Brussels, 17/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - In her written response to the general questionnaire presented to her by the parliamentary committee on agriculture before her hearing on 6 October, the European Commissioner for agriculture and rural development, Mariann Fischer Boel, is adamant that her agricultural activities do not risk incompatibility with the functions she will carry out in the new Commission, led by José Manuel Barroso. She also thinks that the Commission should avoid any anticipation of the implementation of the Constitutional Treaty of the EU before it is ratified (extension of the codecision procedure to the common agricultural policy).
Questioned on her recent and current activities, Ms Fischer Boel - who claims to currently live on a farm “run independently by [her] husband”- states that she has “no business or financial interests or commitments likely to be incompatible with [her] future responsibilities”. “I own an agricultural property in Denmark”, the future agriculture Commissioner continues. “In order to clarify the compatibility of this property with my future obligations as a member of the Commission, this issue has been examined by the Commission legal services in the light of information given by my accountant and the conclusion was entirely unambiguous. The legal services did not see any incompatibility between owning the farm and exercising the mandate of Commissioner”, she concludes.
“It is obvious that the Commission must guard against anticipating any new procedures which could lead people to believe that it considers the ratification process (of the Constitution) in the member states to be already achieved”, Ms Fischer Boel also writes in her written response on the subject of the European Constitution. This is true even if, she adds, the Commission has always “been in favour of extending the codecision procedure to agricultural and rural development policy, which is fundamentally enshrined in the constitutional treaty”.
In her responses to specific questions, Ms Fischer Boel emphasises that, in the area of the CAP, reform of the sugar sector will be the most important dossier during her mandate. She also announces that the Commission could present legislative proposals to modify the common organisation of the market (COM) for fruit and vegetables as a result of discussions between member states on this dossier. She adds that the COM for wine could also be reformed (in particular the measures on accruing non-authorised plantings) and acknowledges the difficulties faced by EU producers in the face of fierce competition from wines produced in certain third countries. Among the other priority topics, the new Commissioner mentions: - work on the new European Rural Development Funds; - the integration into the EU of Romania and Bulgaria, planned for 2007; - the preparations for and participation in negotiations on the conclusion of the Doha Agenda. Elsewhere, she estimated that the ceiling from 2007 to 2013 on the budget for market spending, decided by the European Council in October 2002 (in Brussels), should not, in her opinion, lead to a gradual renationalisation of the CAP. She acknowledges that, under the Commission provisions, the ceilings decided in October 2002 for CAP risks going beyond 500 million euros in 2007 and up to 950 million euros by 2013.