On 2 October 2014, Phil Hogan, Member designate of the EC in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development, was heard by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament to test his general competences, European commitment and specific expertise related to his portfolio. Phil Hogan had the opportunity to make an opening statement, she took part in a question and answer session and made a closing statement.Although the Parliament can only vote on the Commission as a whole, a negative assessment of one of the candidates has in the past already led to the candidacy being withdrawn and replaced. Phil Hogan was Irish Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government.

Brussels

exchange of views

McGUINNESS, Mairead (EPP, IE)

SENRA RODRÍGUEZ, Maria Lidia (GUE/NGL, ES)

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

hearing

HOGAN, Phil (IE, EC)

DE CASTRO, Paolo (S&D, IT)

NICHOLSON OF WINTERBOURNE (ALDE, UK, Baroness)

ROHDE, Jens (ALDE, DK)

hearing of Phil HOGAN (T)

Hearing of Phil HOGAN (Ireland), Commissioner-designate for Agriculture and Rural Development: MEPs questions & answers

Title: Hearing of Phil HOGAN, Commissioner-designate in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development: MEPs questions &amp; answers

SOUNDBITE (English), Mairead MCGUINNESS (EPP, IE), Right across the EU producers are in fear of the supermarkets they deal with, they are fearful of complaining, and we need some response on this issue.

SOUNDBITE (English), Phil HOGAN, Commissioner-designate in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development, The voluntary initiative promoted by processors and retailers in some Member States to address these unfair practices still lacks an effective enforcement mechanism. It doesn't include the opportunity for confidential complaints. It's why farmer organisations perhaps didn't join the voluntary scheme, so I welcome the recent Commission communication on this subject which highlights possible enforcement solutions in Member States but at the same time I see more and more Member States, and Ireland is the most recent example, setting up legal means to tackle unfair practices, so we need to put pressure on stake-holders. The Commission should be ready to propose legal instruments if the voluntary approach does not fully address these concerns.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Paolo DE CASTRO (S&amp;D, IT), Are you going to use the mid-term review in order to re-orient to some extent the CAP?

SOUNDBITE (English), Phil HOGAN, Commissioner-designate in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development, The impact of the greening measures which we have undertaken in the declaration last April between Commission and Parliament to look at will depend on how these greening measures are put in place and I will work with Member States and we have set-up a dedicated unit in the Commission to help member States in terms of implementation, so after 1 year we will have a look at the ecological focus areas, we'll have a mid-term review of the CAP once we have sufficient data and I will work very closely with the concerns that have been expressed by members of the Parliament and by Member States in terms of the implementation of the present policy.

SOUNDBITE (English), James NICHOLSON (ECR, UK), With the milk quotas going next March, will you ensure your Commission is in a position to react to any eventuality that may benefit dairy farmers to ensure that they have an acceptable level of intervention and ensure controlled volatility in the dairy market?

SOUNDBITE (English), Phil HOGAN, Commissioner-designate in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development, <p>I look at the removal of production constraints in milk and in sugar as an opportunity for more jobs, more market opportunities and then the promotion of budget that I will put in place over the next few years will clearly indicate that we need to diversify from the geo-political regions where we have difficulties at the moment and ensure that we have greater market support and market opportunities and trade opportunities in other markets.</p>

SOUNDBITE (English), Jens ROHDE (ALDE, DK), If we do not have strong competition on the same level playing field in Europe we will face difficult times when opening free trade agreements with other countries. So how will you as a Commissioner ensure equal and fair competition in the agricultural sector in Europe as we both know that screening and time-tables won't do it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Phil HOGAN, Commissioner-designate in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development, Reducing bureaucracy, reducing the administrative burden, having a market-oriented policy are very much at the forefront of my philosophy as we go forward in the next 5 years.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Lidia SENRA RODR&#205;GUEZ (GUE/NGL, ES), CAP is destroying thousands of farms every day, are you considering new measures to ensure the livelihood of farmers and farms in Europe?

SOUNDBITE (English), Phil HOGAN, Commissioner-designate in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development, The reforms that have been brought into effect are doing the entire opposite of what you advocate. We have a basic income level now for all our farmers across the EU, added to that we have a greening measures which gives you additional income, under the Rural Development Programmes you have additional income, in the country I know best up to five thousand Euros will be made available for certain measures for small farmers, the proportion of small farmers in the EU is quite large, 69% of all farms are less than five hectares, so it is a significant challenge in terms of the structural reform but we also need a viable farming sector to ensure that we have farmers there to grow the food that we need for the opportunities that are available.

SOUNDBITE (English), Phil HOGAN, Commissioner-designate in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development, Commissioner designate Phil HOGAN answers to a question of Martin H&Auml;USLING, member of the Greens/EFA: I completely agree that we need to look at the nitrates directive, in terms of a balance being struck between good water resources, good water quality and ensuring that we have through cross-compliance and other measures than greening that we were able to implement the targets that have been set in the Member States for nitrates.

SOUNDBITE (English), Phil HOGAN, Commissioner-designate in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development, Commissioner designate Phil HOGAN answers to a question of Marco ZULLO, member of EFDD: Food security is important not just for the EU but for the global population, and Europe has had a distinctive advantage in feeding the world's population, so how we can diversify into other markets to remove ourselves away from the geographical problematic areas is going to be the challenge, but we will safeguard our standards and we will have certainly a comprehensive deal, not just a deal on tariffs, that's my view on it and I will be working closely with Commissioner Malmstrom to ensure that that happens.