D-day for Hogan as Juncker set to name Commission
Former Environment Minister Phil Hogan could find out today which job he is getting in the new European Commission.
The Commission's president-elect Jean-Claude Juncker is expected to announce the makeup of his new 28-member Commission today, with speculation that Fine Gael stalwart Mr Hogan will take the Agriculture job.
Juncker last week held a series of meetings with member state candidates for the new Commission including Mr Hogan, who had a 40-minute discussion with him.
A leaked report in Brussels on the composition of the new team listed Kilkenny native Mr Hogan as the nominee for the agriculture and rural development portfolio.
Agriculture and rural development is a key portfolio as it controls 38% of the EU budget. The only Irish person to hold the office was Ray MacSharry.
However the former minister could face a hard time getting ratified as he will have to go before the European Parliament's agriculture committee, featuring two Irish MEPs - Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy and Luke 'Ming' Flanagan - who are likely to pressure him over spending at Irish Water.
Mr Hogan has in recent days become embroiled in further controversy over the massive consultancy fees paid by the state body.
Despite insisting in January that he was not aware of the level of spending on outside experts by Irish Water, a new document unearthed by RTÉ shows he personally signed off on a letter confirming the full spending costs for the utility in October 2013.
After it emerged at the beginning of 2014 that almost half the €180m start-up costs for Irish Water — €86m — went on outside consultants, Mr Hogan said he did not know how much was spent on consultants as he did not “micro-manage” the organisation.
Meanwhile Irish MEP Nessa Childers has asked nearly 200 socialist colleagues to vote against his ratification as Agriculture Commissioner.
Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness, who is also on the agriculture committee, said all candidates will face a grilling from MEPs.
“Mr Hogan will not face anything different," Ms McGuinness said, "but some Irish MEPs have already made up their minds before hearing his responses to questions, which is disappointing”.
The new Commission is due to take office on November 1.
