New EU farming chief rejects 'French influence'
(BUCHAREST) - Europe's incoming farming commissioner, Romanian national Dacian Ciolos, dismissed in an interview broadcast on Saturday reported concerns that his politics is influenced by France.
"These are unjustified concerns and I think they will remain unjustified in the future," Ciolos said on Romanian public television TVR.
A top European civil servant has said the British government has "concerns" about Ciolos's designation as he is a friend of France, a country that fiercely defends generous subsidies enjoyed by Europe's farmers.
Britain is seen as favouring tighter curbs on farm subsidies when the common agricultural policy is renegotiated in 2013.
The former agriculture minister said he had shown "that I am open to points of view from all the horizons of the European Union" by choosing a British spokesman and Austrian chief of cabinet.
He said that he did not only have good relationships with French politicians, but with those from many other countries.
Ciolos also stated that organic agriculture could gain a niche market in Europe as it was able to "answer consumers' expectations".
He said "classic agriculture should learn from organic agriculture's environment-friendly production techniques".
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