Ireland South Seán Kelly, Hansen is not a new face, as the two have worked together on the parliament’s Committee on International Trade.
“First of all we are starting in the positive in the sense that personally I know Christophe Hansen very well. He understands farming in our side of the world, whereas the previous commissioner (Janusz Wojciechowski), I’m sorry to say ‘hello’ was about as much as I got to know him in the five years,” Kelly said.
“I think we have a very useful opportunity know to put forward the real concerns of Irish agriculture in particular, to a man who will listen to us, who will be understanding of where we are coming from, and I think who will be able to effect change in Europe in a positive way because of the influence he will bring,” Kelly added.
“There are positives that we need to look at, and to utilise, so we can get the best possible deal for agriculture over the next number of years.”
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher said that Hansen, so far, has come across as competent.
“We (Fianna Fáil MEPs) met him in advance of the hearings, we discussed many of the important issues that are relevant to Ireland, so the nitrates derogation for example was a key issue, the Mercosur agreement (also), but beyond that as well…the strategic dialogue we engaged with over the last number of months consulting with stakeholders, farmers, the broader agri-food industry and the politicians themselves,” Kelleher added.
The MEP said that, when developing policy, is was important that the EU is “not overly burdening farmers with regulation, and we have to be very conscious of that; that’s one of the biggest issues that was raised during the European elections”.
“And Hansen is quite aware of that now, and I hope he acts on that to ensure that when policies are formulated, an assessment is made of whether or not there is a huge burden being placed on farmers by regulation, or not.”
More generally, Kelleher called for farmers to be “rewarded for their work, effort and investment”.
“We need to ensure that there is support in place in terms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) review, and the upcoming discussions on that, to make sure we have pillars of funding available for the production side and equally for the environmental side. That’s a key issue, that’s a key ask that we raised with Hansen in advance of the hearings when we met him,” he said.
Fine Gael Ireland Midlands–North-West MEP Maria Walsh questioned Hansen during the confirmation hearing on the issue of mental health among the farming community, and was impressed by his answer on the topic.
“I really wanted to focus on mental heath…He was enamoured that I wanted to ask that. In addressing that I asked him what tools, what funding, what resources (will be put to mental health for the farming community) and can he ensure mental health will be a political priority,” she said.
“He came back in quite a phenomenal answer, a passionate answer. He himself had a brother who was a farmer who unfortunately lost his life through an accident. He talked about the comprehensive pressures he had, be they financial, be they agricultural,” Walsh added.
“It was a brilliant lived-experience answer, and ultimately from that we got a sense that he will make sure mental health will be a political priority in the next years,” she said.