The role of European Commissioner for Agriculture goes to Christophe Hansen from Luxembourg. The official nomination came on September 17, along with those of the other members of the team of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Hansen’s name had been circulating for some time in the corridors of Brussels, during the plenary session in Strasbourg the official announcement arrived. Hansen’s CV is in line with the role, but his nomination still raises some critical issues. The new commissioner comes from a country of very small dimensions and second to last in agricultural production among the 27 member states. Not ideal for someone who will have to deal with the giants of European agri-food and the anger of tractors. After the long winter of European agriculture, marked by protests and concessions from Brussels, the Luxembourger will have the arduous task of reuniting producers, logistics and distribution players, environmentalists and consumers around a common vision in which productivity rhymes with sustainability.
Who is Christophe Hansen: education and political career
Hansen takes over from Polish Janusz Wojciechowsky, who has struggled to hold the reins of an angry and war-torn sector. The Farm to Fork’s drive for quality and agroecology has been hit by the war in Ukraine, skyrocketing fertilizer prices and the (albeit temporary) shortage of some raw materials. A situation that has put Wojciechowsky in great difficulty, considering that the first protests against the invasion of low-cost Ukrainian products and the consequent collapse of the domestic market erupted in Poland. Now it’s Hansen’s turn. Born in Wiltz in 1982, he graduated in Geosciences, Environmental Sciences and Risk Management at the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg (France).
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He first came into contact with the European institutions when in 2007 he started working as an advisor to the then MEP Astrid Lulling (Christian Social People’s Party) on issues related to agriculture, environment and economic and monetary affairs. In 2014, he joined the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the EU and prepared the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU (2015). Under the Luxembourg Presidency, he chaired the Council’s working group on the environment. From 2008 to 2023, he was an MEP in the ranks of the European People’s Party, working in the committees on International Trade, Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. A 360° training on all the key points that affect the agri-food sector. In the last legislature he was the rapporteur of the regulation on deforestation, a law attacked by both European producers and those from non-EU raw material supplier countries. Now he is appointed commissioner. “I will work side by side with our farmers for a thriving and sustainable agricultural sector, ensuring safe and healthy food for our citizens”, wrote Hansen on X immediately after the appointment.
What are the challenges of the new Agriculture Commissioner?
Luxembourg has just 147 thousand hectares dedicated to agriculture. While within the borders of the State the figure seems considerable, still representing 1/3 of the national territory, it is paltry compared to the over 26 million hectares of France, the 11 million of Germany and the over 12 of Italy. That the Agriculture portfolio would not have been assigned to one of the Big Four of European rural production is a well-known custom in Brussels, but the appointment of a commissioner from such a small State is still striking after the open clashes between the European institutions and the agricultural lobbies of the past few months. However, it is not just a question of “measures”. Even the Netherlands is small in size compared to other European States, but in fact it is one of the absolute protagonists of the agricultural sector, particularly in terms of dairy products and meat, not to mention the cutting edge in terms of innovation, such as in the field of New genomic techniques and cultured meat.
In the previous mandate, the European Commission adopted various measures to calm things down, to which should be added the recent concession to advance direct payments up to 70%. Hansen’s table was set by von der Leyen with the report resulting from the Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture, a strategic document that should provide the basis for the next Common Agricultural Policy and other medium-term measures. However, the report is full of holes, especially on the financial level, with the concrete measures that will have to be negotiated with the Member States based on their financial availability. It will now be up to the Luxembourger to complete the work, mediate and find the resources needed to avoid making the tractors furious again.
