The European Parliament's Agriculture Committee is preparing to flex its muscles with the new powers given to it in the Lisbon Trety, which will give the committee co-decision in many areas. MEPs on the committee have served notice on the Commission that they would battle to get their full powers under the new Treaty, fighting issue in the European Court of Justice if necessary.
The Committee also decided to have a turf fight with the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee to get the lead on related dossiers.
UK MEP Neil Parish, who chairs the Agriculture Committee, said that after the Parliament elections next year, he expected there to be stronger demand for membership of the Committee because of its new powers. The key question is: will these new members represent rural constituencies, or have links to the farming and food industries, like many existing members. Or will they be interested in pushing forward the reform debate forward?
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