Fischer Boel, Mariann (1943 - )
Danish member of the EU Commission with responsibility for agriculture. Appointed in 2004 after a conversation between Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the designated Commission President, José Manuel Barroso.
According to Article 214 TEC of the Treaty of Nice, the Member States no longer determine for themselves who is to be a commissioner. The decision is taken by agreement between the Commission President and a superqualified majority of prime ministers. The list is drawn up on nominations from the Member States. It has to be approved by 18 out of 27 Prime Ministers in the European Council and supported by an ordinary majority in a vote of the European Parliament.
In the appointment of Commissioners in 2004, the nominations of Latvia and Italy were rejected by the European Parliament. The Commission President had to present two new proposals in consultation with the Prime Ministers. Fischer Boel has a previous history as Danish Agriculture Minister for the Venstre party. ALDE.
Notes
Fischer Boel was criticised on her appointment for having withheld information on her family’s various agricultural assets in an audit statement she was to present prior to appointment. Many questions were put to the Government in that connection, see for example Annex 3 from the European Affairs Committee of 6 October 2004 and the open consultation report, Annex 44 of 2 November 2004.
Fischer Boel has her own cabinet at the Commission, which is headed by the former Danish Ambassador to the EU, Poul Skytte Christoffersen.
Fischer Boel and her husband received around 600 000 Danish kroner a year in farm support from the EU. Now all the farms belong to her husband, and they have withdrawn from agricultural investment in Russia.
Links
Boel’s website: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/fischer-boel/index_en.htm
See also CAP and EU Commission.
