Mariann Fischer Boel
Mariann Fischer Boel | |
|---|---|
| European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development | |
| Assumed office 22 November 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Franz Fischler |
| Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark | |
| In office 27 November 2001 – 2 August 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Anders Fogh Rasmussen |
| Preceded by | Ritt Bjerregaard |
| Succeeded by | Hans Christian Schmidt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 April 1943 Åsum, Denmark |
| Political party | Venstre (ELDR) |
| Profession | politician |
Mariann Fischer Boel ([ˈmɑ͡ian ˈfiɕʌ ˈb̥oˀl]) (born 15 April 1943, Åsum) is a Danish politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. A member of the party Venstre, she had previously been minister of agriculture and foods since 2002, in the government of Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
As the Danish agriculture minister, she argued that it would be better if agricultural subsidies were entirely removed, a view that in many European countries is highly controversial.
Together with her husband, she owns three farms in Denmark. For some observers, this has called into question her neutrality in discharging her duties as a European Commissioner, as, for example, she would have the power to determine the purchasing price of different crops, thereby affecting her own personal income. She argues that it is her husband who runs the farms, and as she is not personally engaged in them, she is able to maintain neutrality.
Wine industry proposals
As European Union agriculture commissioner, Boel has been a vocal advocate for various vine pull schemes in an attempt to compensate for the 1.7 billion bottle wine surplus that Europe has had for the last several vintages. Every year the European Union spends 500 million euros to distill the excess wine into industrial alcohol. Under Boel's 2007 proposal, the EU would pay farmers to rip up their vineyards and replant them with other agriculture crops and end all subsidies for distillation with the funds instead going to international marketing of European wines. Critics have claimed that the implementation of Boel's plan will see a 5% drop in wine industry jobs and 7% decrease in wine prices by 2009 though most agree that the price of wine will eventually rise again. Supporters of Boel's plan have noted that European wine consumption has decreased an average of 0.65 percent a year and that in a few years imports of New World wine into Europe will surplus European exports which will also have negative effects on wine industry jobs and wine prices.[1]
References
- ^ M. Frank & D. Macle "Europe's Plan to Pull Up Vines Decried....Again" The Wine Spectator pg 15 Sept. 30th 2007