Former Romanian agriculture minister Dacian Ciolos has been
nominated as the next agriculture commissioner in Brussels, and is
expected to take up the office by the end of January.
The nomination by EU Commission president
Jose Manuel Barroso ends months of speculation on who would
replace
Mariann Fischer Boel when the current team of 27 commissioners
stands down.
Mr Ciolos is a controversial choice, given that Romania has run
into trouble with the EU Commission in the recent past over its
management of EU funds.
But he has broad agricultural experience, and the suggestion
that he might be suitable for the agriculture job in Brussels last
September won instant backing from the French and the Polish.
Before taking up his new role, Mr Ciolos will have to be vetted
by the European parliament, a process that all the new
commissioners will have to undergo between 11 and 19 January.
Their approval is far from guaranteed, as in the past they have
rejected certain commissioners-designate. Even Mariann Fischer Boel
had to have a second so-called "confirmation hearing" in 2004,
having performed badly at the first one.
Announcing
his proposed team on Friday (27 November), Mr Barroso said he
had designed a college "which can generate fresh ideas and new
momentum on the biggest challenges we face in Europe today".
The NFU said it welcomed the appointment, as Mr Ciolos was one
of very few names with agricultural experience, "something that
will be vital when looking at the agenda ahead, especially in terms
of the future of the CAP debate".
Having studied horticulture at university in Romania, Mr Ciolos
also took a degree in rural development at Rennes in north-west
France, and has a PhD from the University of Montpellier.
He worked on organic farms in Brittany from 1991 to 1996, then
worked as an agricultural economist in the EU Commission in
Brussels from 1997 to 1999.
He then returned home to help with the pre-accession process
prior to Romania joining the EU, and then went into politics, being
appointed minister of agriculture in 2007 - a job he held for over
a year, until the National Liberal Party was voted out of
government.
* For an assessment of Mariann Fischer Boel's term in
office, see
Phil Clarke's Business Blog
