BRUSSELS — Christophe Hansen won over European lawmakers on Monday with his down-to-earth charm and mastery of policy detail as he pitched to become the next EU agriculture commissioner.
Followers of the hearing were able to mark off “farmer’s son” on their bingo cards early on, as the 42-year-old Luxembourger exuded sincerity and wit — promising to learn Italian in addition to the French, German and English that he already speaks to converse with the many Italians on the European Parliament’s agriculture committee.
The hearing also took an emotional turn as Hansen, asked about the mental health crisis in farming, spoke poignantly of his older brother, who died in an accident last year that he said was contributed to by the stress of keeping the family farm going.
Summing up, Hansen set out his stall to become a “boots on the ground commissioner” and promised to visit Spain’s flood-ravaged Valencia region. In a subsequent vote, Hansen won confirmation, according to four MEPs.
Here are five takeaways from Hansen’s three-hour hearing:
CAP reform: ‘Money isn’t dropping like rain’
Amid talk that the Commission may be thinking of radically reforming the Common Agricultural Policy budget after 2027, Hansen said the CAP “will remain the frame through which to achieve the vision [on farming] until 2027 and beyond.”
He quipped that ensuring enough funding for the next round of the CAP is a priority, but at the same time, “money is not dropping like rain” and more funding from other sources will be needed.
“Support from the CAP remains essential for farmers,” Hansen said, adding that the EU will need to also mobilize private and innovative forms of investment (read: carbon farming and nature credits).
Shoring up farmers’ incomes
But he also said: “Farmers would rather prefer to get a fair price for their product than rely just on public support.”
He also pledged to address differences in subsidies between eastern and western EU member countries.
“We know there’s still huge differences between member states. This is of course a topic that will be very high on the agenda,” both in EU budget discussions and farm budget, Hansen said.
It sure is, as the issue of unequal distribution of farm subsidies between member states — especially newer ones which are receiving less — has already blocked unanimous council conclusions in the future of agriculture and the CAP twice.
It probably won’t happen “from one day to another,” he said, adding that it is a “critical point also from a social point of view.”
Hansen backs Mercosur trade deal
After getting an earful from the Patriots’ Gilles Pennelle (of France’s National Rally), Hansen stepped up and defended the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement (FTA).
While acknowledging that some EU agri-sectors will be exposed by greater imports (think South American beef), he hit out at claims that the deal is an overall harm for producers.
“This is a huge bonus for our European farmers” in terms of greater exports to the Mercosur countries of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, Hansen said.
Ukraine is the ‘elephant in the room’
The prospect of Ukraine and its massive agricultural sector joining the EU is making European farmers nervous, Hansen said. “So this needs to be properly prepared … the solidarity that the community has towards Ukraine is not something we should take for granted … We don’t need to make losses to our farming sector because of another country or other countries joining.”
Are farmers’ fears justified? Hansen, who comes from a farming background, alluded to his brother’s experience as a farmer amid the 2004 enlargement of the EU, when countries like Poland and Hungary joined the bloc: “I remember that my brother in 2004 was really, really upset when certain new member states joined the European Union because he was as well fearing a price crisis for his crops. Was it now true? I’m not sure in the end, I will not judge, but in the end we have found solutions.”
As for the upcoming review of the free trade agreement between the EU and Ukraine, Hansen said it’s key to “learn lessons” from the emergency trade measures implemented in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that froze tariffs on all Kyiv exports.
Yes, we should reduce livestock emissions — but no ‘blunt cuts’
Hansen nimbly walked the livestock tightrope. He acknowledges that these animals account for 85 percent of EU agricultural emissions and that “we have to do more work” here.
However, he also put up several “buts”. Firstly, agriculture is only responsible for 11 percent of overall EU emissions, so let’s not blow the problem out of proportion. Secondly, cattle herds are already in decline: his brother died last year and no one has yet bought his animals.
Thirdly, livestock can actually be the most sustainable agri-option in some regions (think mountainous provinces). And fourthly, more reductions may need to be made but we should start with “technical solutions before imposing blunt cuts.”
Progress in cutting emissions from agriculture has been halting. In fact, EU agricultural emissions are projected to go up by 1 percent between 2023 and 2030 under existing measures, according to the latest data published by the European Environment Agency.
The Commissioner-designate dipped his toe into the murky waters of organic farming, telling the Greens’ Thomas Waitz that some EU countries have been slow in expanding their organic sectors and need “a little bit of a push.” The Commission’s goal of turning 25 percent of the bloc’s farmland to organic by 2030 has been regularly lambasted by most of the Parliament’s AGRI committee.
“All farmers would like to reduce their pesticide use … this is something we need to help them with,” Hansen said in response to Waitz. He also said he wanted to speed up the authorisation procedure for biopesticides and safer alternatives to replace more toxic agrochemicals. At the moment it can take up to 10 years in the EU to get new pesticides into farmers’ hands.