With the dust yet to settle after the European Parliament elections, political groups are scrambling to secure top jobs in parliamentary committees. Meanwhile over at the Commission, rumours abound about the carving up of competences for food. And there’s more nail-biting voting to come, as Ursula von der Leyen looks left and right to secure votes from MEPs, in the hopes of crossing safely into another five-year term. Natasha Foote brings us the inside scoop from the heart of the action.
Institutional musical chairs
Perhaps you’re familiar with the game musical chairs, where you dance around until the music stops and then everyone fights for the chairs that remain.
Well, that’s a bit like the game played in Brussels this week, where a pause in the humdrum of the political beat has seen every political party scrambling for chairs this week – that is, chairs of the European Parliament’s committees.
In a last minute trade-off, the centre-right – who, as you may remember, has been trying hard to position itself as the ‘farmers’ party’ over the past months – decided to give up the chair of the Parliament’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee (AGRI) to instead lead work on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE).
Instead, the centre-right – who chaired the committee over the past 5-year legislative term – will hand control over to the right-wing ECR group.
Asked about the decision, sources say the deal was made with an “understanding” the next Agriculture Commissioner will be EPP, adding that this was mentioned by the current Commission President (and most likely next Commission President) Ursula von Der Leyen in a group meeting this week.
Luxembourg and Austria are currently being floated as possible contenders to hold the top agriculture job in the Commission.
News of the swap has not gone down well among stakeholders, with farmers on the one hand feeling like the EPP was quick to throw them under the bus to suit their ambitions, while others worry about the way the decision will steer conversations in the committee.
As for who the role will go to, the current Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski gave his two cents on X, where he said he was “pleased” about the news and threw his weight behind the candidate put forward by his own political party, PiS.
As one commentator pointed out on X, PiS is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland, stirring up concerns that this will “not [be] helpful for a progressive environment friendly CAP”.
Jako jedyny członek Komisji Europejskiej z grupy EKR, cieszę się, że przewodnictwo Komisji Rolnictwa PE ma należeć do tej grupy.
Jako Polak z satysfakcją i nadzieją pogratuluję przewodniczącemu Komisji Rolnictwa rekomendowanemu przez Prawo i Sprawiedliwość. https://t.co/yfwwxxUm8j— Janusz Wojciechowski (@jwojc) July 10, 2024
Reshuffling of responsibilities
In our last news round up, we wrote about a potential shake-up of the Parliament structures, and how there were considerations ongoing about splitting the Parliament’s mammoth ENVI committee – which holds competencies on health as well the environment and food safety – in two.
The idea, backed by the centre-right EPP, sparked heated debate, with stakeholders such as BEUC raising concerns that splitting ENVI would be in contradiction with the ‘One Health’ approach, which connects environmental public health policies.
However, it seems like this idea has been shelved, with chairs and vice-chairs assigned along the traditional committee lines, with the EPP’s Peter Liese publishing a press release confirming that there will be no split in the ENVI committee earlier this week.
Meanwhile, ahead of the next policy cycle, discussions are heating up about a potential reshuffling of responsibilities over in the Commission.
A leaked document, seen by ARC, suggests that food competences could be transferred over from the Commission’s health department, DG SANTE, to its farm-focused counterpart, DG AGRI, while food safety could be handed over to DG JUST.
In this way, DG AGRI could become more like a ‘DG FOOD’, focusing on food systems as a whole rather than just production, with SANTE helping to shape, if not coordinate, policies in these sectors.
As pointed out by Euronews’ Gerardo Fortuna, this would see the DG SANTE suffer a “remarkable power loss”, losing powers on pesticide approval, animal welfare, animal and plant health, plant varieties, and new genomic techniques to DG AGRI.
In response, a number of green campaign groups banded together to warn the move would “contradict the evolution of science, showing that human, animal, plant and environmental health are intrinsically linked and interdependent”.
“At a decisive moment for the future of the EU […] it is of major importance that the European Commission’s actions are in line with science, with the law, as well as with citizens’ demands,” a letter, signed by over 80 organisations and spearheaded by Pesticide Action Network Europe, reads, stressing it is “essential” that the management of pesticides is maintained in DG SANTE, or transferred to DG ENV, jointly with additional resources.
Meanwhile, there are ongoing murmurings about a potential European Vice President of Food to oversee the Commission’s work on food systems. The Commission Vice-Presidents act on behalf of the President and coordinate work in their area of responsibility, together with several Commissioners.
The idea, which has been previously floated by civil society groups and placed high on the agrifood industry’s wishlist, has been raised during discussions on the strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture, according to sources inside the closed meetings.
Contacted by ARC, a Commission spokesperson said that, generally speaking, the reason for any reshuffling is to “better align the work streams of the Commission to new political and geopolitical realities”.
However, no decision has been taken yet on the future structure of the Commission, sources say, pointing out that while it’s still as yet unclear who will take the top job, nothing is set.
Which brings us nicely to our next point…
Big week ahead
It’s the moment of truth next week for Commission President von der Leyen, who faces a vote in the newly-elected European Parliament to approve or reject her bid for another round at the top Commission job for the next 5-year political cycle.
The Commission President has already been greenlighted by the European Council, but still needs approval from a majority – with a minimum threshold of 361 yes votes out of 720 – of the European Parliament.
She’s spent the last few weeks sweet-talking political parties with the hopes of winning over enough hearts and minds in the Parliament.
While she technically has enough support from her traditional allies – her own political family, the centre-right EPP, together with the liberals and the socialists, add up to some 401 votes – the margin of error is not comfortable. With MEPs voting in secret, she currently can’t guarantee a strong enough majority from the central coalition, and is looking to bolster her vote.
So how is she doing this?
Well, it’s much like when you cross a road; looking both right and left. And that is exactly what Von der Leyen is doing as she crosses the political path from one 5-year term to another, looking both ways in hopes of ensuring enough support.
There are two ways she could secure support; the Greens or from the ECR. Cosying up with ECR is costly as it risks losing the support of her traditional backers. The Greens have made it clear that they will support her – but only in exchange for guarantees on green ambitions in return, which will not go down well with her political family, who have increasingly rallied against the Green Deal in the past few years. We’ll know which way the vote swings on Thursday, 18 July at 1pm.
Meanwhile, next week will also see the announcement of the make-up of the committees, so we’ll learn exactly who will be the faces helping to shape agricultural and environmental policies over the next 5 years. The announcement will be made on Friday 19 July (see table below for all the details of next week’s plenary session).
Something else to watch next week is over on the other side of the Brussels institutional trio. Monday 15 July will see the first gathering of EU agriculture ministers under the Hungarian Presidency.
The Presidency will present its priorities, including its plans to get work underway on shaping the next round of the reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. There will also be a lunch where the Hungarians will focus on the EU’s ‘food traditions’ – in short, a way for the Hungarians to emphasise the importance of meat and dairy products and pushback on novel foods such as plant-based alternatives.
Another busy Brussels week ahead, so buckle up for the ride and stay tuned to ARC for all the political fun to come.
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