New Commissioner to visit Scotland

THE EU’s Agriculture Commissioner-designate, Dacian Ciolos, has agreed to an invitation from Scottish National Party MEP Alyn Smith to visit Scotland to see first hand how the country’s agriculture differs from the rest of the UK.

Much of the meeting between the former Romanian Agriculture Minister and Mr Smith was spent discussing the MEP’s proposals for a European Farm Prices and Margins Observatory.

However, they also discussed politics in Scotland, and how Scotland is in the unusual position of having near total responsibility for agriculture, yet represented by the London Ministers in talks in Brussels who often have a very different attitude to matters European.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Smith said he was impressed with Mr Ciolos’ openness and willingness to listen. “We are clearly not going to agree on everything all the time, but where we had a constructive relationship with Mariann Fischer-Boel, I feel we will continue in this vein with her successor.”

11 December 2009