Commission considers reshuffle of top jobs amid calls for a food chief

The European Commission is currently modelling options for potential changes to college makeup for the next mandate, according to sources, amid calls from agrifood stakeholders for a new Executive Vice-President for Food.

One source added that they would be “surprised” if agriculture were not considered as part of this remodelling as it “clearly needs to be a bigger priority” in the next mandate.

The news comes on the back of calls from agrifood stakeholders for the creation of an Executive Vice-President (EVP) of Food.

The Vice-Presidents act on behalf of the President and coordinate work in their area of responsibility, together with several Commissioners. Priority projects are defined to help ensure that the College works together in a close and flexible manner.

As things currently stand, the Commissioners for Agriculture and Food Safety are under the supervision of the EVP for the European Green Deal, a role previously held by Frans Timmermans before Maroš Šefčovič took over in October of this year.

High on the wish list

Calling an EVP for Food “high on our wish list”, Dirk Jacobs, director general of FoodDrinkEurope, explained during a recent event on the future direction of food policy that this was needed because food has been “too low on the list” of the EU’s priorities. 

“And if you look at the crisis that we have had over the last couple of years, it’s always food that has been very sort of central in all of that,” he pointed out, citing the COVID-19 pandemic which was shortly followed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both of which upended global food ecosystems.

“There is a need to put food higher on that agenda and really see it as a strategic value chain that needs to be supported,” Jacobs said, arguing that this must be reflected in the organisational setup of the Commission.

The idea is also popular among civil society groups, a number of which banded together under the umbrella organisation, the Food Policy Coalition, to call for a dedicated EVP as part of their 2023 manifesto. 

This is needed to “expand” the work of the EU’s flagship food policy, the Farm to Fork strategy, in efforts to work towards a Common Food Policy, the coalition argues.

For Guilia Riedo, agriculture and sustainable food policy officer at WWF Europe, a dedicated EVP would be “crucial to start and consolidate the transition to a sustainable EU food system”. 

“The Vice-President would play a key role in ensuring the political cohesion behind the transition objectives and represent EU leadership on this matter,” she said, adding that this will ensure much-needed coordination and collaboration among various policy areas.

It would also send a “very strong political signal” to citizens, showing that making food more sustainable and accessible is a “top priority,” she said. 

Reacting to the suggestion during the panel discussion, DG AGRI’s Clare Bury noted that there is a need to “try and construct the dots” with a “systems-based approach”, as set out in the Farm to Fork strategy.

“And is it an Executive Vice-President for Food? I don’t know how we keep that overarching perspective, but we really are very much attached to that [systems approach],” she said. 

Asked whether such a move is being considered, a Commission spokesperson declined to comment on speculation.

The calls come just ahead of the launch of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s strategic dialogue on agriculture, expected in the coming weeks. 

The dialogue is an attempt from von der Leyen to overcome the polarisation of the agrifood sector, although the shape and form that this dialogue will take is as yet unclear.

[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna] 

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