“It is clear that my nomination is an advantage as I come from Romania and have an outlook supporting the development of agriculture and rural life, an outlook focused on the diversity of agriculture in every member state,” said Dacian Ciolos, who was a guest to a broadcast on the Realitatea TV station.
According to him, the consensus existing among the political parties in Romania for supporting his candidacy was also significant when it came to his nomination for the important position he might hold on Jose Manuel Barroso’s new commission.
Referring to some criticism from, according to the international press, Great Britain of his nomination, namely that he was said to serve the interests of France, Ciolos explained that, through the position he will hold on the European Commission, he would serve the interest of all the European Union member states, not only the private interests of some countries.
As for the Romanian interests, he said, they will be defended by the Minister of Agriculture, who is a member of the Council of Ministers. In the opinion of Ciolos, the difficult situation Romanian agriculture is in is also accounted for by the fact that, in he past 20 years, “we have carried out half reforms … and under these circumstances we have come to the European Union with certain structural reforms that have not been carried through.” He made it clear that Romania also has difficulty in absorbing European funds because of the lack of funds from the budget for co-financing projects.
“There are two categories of funds when it comes to direct payments per hectare and payments are made after on-site checking, with some delay, but they have been made. In point of the National Programme for Rural Development we have some problems in ensuring co-financing, not with projects, it is here that the financial crisis is quite obvious,” explained Dacian Ciolos.
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on Friday nominated Dacian Ciolos for the post of European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.
Agriculture, which was initially regarded as a medium portfolio in the European executive, will grow significantly in importance in the next five years following a major revision of the EU budget and of the Common Agricultural Policy that is to be carried out next year.
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