Hogan charms MEPs and dodges domestic scandals

Irish politics seeped in to Phil Hogan’s confirmation hearing to become agriculture commissioner, but few non-Irish people were interested.

Phil Hogan, the nominee from Ireland to become the next European commissioner for agriculture, performed well during his confirmation hearing.
He demonstrated a good grasp of the technical aspects of his new portfolio and showed a charm and humour appreciated by MEPs. It also helped that he grew up on a farm, as many of the MEPs on this agriculture committee are farmers themselves.

However his hearing was marred by a testy exchange with Irish far-left MEPs who brought up some domestic political disputes from his time as a minister. They alleged that Hogan had intervened in a local housing dispute involving Irish travellers, and the Hogan had recommended a constituent for a job at the national water utility. This might get media attention in a small member state, but was never likely to get much attention in Brussels.

But the issue had gained new salience in recent weeks after Nessa Childers, an Irish centre-left MEP who had been writing to MEPs on the agriculture committee about the Irish traveller issue, received a letter from Hogan’s lawyers asking her to stop. Childers then wrote to the entire legal affairs committee describing the move as an attempt to silence her, and said it violated her right to parliamentary privilege.

MEPs from Childers’ S&D group did not seem interested. The only MEP to ask about the letter or the domestic issues was the new far-left MEP Matt Carthy of Sinn Féin, part of the GUE/NGL group. Hogan’s response was testy and had a bit of the theatricality of the Irish parliament about it. “Well first of all, I know you’re a new member of parliamentary politics, but I’ve been a member for 28 years, and I know what parliamentary privilege is and what it isn’t,” Hogan responded. “I know that you’re against Europe, and you’re also against my nomination,” he went on, accusing Carthy of a “lack of party discipline” because some in Sinn Féin’s leadership support his nomination. Carthy objected, saying Hogan should directly answer the allegations, rather than changing the subject.

The exchange made non-Irish people in the room visibly uncomfortable, particularly as it seemed a bit unnecessarily condescending to the new MEP. Back home in Ireland “Big Phil”, as he is known, has a reputation for being a bit of a bully. If he was hoping to shake off that reputation in Brussels, the  exchange will not have helped.

Other than this incident, however, Hogan’s hearing went smoothly and everyone was in good spirits. He was able to calm MEPs’ concerns over the newly-reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) by saying he will have a review in a year’s time to see how it is working in member states, and he is open to making changes. Asked whether he would be undoing the work of his predecessor Dacian Ciolos˛, he said: “I will not be unpicking the principles but in terms of implementation we will learn from the experience in each member state.” He pointed to the post-CAP reform change in exempting small farmers from requirements for ecological focus areas, and said this was a response to realities on the ground.

On the Russian ban on EU food imports, he said: “In this area we have rightly shown solidarity with our farming community. I will closely monitor how markets evolve and, if necessary, I will not hesitate to take appropriate measures.” On biofuel he seemed to indicate that he is not a fan. On market support measures for agricultural commodities, he seemed to indicate he was amenable. But he was careful to avoid any specific commitments, an instruction given to all of Jean-Claude Juncker’s nominees.

One area which Hogan did not seem to have a full grasp of was animal welfare. His response to a question on the subject from Swedish liberal MEP Marit Paulsen was quite vague. But this is an area shared with the commissioner for health so it may not have been part of the preparation of the last two weeks.

The far-left, still displeased over the perceived legal threats, forced a vote on Hogan in the afternoon – an unusual move normally reserved for nominees who are in trouble. GUE/NGL voted ‘No’ and were supported by the Eurosceptic EFDD and the Greens, who were upset about Hogan’s lack of commitments to sustainable farming. The final vote was 32 in favour to 10 against.

 

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Read the live blog from the hearing – as it happened