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As expected Ireland did not retain the position of Trade Commissioner as European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen kept her reshuffle to a minimum by taking financial services from the remit of newly appointed trade Commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis and allocating to Mairead Mc Guinness. While not of immediate interest to Irish farmers, financial services is a hugely important brief covering everything from banking to future trading relationship with the city of London in a post-Brexit world.
While not directly involved in agriculture or trade, Ireland’s commissioner designate will bring an exceptional knowledge of the topic to the Commission College. All the way through from obtaining a degree in the subject, her earlier career in the print and broadcast media covering agriculture and rural affairs to her position on the agriculture committee in the European Parliament prove she has been immersed in the subject. When agriculture is debated in the Commission college, we would expect that the voice of Commissioner Mc Guinness would be heard.
Valdis Dombrovskis
The role of Trade commissioner will now be filled by Valdis Dombrovskis on a permanent basis having served as acting Trade Commissioner since the resignation of Phil Hogan. The Latvian commissioner is a graduate in physics and economics and was the country’s finance minister between 2002 and 2004 before becoming an MEP and serving in the European Parliament until 2009.
The insider view is that he is low key, but very intelligent and always masters the details of the brief
He returned to domestic politics where he served as prime minister until 2014 when he again briefly went back to the European Parliament before being appointed as Latvia’s Commissioner in 2014 and he is now in his second term as a Commissioner. The insider view is that he is low key, but very intelligent and always masters the details of the brief. He may lack the personality of his predecessor as trade commissioner but very canny behind the deadpan Baltic expression.
Mairead Mc Guinness
Being an MEP since 2004 makes Mairead Mc Guinness something of a Brussels inside,r but will be moving in a way from poacher to game keeper. As the Parliament has acquired the role of co-decision marker during her time, they very much hold the commission to account.
She has had a particularly high profile in the UK
She will be very comfortable in the move of less than a kilometre across Brussels from the Parliament to the Commission. She has had a particularly high profile in the UK being a regular contributor to television news programmes on Brexit. While her portfolio is Financial Services, there will be nobody in the college of commissioners with a better insight and knowledge of agriculture. She now goes before the Parliament for approval and while that in itself is a demanding examination, she is expected to be ratified.
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