With the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) done and dusted last year, the first few months of 2014 were relatively quiet in policy terms.

Members of European Parliament (MEPs) entered election mode in early March/April and returned to their constituencies ahead of parliamentary elections at the end of May.

With the new European Parliament (EP) in place at the beginning of June, it became clear that disgruntled and disenchanted European citizens had spoken by appointing an interesting mix of right-wing and left-wing MEPs.

It will be interesting to see how the anti-EU and anti-establishment parties will influence discussions in the parliament over the next few years, but the three largest political groups of “mainstream politicians” still hold the majority in the house.

With the new EP firmly in place, all eyes then turned to the make-up of the Commission College. It soon emerged that the sitting Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos was not the only one vying for the post.

Phil Hogan emerged as a strong contender during the summer. The IFA put pressure on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to secure the agricultural file, particularly with the abolition of dairy quotas next year and important decisions on trade, climate change and retail legislation on the horizon. After a successful presidency of the EU in 2013, there was a feeling that if Kenny wanted the farming portfolio, he would get it – which is exactly what happened when the lineup was announced in early September.

Does the cap fit?

Phil Hogan delivered a polished performance at his European Parliament confirmation hearing on 2 October. He fielded questions on farm policy from the floor with brevity and ease, batting off criticism from the likes of Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy and independent Luke Ming Flanagan.

My colleague and I interviewed Hogan earlier in the month and he said he was going to be a commissioner of “substance over style”.

Compared to his predecessor, Hogan will be viewed as a political heavyweight at the college table and will be no soft touch when it comes to trade deals with the US and the Latin American trading bloc Mercosur.

The previous commissioner was seen as malleable when it came to market regulation – it looks like there is little chance of that with Big Phil. Most recently at the 15 December Farm Council, he stood defiant on the future of the dairy sector. Coming from a country that faces a superlevy penalty of €10m for the 2013/2014 quota year, the EU farm chief called on farmers to take corrective action to reduce milk production in order to avoid superlevy penalties in the final year of the quota regime.

Hogan said the EU milk sector was not in a state of crisis with prices at around 30-32c/litre. The message was clear – the quota system was agreed in 2008 and farmers had plenty time to adjust to the rules and will just have to live with them.

Coming from Fine Gael – affiliated to the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest grouping in the commission – adds to his political weight. It certainly helped this month when commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans made it clear he was eyeing the scrapping of plans to revise organic legislation.

Hogan is understood to have rounded up his fellow EPP commissioners to block the move and keep the proposal to revise organic farming rules on the table.

Charged with the implementation of the CAP, it is still unclear how Hogan sees European agriculture developing until 2019. Since his appointment, he has reiterated that CAP simplification is one of his “top priorities” for 2015 to ease the administrative burden on farmers and at member state level.

The Commissioner plans to conduct a comprehensive screening of agricultural policy as “simpler rules will contribute to greater competitiveness and will enhance the job-creating potential of agriculture, rural areas and trade”, he said. It looks like plans are afoot for a review of the previous CAP reform and moves to make an already simplified farm policy even simpler – plus ça change!

Rose O’Donovan is editor of Brussels-bases publication, Agra-Facts.