Familiar faces and newcomers, key agri-food candidates to watch in EU Elections

On the eve of the EU elections, Euractiv takes a look at those who are expected to be ‘out’ – and the possible ‘ins’ – of the next European Parliament Agriculture Committee (AGRI).

With agriculture in the spotlight after a wave of demonstrations rocked the bloc earlier this year, the political families in the European Parliament (EP) have positioned themselves as allies of farmers, claiming to have the solutions to their discontent.  

However, the fact that some members of the European Parliament (MEPs) specialising in agricultural policy have not been placed high enough on their national lists to be re-elected – or are not standing at all – has raised eyebrows.  

Here are some of the outgoing and the new faces to watch out for ahead of the EU elections, with a focus on the EU’s biggest agricultural producers: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland.  

Comings and goings among the conservatives

New faces are expected in the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) group, with some big bets on candidates close to agriculture. 

In Spain, Carmen Crespo – former regional Minister of Agriculture in the farming powerhouse Andalusia – is running for MEP as the second of the Partido Popular list, which is expected to win the most votes in the country.

In France, Les Républicains, which could come fifth according to the latest projections of Europe Elects for Euractiv, have adopted a similar strategy. 

Céline Imar, spokesperson for the cereal producers’ union Intercéréales, is second on the list and will most likely be elected.  

Less likely is Anne Sander, a prominent French MEP in agricultural issues during the current mandate, whose low position on the same list makes her chances slim. 

A new face in the AGRI committee could be the Dutch Sander Smit, lead candidate of the “citizen-farmers” movement BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB), which could win its first seat in the parliament and join the EPP. 

Smit has worked on agricultural topics for the Dutch delegation in the EPP for almost nine years. 

As for familiar faces, several MEPs have a good chance of being re-elected after this week’s elections.  

Among them is the chair of the AGRI committee, German Norbert Lins.  

Others include Herbert Dorfmann and Salvatore De Meo from Italy,  Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez from Spain, and Daniel Buda from Romania – currently one of their vice-chairs of the committee.  

Meanwhile, veteran Jarosław Kalinowski – from the agrarian Polish People’s Party – will not run again after being more than ten years on the committee. 

Socialists say bye to heavyweights 

The Socialist and Democrats (S&D) group are also saying goodbye to two heavyweights in agricultural policy.  

Italian MEP Paolo De Castro will leave after three mandates (15 years) in EU agricultural policy making.

The same also goes for Clara Aguilera of Spain, who, like her Italian counterpart, has often taken a harder line on agriculture than others in the progressive group. 

Isabel Carvalhais from Portugal, closer to the environmentalists, is also leaving the hemicycle.

But German Maria Noichl and Italian Camilla Laureti are running to be re-elected.   

Renew, Greens risk losing farmer MEPs

Some MEPs with a strong connection with agriculture – farmers themselves – will probably miss out on the next legislature.  

In the liberal Renew group, it won’t be easy for French livestock farmer Jérémy Decerle to stay on in AGRI for another year, having dropped from fourth in 2019 to 14th in his country’s list this year. 

“Agriculture deserved to be in the top 10,” Decerle told Euractiv, describing the political choice as “problematic”. 

His former, more privileged position is now occupied by Pascal Canfin, who was president of the EP environment committee this term.   

The Dutch MEP and dairy farmer Jan Huitema will not stand again for the liberal VVD.   

In the Greens’ ranks, France’s Benoît Biteau – who is also a farmer and served as one of the vice-chairs in the AGRI committee – faces uncertainty over his re-election. 

His sixth place is no guarantee of obtaining a seat in Brussels, given the poor prospects for Les Écologistes according to the polls.  

His German counterpart Martin Häusling, sixth for Die Grünen, has a better chance of returning for another term, as the group is expected to obtain 14 seats.

Ins and outs on the far-right  

The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group will say goodbye to  Spain’s Mazaly Aguilar – one of the vice-chairs of the AGRI committee – and Poland’s Krzysztof Jurgiel, who are not standing again.  

Dutch MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen is also likely to be absent from the AGRI committee, as his party is expected to lose its only seat.  Meanwhile, Czech MEP Veronika Vrecionová is very likely to be re-elected. 

Italian dairy farmer Gugliemo Garagnani – vice-president of the Parmigiano Reggiano consortium – will try to make it into the ECR family, but may not be placed high enough in his region’s list to succeed. 

As for the more radical Identity and Democracy (ID) group, French MEP Gilles Lebreton is to leave the parliament after being left out of Rassemblement National’s list, despite being one of the most active members of the party during the current mandate. 

In Italy, the expected defeat of Lega (compared to the 2019 elections) will make it difficult for Angelo Ciocca to keep his seat for another term.  

Hugo Struna, Kjeld Neubert and Aleksandra Krzysztoszek contributed to this reporting.

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro and Rajnish Singh]

Read more with Euractiv