Letter from Brussels - April 2026

When I arrived in Brussels in late 2022, I attended as many networking events as I could to get to know people and how the EU machine works. What struck me from meeting different people at these events was the impact Phil Hogan made during his tenure as a commissioner for agriculture and then trade. Once people heard I was Irish, they’d ask among other things if I knew Phil Hogan. I remember one high-profile lobbyist in the dairy sector grabbing me by the lapels one evening and saying, animatedly: “What did you guys do to Phil Hogan?” They were, of course, referring to ‘Golfgate’ and the pressure he came under to resign from his role in Europe.
While it may not be appreciated or known back in Ireland, Hogan still commands a lot of respect around Brussels. He has left an indemnifiable footprint from his six years in the Commission. I have seen it firsthand; people go out of their way to greet him when he is in town. Everyone in agriculture and trade circles in Brussels knows him. So it is no surprise, really, that he has been backed by the Irish government to run for the role as director general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization based in Rome.

The next steps between now and the end of May is for him to gather up as much support from across Europe to fend off other European candidates, as the talk in Brussels is that the EU would prefer to have just one strong agreed candidate when the official applications open in June or July. It has been 50 years since the FAO had a director general from a European country. At present, Hogan is in a race for the EU’s approval with two others: the current FAO deputy director general, Maurizio Martina from Italy, and Spanish agriculture minister, Luis Planas. The election itself will be decided by FAO member states through a secret ballot next year with 194 member states determining the outcome.
The FAO was established in 1945 in response to the severe food shortages experienced globally during the Second World War. October 16 is celebrated annually as UN World Food Day. The FAO leads international efforts to defeat hunger, aiming to achieve food security for all, promote sustainable agriculture, and reduce rural poverty. China’s Dr Qu Dongyu is the current director general, having been elected in 2019 and re-elected for a second four-year term in 2023. His successor will be the 10th director general. With the current geo-political uncertainty, it is a role which will take on new importance. We will know towards the end of May whether Hogan gets the full backing of the EU for the Italian job!