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4 months ago
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Liberal leader Valerie Hayer and socialist chief Iratxe Garcia Perez are among the big names set to join the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee (AGRI) for the new term, draft lists of several political groups seen by Euractiv show.
Parliament sources told Euractiv that the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political force in the hemicycle, is still discussing who it will allocate to each committee.
Committee memberships will be officially announced on Friday (19 July), but drafts from several political groups, seen by Euractiv, give a preliminary picture of their composition.
Hayer, president of the liberal Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, is to become a full member of the AGRI committee in the next mandate, according to a draft document dated 15 July.
In January, the French MEP told Euractiv that agriculture would be a top priority during her tenure in Brussels.
“We need to ensure that farmers receive higher incomes and that they can be supported in their ecological transition,” Hayer said at the time, describing herself as the “daughter, sister-in-law and sister of farmers.”
She also emphasised that agriculture should not be pitted against environmental issues.
Other Renew members joining AGRI’s ranks include German farmer and member of the Bavarian Farmers’ Association, Christine Singer, and Ireland’s Barry Cowen, who served briefly as agriculture minister in 2020 before being sacked over a drink-driving controversy.
Benoît Cassart, a Belgian cattle breeder, will be a substitute, along with former Irish journalist and newly elected MEP Ciaran Mullooly.
Returning AGRI members include Denmark’s Asger Christensen and Finland’s Elsi Katainen. Sweden’s Emma Wiesner and Slovakia’s Michal Wiezik will be substitutes.
The Socialists have appointed their leader, Spanish MEP Iratxe Garcia Perez, as a substitute member of AGRI. Garcia, who has been an MEP since 2004 and has focused mainly on employment, women’s rights and civil liberties, was a member of AGRI for the 2009-2014 term.
Germany’s Maria Noichl, an MEP since 2014 with extensive experience in agricultural policy, will be a full member and is a potential candidate for S&D coordinator in AGRI, according to some socialist sources.
Spanish MEP Cristina Maestre, who has little agricultural experience, will also become a full member.
New faces in AGRI include Stefano Bonaccini, president of the Italian Democratic Party, and Dario Nardella, former mayor of Florence. Camilla Laureti will also remain a member of AGRI.
Romania’s Maria Grapini, an MEP since 2014 with experience in local agricultural policy, and Gheorghe Carciu, a construction entrepreneur, will also join. André Franqueira Rodrigues, who has just arrived in Brussels, could be the next Portuguese Socialist on the committee.
The new far-right Patriots for Europe group, the third largest political force in the European Parliament, will have the Italian MEP Isabella Tovaglieri, an industry committee member in the last mandate.
The group will also bring three newly elected MEPs to AGRI: Valérie Deloge and Gilles Pennelle from France, Balázs Győrffy from Hungary and Mireia Borrás from Spain.
Meanwhile, the hard-right ECR group will hold the committee’s chairmanship.
Czech MEP Veronika Vrecionová, the ECR’s agriculture coordinator during the previous mandate, is a likely contender for the job. She is one of the ECR’s most experienced members on agricultural issues and was the rapporteur for the AGRI opinion on the EU’s new rules on genetically modified crops.
According to the draft lists, the ECR’s ranks will include Dutch MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen, who will rejoin AGRI, and Italian MEPs Sergio Berlato and Carlo Fidanza. Polish MEP Waldemar Buda, a former economy minister and newcomer to Brussels, will also join AGRI.
For the Greens, Martin Häusling will again sit on the AGRI committee, while Thomas Waitz will become a full member after serving as a substitute in the previous term.
Waitz told Euractiv he regretted that the chairmanship would go to ECR.
“I do not have much hope that the AGRI committee will become more progressive,” he said, criticising hard-right politicians for making opposition to green policies a top campaign priority.
Waitz and Häusling will be joined by the newly elected Cristina Guarda from Italy’s Veneto region and Dutch MEP Anna Strolengerg of the pan-European movement Volt.
Meanwhile, the Left will be represented by Irish MEP Luke Ming Flanagan, who has been on the AGRI committee since 2014, and two newcomers: Arash Saeidi of La France Insoumise (LFI) and German animal rights activist Sebastian Everding.
[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro and Daniel Eck]
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