The EU’s farm chief is quiet quitting

BRUSSELS — A team is only as strong as its weakest link, the saying goes.

And it’s an open secret in Brussels that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s weak link is Janusz Wojciechowski, the Polish commissioner in charge of agriculture.

Having failed to make his mark in Brussels, the 68-year-old has increasingly turned his attention to politics back home. And as he’s become Warsaw’s lobbyist-in-chief in the EU seat, that’s prompting accusations he’s neglecting the EU’s 26 other countries.

“He is isolated at the moment, and has his party more in mind than the general EU policy,” said one EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to freely discuss international political dynamics.

Wojciechowski’s term as commissioner was rough from the get-go. He wasn’t his country’s first choice for the job, and famously flunked his preliminary hearing in the European Parliament — in part because of his broken English and in part because of his anachronistic though quaint take on farming.

Von der Leyen quickly sidelined Wojciechowski, entrusting his immediate boss, Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, with overseeing her signature Green Deal plan to make farming and food more sustainable.

That left him weakened and isolated in the Berlaymont, the Commission’s headquarters in Brussels.

“In my day, the agriculture commissioner had power. If I had been told that I wouldn’t be in charge of food policy, I would have slammed [down] my hand and demanded respect,” said Renew MEP Dacian Cioloș, who was agriculture commissioner from 2010 to 2014.

Wojciechowski "obviously didn’t do that," he added.

With little more than a year to go until the Commission’s mandate expires and voters elect a new European Parliament, Brussels insiders point to Wojciechowski as a clear case of “silent resignation” by a lame-duck official whose agenda is going nowhere.

Wojciechowski hit back at his critics, saying he had boosted the EU farm budget, reformed the Common Agricultural Policy, and implemented an action plan for organic farming during his term. He also denied being sidelined and taking instructions from the Polish government.

“I am trying to remember what I have lost. I have achieved everything in the Common Agricultural Policy,” he told POLITICO.

‘Our man in the EU’

Wojciechowski, who began his political career in a farmers’ party, makes no secret of his allegiance to his homeland and the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party to which he now belongs.

His Twitter profile picture features the Polish — not the EU — flag, and most of his social media posts are in his native language.

In contrast to other EU commissioners, his tweets are often personal and unfiltered, and his communications strategy targets Polish voters.

Wojciechowski boasted in a recent parliamentary hearing in Warsaw that the billions of Commission-approved EU and state subsidies for Poland’s agricultural sector were a result of his efforts.

“I want to tell you that never in history has there been such assistance,” Wojciechowski trumpeted to Polish lawmakers.

He has visited his home country on over a third of all official trips between December 2019 and November 2022, according to Commission data. That has him returning home more often than all the other commissioners working on related files.

When in Poland, Wojciechowski frequently attends PiS-linked events where he is feted as “our man in the EU.”

Likewise, when Warsaw wants to call Europe, it dials Wojciechowski’s cabinet.

The EU’s farm chief packed his inner circle with Polish officials, including his head of cabinet Maciej Golubiewski and staffers Magdalena Majerczyk, Joanna Stawowy and Arkadiusz Langer.

Several current and former EU officials described Wojciechowski’s cabinet as "weak," adding that relations with staffers from the Commission’s agricultural department are fraught.

“Poland and the ECR are an explosive combination,” quipped his predecessor Cioloș, referring to the agri chief’s home country and the Euroskeptic European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party grouping that PiS belongs to.

Wojciechowski had been feeling the pressure from Warsaw to deliver, especially over the past year, according to a current EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to maintain ongoing working relations. Cioloș concurred.

A paper trail of correspondence released by the Commission confirms the impression that Wojciechowski is preoccupied with the demands of the national government in Warsaw.

In the correspondence, seen by POLITICO, the Polish government lobbied the commissioner to provide EU cash for the country’s poultry sector and pig producers, and complained about the EU’s Forest Strategy, among others things. The letters were made public as a result of freedom of information requests filed by Marco Mauer, a German law student.

The EU Ombudsman opened an inquiry in January after the Commission refused to disclose private exchanges between Wojciechowski and the Polish government, a spokesperson from the transparency watchdog said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

“I don’t carry out any instructions from the Polish government; moreover, I don’t receive such instructions,” countered Wojciechowski.

Poland first

His domestic engagement ticked up a notch as Poland imposed a trade ban on Ukrainian agri-food imports in April, and PiS started losing rural support ahead of a general election this fall.

In a session with Polish lawmakers in early May, Wojciechowski played up his role in helping broker a compromise between Brussels and five eastern EU countries including Poland, even though trade is beyond his remit.

Wojciechowski has not visited any of the other eastern countries since the dispute blew up in early April.

Not long after, he was carpeted by MEPs after skipping a debate on agriculture in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. "Where is he hiding this morning?" scoffed conservative lawmaker Norbert Lins.

Later, when Wojciechowski finally showed up for another debate, he was roasted by Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party.

“Let me make it very clear: We expect the agriculture commissioner to show respect and be present when we debate agriculture policy. This is not acceptable,” Weber told the red-faced farm commissioner.

Wojciechowski’s Poland-first approach is testing the patience of ministers in EU capitals, as well.

“How can I put this diplomatically ...” German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir of the Green Party rhetorically asked at a recent speaking engagement in Berlin. “I do expect the commissioner, first and foremost, to be an EU commissioner, and — if you please — their ties to their own country should only come after that.”

Wojciechowski responded that his increased focus on Poland is justified because it has the "biggest agricultural problems" of any EU country. His travel record, he added, was "hardly surprising."

"Where should the commissioner be if not where the biggest problems are?" he told POLITICO, referring to the trade tensions with Ukraine. "At the moment, the biggest agricultural problems are in the front line countries, and they are most acute in Poland."

The Pole is not the first farm commissioner to be accused of favoring his homeland. His predecessor, Phil Hogan, was known for having a sympathetic ear for farmers in his native Ireland. However, he was also widely considered a political heavyweight with a stronger grasp of EU and global agricultural issues.

Won’t be missed

Wojciechowski has neither the leadership heft nor the charisma to adequately fulfill his duties as EU commissioner, according to his critics.

“If you’d like to find a commissioner who is not a commissioner, so permanently absent and working against his duties and responsibilities, Wojciechowski is the best case,” Andrzej Halicki, who leads the delegation of MEPs in the European Parliament from Poland’s opposition Civic Platform, told POLITICO.

“Generally speaking, he’s silent.”

While his stint at the Berlaymont could have been a stepping stone for a high-profile job in Warsaw, Wojciechowski did not take this path, observers point out.

Prior to joining the PiS party, he was the leader of Poland’s oldest political group, the PSL peasants’ party, and once a heavyweight power broker in Warsaw.

Bartłomiej Biskup, a political scientist at the University of Warsaw, said his move to PiS amounted to a major PR coup and was instrumental in the right-wing party becoming the dominant voice among Polish rural voters.

But nowadays, Wojciechowski’s name carries less weight, also in Poland. He’s not well known among PiS voters, and has few allies beyond the party leadership, Biskup explained.

The Polish government’s efforts to leverage "their man in Brussels" have largely proven ineffective — not least because Wojciechowski’s power is so limited, he added.

"He’s not a fighter. He probably doesn’t even have much of a desire to stick his neck out on issues he can’t do anything about," Biskup said.

And, it seems, he won’t be missed in Brussels, either.

“When he leaves, everyone will be happy,” said a second EU official who spoke on condition of anonymity to express themselves freely.

Susannah Savage, Eddy Wax, Douglas Busvine and Suzanne Lynch contributed reporting. This story has been updated with comments by Wojciechowski.