The new EU agricultural commissioner compared Ukrainian agriculture to the “elephant in the room”

Poland has lost the post of European Commissioner for Agriculture. Instead of Pole Janusz Wojciechowski, Christoph Hansen from Luxembourg was appointed.

Christoph Hansen from Luxembourg became the new European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, writes LIGA.net. 

The new candidates for European Commissioners were approved by 370 votes in favor. 282 voted against and 36 abstained. The new EU government will begin work on December 1.

During the European Parliament’s introduction of the candidate for the post of Agricultural Commissioner, Christoph Hansen assessed Ukraine as an “elephant in the room” in terms of its impact on EU agriculture.

“The solidarity that the EU community has towards Ukraine is not something we should take for granted. We do not need to cause damage to our agricultural sector due to the accession of another country or other countries,” Politico quotes him as saying.

He also promised to equalize subsidies for farmers from eastern and western EU countries. Now more subsidies will be received by those countries that make larger contributions to the EU budget. The total amount of EU agricultural subsidies is 60 billion euros per year.

Reference.

Christophe Hansen comes from a family that has a large farm in Luxembourg. His cousin is the country’s Minister of Agriculture. Hansen has been working in the European Parliament since 2018 – a member of the committees on international trade, the environment and food safety. Since 2022, he was elected one of the five quaestors of the EU Parliament.