Autumn Excursion to Brussels 6–10 October 2014

www.mlsep.wzw.tum.de

Richard Smart

Excursion Organizer and Coordinator for

the Master’s program LSEP

Chair Agricultural Production and

Resource Economics, TUM.

Prof. Johannes Sauer

Excursion Leader and Professor

responsible for the Master’s program LSEP

and also holder of the Chair in Agricultural

Production and Resource Economics,

TUM.

http://pur.wzw.tum.de/

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GROUP PHOTO

Preamble/Summary

This excursion formed part of the curriculum for students enrolled for the Master’s program in

Life Science Economics and Policy. Students following other programs at the Center for Life

and Food Sciences at the TUM also participated. Brussels was chosen as the destination as it

exposed the group a broad array of firms and institutions that have offices there for policy

reasons and their proximity to the European Parliament.

This booklet is a summary of the excursion recording the significant issues covered and learnt

from meeting with the various hosts. The texts were written by students and show their

impressions of the excursion.

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Contents

1. Itinerary and Hosts ................................................................................................................. 1

2. Travel Information .................................................................................................................. 1

3. Accommodation Information .................................................................................................. 1

4. Firms / Institutions Visited ...................................................................................................... 2

John Deere ............................................................................................................................. 2

Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union .................................... 3

Monsanto................................................................................................................................ 4

European Feed Manufacturers´ Foundation (FEFAC) ........................................................... 2

EuropaBio............................................................................................................................... 4

EDEKA ................................................................................................................................... 5

International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) .................................. 7

Dow AgroSciences ................................................................................................................. 8

COPA-COGECA .................................................................................................................... 9

The European Parliament (EP) ............................................................................................ 10

BASF .................................................................................................................................... 13

5. Notices ................................................................................................................................. 14

6. Participation List (Alphabetical Order) ................................................................................. 15

7. Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 16

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1. Itinerary and Hosts

Date 6.10.14 7.10.14 8.10.14 9.10.14 10.10.14

Time Day1 Day2 Day3 Day4 Day5

05:00 depart Freising

depart Brussels 09:00 Representation

of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union

FEFAC Dow

AgroSciences 10:00

11:00

John Deere in Mannheim

EuropaBio COPA-COGECA

12:00

BASF in Limburgerhof

13:00

14:00

Monsanto

EDEKA The European

Parliament

15:00

16:00 IFOAM

17:00 arrive Brussels

arrive Freising 20:00

2. Travel Information

We departed for Brussels at 5:00 in the early morning of 6th October 2015, visited John Deere in

Mannheim. And on our way back to Freising on the 10th of October 2015, we stopped in

Limburgerhof to visit BASF.

3. Accommodation Information

We stayed at the MEININGER Hotel Brüssel City Center, which located in Quai du Hainaut 33

(Molenbeek), 1080 Brüssel and 3.6 km away from the European Parliament.

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4. Firms / Institutions Visited

John Deere

Date: 06.10.2014

Time: 10:30 to 15:30

Venue: John Deere Factory in Mannheim

Institution: John Deere

Speaker: Mr. Hans-Christian Quick,

Mrs. Vanessa Stiffler-Claus,

Dr. Thomas Engel,

Dr. Ralph Ostermeier

On our way to Brussels we stopped in Mannheim to visit one of the most innovative Farm

Machinery producers. We were welcomed by Mr. Hans-Christian Quick in the John Deere

Forum, who gave us a brief history of John Deere, which was founded 1837 in Grand Detour

(Illinois) by John Deere - a blacksmith. After the short Introduction the group was divided into

three smaller groups for a factory tour. In the factory we saw the whole construction process of

a John Deere Tractor beginning at one of the gearwheels in the transmission and ending at the

final check before the tractors leave the factory to a global destination. After the tour we got a

small meal and something to drink.

In the afternoon we heard some presentations about “Public Affairs Global and Regional

Strategic Priorities” prepared by Mrs. Vanessa Stiffler-Claus. Two of the big issues here are the

regulatory challenge regarding the use of farmer data in other countries due to tractors having

SIM cards and the different requirements for indicator lights and allowed weights on the streets

for tractors in the USA and EU.

After the presentation a lively debated ensued where the students and Mrs. Vanessa Stiffler-

Claus discussed about the advantages and

disadvantages of the internationalization

strategy in a big company.

Before we left John Deere we talked with Dr.

Thomas Engel and Dr. Ralph Ostermeier

(both TUM alumni) about their work at John

Deere and job opportunities for Agriculture

Students in this sector.

By Andrea Dehoff and Christine Hassauer

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Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union

Date: 07.10.2014

Time: 09.00-12.00

Venue: Offices of the Bavarian

Representation to the EU

Institution: Bavarian Representation

Speaker: Mr. Wolfgang Schleicher

Mr. Schleicher welcomed us at the

grounds of the representation of the

Bavarian ministry in Brussels and introduced himself as the speaker of Affairs of the Bavarian

State Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry. He provided us with insights into the general

function of the Bavarian representation in Brussels, which is generally speaking, to step in for

special interests of the Bavarian ministry and thereby the inhabitants of Bavaria.

He mentioned that Bavaria is the largest federal state in Germany and provided us with several

statistics about the population and land-use areas. He noticed that 85% of Bavaria is covered

by rural areas, which is a crucial fact for decision-making in Brussels. What was also quite

important for the understanding of the Department of Food, Agriculture and Forestry was the

point that Bavaria is the largest dairy area in the EU, plays an important role in meat production,

grain processing, and of course, beer brewing. Because of special conditions prevailing in

Bavaria, it was not surprising that he told us about the implemented labelling/sealing of Bavarian

food-related products with ‘geprüfte Qualität Bayern’ for a

more export-orientated industry. He also mentioned the

structural change, especially in the agricultural sector,

resulting in a decreasing number and lower average

sizes of agricultural holdings in Bavaria.

He closed his presentation by stating that even though

Bavaria is only a region of member state - Germany - it

has both economic and political influence for the

discussions about relevant topics in EU policy making.

By Ingo Birkle and Christina Mack

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Monsanto

Date: 07.10.2014

Time: 13:30-17:00

Venue: Monsanto Headquarters

in Brussels

Institution: Monsanto

Speaker: Mr. Ivo Brants,

Mr. Brandon Mitchener

In the afternoon we visited the

Monsanto offices in Brussels. We were welcomed by Mr. Ivo Brants and Mr. Brandon Mitchener.

Since the prepared presentation didn’t work due to a technical fault, we changed the afternoon

program to a group discussion. The main topics discussed are listed below:

Monsanto’s opinion about GMOs in

Europe:

- has withdrawn all its applications in

Europe

- negative expectations

- just holding applications and

preparing them would lead to high

expenses

- all competitors have also withdrawn

their applications

- only exception: BT corn in Spain

and Portugal

Why Monsanto is demonized and has

such a bad reputation:

- closely referred to biotechnology

- history: produced Agent

Orange (ordered by the US

government for Vietnam War)

- legacy

- NGOs against Monsanto

- law suits against farmers

Why are NGOs working against

Monsanto:

- focused on food labeling

- organic food lobby funds labeling in

the US ($ 50B)

- journalism

- multinational

To what extend does the TTIP benefit

Monsanto:

- standardization of US and EU

regulations

- better flow of products between the

US and EU

- no double work for data

- By Gabriel Rennberger

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European Feed Manufacturers´ Foundation (FEFAC)

Date: 08.10.2014

Time: 9.00-11.00

Venue: Offices of the Bavarian Representation to the EU

Institution: FEFAC

Speaker: Mr. Arnaud Bouxin

In the morning of Wednesday, the 8th

of October, Mr. Arnaud Bouxin, one of

the eight people representing FEFAC

in Brussels, informed us about the role

and activities of FEFAC on key issues

for the feed industry.

In a short introduction he explained

that FEFAC, head of its national

associations since its foundation in

1959, represents industrial compound feed and pre-mixtures manufacturers excluding the ones

producing exclusively pet food. Reinforcing the important task of FEFAC, Mr. Bouxin gave us

the figure of 158 million tons of compound feed sold in 2013 in EU-28 (global production in

2013: 962 million tons). The highest amounts of feed are produced for pigs and poultry. FEFAC

represents 65 % of the feed being sold in the EU.

For Germany the DVT (Deutscher Verband Tiernahrung eV) is the representative national

association. DEUKA or the Raiffeisen GmbH is also involved. Consisting of 24 member

associations from 23 EU Member States – which have the right to vote – and 10

observer/associate members of e.g. Turkey, Serbia or Russia FEFAC is supported in its work by

seven Technical Committees for Animal Nutrition, Industrial Compound Feed Production,

Premix & Mineral Feed, European Feed Manufacturers Guide, Fish Feed, Milk Replacers and

Sustainability. FEFAC has already been working on sustainability issues for the last 15 years.

FEFAC’s work involves the following:

- Represent, defend and promote the interests of the European compound feed industry

to the European Institutions;

- Lobby for a legislative framework and its implementation;

- Safeguard conditions of free access to raw materials, the proper functioning of their

markets and the definition of their quality;

- Develop professional rules and good manufacturing practices that ensure the quality

and the safety of compound feed;

- Encourage the sustainable development of livestock production, so as to maximize

market opportunities for EU compound feed companies;

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- Encourage the development of European feed-related Research & Develoment

projects.

At an international level FEFAC cooperates as a member of IFIF (International Feed Industry

Federation), participant of the Task Force on Animal Feed Safety or private sector consultant for

the FAO along with the U.S. and China on international issues concerning the alimentation of

livestock.

Furthermore Mr. Bouxin told us about FEFAC´s long term lobbying strategies 2013 – 2016. One

of the different lobby approaches is to convince EU decision-makers and stakeholders about the

positive contribution of ecologically intensive livestock production with the EU policy goal of

resource efficiency and calling for rebalancing of the CAP 2020 in favor of livestock production

and research and innovation concerning the production of EU protein crops. Therefore FEFAC´s

working priorities are market management (Cap towards 2020), price volatility, GMOs,

sustainability, research promotion and marketing of feed. Another important lobbying approach

concerns food and feed safety, meaning to install systems and thresholds applying for all EU

member states (good manufacturing practices, undesirable substances, etc.). In order to

achieve their aims FEFAC currently works with 50 partners, among them NGOs.

Mr. Bouxin showed us a diagram showing the self-sufficiency of the European Union in cereals,

pork, cheese or butter and the dependency of abroad in soybean meal. 40 million tons of

soybeans are imported yearly in the EU that surely are contaminated with GMOs even though

their contents are under the established threshold.

At the end of Mr. Bouxin´s interesting presentation we learned more about the measures of

FEFAC to contribute to a sustainable competitiveness of the livestock sector through safe,

competitive and sustainable feed. For instance FEFAC supports the global Round Table for

Responsible Soy (RTRS) or promotes research for formulation changes to raise digestibility of

feed. Resource efficiency is one of the most important objectives.

By Bernadette Mayr

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EuropaBio

Date: 08.10.2014

Time: 11.00-12.30

Venue: Offices of the Bavarian

Representation to the EU

Institution: EuropaBio

Speaker: Mr. Beat Späth,

Ms. Aleksandra Krygiel,

Ms. Claire Gray.

Three experts of EuropaBio presented the different

categories of biotechnology (green/red/white). Mr.

Beat Späth started with green biotech (agricultural biotechnology), which encompasses a range

of modern plant breeding techniques. Modern agricultural biotechnology improves crops in more

targeted ways than conventional breeding methodologies. The best known technique is genetic

modification, but the term agricultural biotechnology also covers such techniques as Marker

Assisted Breeding, which increases the effectiveness of conventional breeding. Genetic

modification means that existing genes are modified or new genes included to give plant

varieties desirable characteristics, such as resistance to certain pests or herbicides, or for

vitamin fortification. Green biotech is particularly well-established in crops like soybean and

cotton, but there is also an increasing importance in crops like maize and canola. Currently, the

EU area of GM crops covers 148,000 ha.

As a main topic, the approval process of GMOs in the EU was explained. This process involves

several levels and authorities, e.g. the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) Risk

Assessment and a voting of all EU member states. The whole process is known to be very

stringent and thus time-consuming (on average 48 months). In the latest voting, the acceptance

of GMOs was strongly divergent within member states. As an association for Bio industries,

EuropaBio faces problems for innovative industries in Europe (predictability for investments,

withdrawals of product application, jobs and research).

Afterwards, Ms. Aleksandra Krygiel

gave us a brief overview of red

biotech, i.e. the application of

biotechnology for medical healthcare.

Ms. Claire Gray concluded with some

sample applications of white biotech

(= industrial biotechnology). The

different presentations illustrated that

there is more acceptance of red and

white biotech than of green biotech.

By Irmi Perl and Dorothea Hörndl

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EDEKA

Date: 08.10.2014

Time: 11.00-12.30

Venue: Offices of the Bavarian

Representation to the EU

Institution: EDEKA

Speaker: Mr. Ludwig Willenegger

Ludwig Willenegger, representative in Brussels for

EDEKA and former graduate of TUM in

Weihenstephan, presented the structure of his

company in a very interesting and informative lecture. He spoke about the special development

in food-business and the challenges in this sector.

Mr. Willenegger started his lecture with information about the long history of EDEKA which

started as a Cooperative for Colonial Goods in 1889. In 1913, the cooperative was renamed

“EDEKA” (Einkaufsgenossenschaft der Kolonialwarenhändler / Purchasing Cooperative of

Colonial Goods Retailers). Today it consists of several cooperatives of autonomous retailers, all

operating under the organization EDEKA Zentrale AG & Co. KG in Hamburg. Seven regional

corporations are responsible for wholesale, and supply all autonomous retailers and other

stores belonging to the EDEKA Group. The cooperatives own the EDEKA Zentrale AG & Co.

KG and a 50% share of the seven regional corporations (EDEKA Hessenring, Minden-

Hannover, Nord, Nordbayern-Sachsen-Thüringen, Rhein-Ruhr, Südbayern, Südwest). Currently

EDEKA holds a market share of 26% with a total number of 4.500 autonomous retailers and

over 6.000 stores. Altogether the EDEKA Group owns over 11.600 stores and has 327.900

employees. In addition EDEKA is located in Denmark (EDEKA-Denmark), the Czech Republic

(CE-EDEKA) and owns subsidiary companies in Austria such as ADEG, Magnet, AGM and

Contra.

Furthermore Mr. Willenegger underlined the dependence of the German food market on one

important factor – price. He pointed out that nothing influences the German purchase decision

more than price. For that reason the EDEKA-Group owns discounters like Netto, Plus, Treff

3000 and NP Markt.

Nevertheless, EDEKA is very focused on food security and transparency e.g. of the supply

chain. Mr. Willenegger’s experience showed that transparency of every food value chain is

indispensable. As a result of the current public discussion about organic production, animal

welfare and healthy food, EDEKA started a partnership with the independent conservation

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group WWF in 2012.The partnership focuses on sustainable and environmental friendly food,

food production and packing. Special products are recognizable by the typical WWF Panda

Bear Logo and are certified by an independent verifying organization.

Also, Edeka focuses on decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing energy

consumption. They aim to run most of the stores CO2 neutral. Therefore, Edeka invested in

sustainable resources such as solar energy and photovoltaics in the southwest and north

regions of Bavaria to reduce GHG emissions from electricity generation and also started

installing geothermic heat pumps for storage cooling and facility heating. A new project to

reduce CO2 emissions is the partnership between Edeka and the car-sharing company Car2Go

in Hamburg to use transportation more efficiently and provide flexibility was initiated.

In Addition, Mr. Willenegger explained two ways of food quality management to guarantee food

security. In the first place EDEKA has agreements with a number of small and medium-sized

enterprises (SME) like “Sonnländer - fruit juice”. These small suppliers guarantee the

independence of the European food market and a steady price. Secondly, EDEKA is the owner

of several different farms in the agricultural sector e.g. the Rheinberg Kellerei. This vineyard

supplies EDEKA with high quality wine and the opportunity to produce whatever trend there

might be.

In the future Mr. Willenegger sees EDEKA not only as a food retailer, as well as a company

improving its skills in farming and production to achieve high quality standards.

Mr. Willenegger highlighted the importance for us to understand the retail sector, the special

structure of the cooperative EDEKA and the fierce competition between retailers and their

formats. Competition is the whole driver of the supply chain.

By Charlotte Feucht, Angelika Dauermann

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International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)

Date: 8.10.2014

Time: 15:30-17:00

Venue: Offices of the Bavarian

Representation to the EU

Institution: IFOAM

Speaker: Mr. Emanuele Busacca

We were given a brief introduction about the members,

the strategic pillars, EU’s advocacy work and organic

milestones of the last 10 years of IFOAM EU.

IFOAM is an organic organization. Its vision is the

worldwide adoption of ecologically, socially and

economically sound systems. IFOAM EU has 160

members in all 28 EU member states, EFTA and EU candidate countries. They include organic

farming associations, organic food and farming advisors and researchers, organic certifiers and

organic food processors, retailers, traders.

Mr. Busacca introduced the main three strategic pillars of IFOAM EU: EU positioning and

advocacy (shape organic regulations and influence key EU policies), information and discussion

platform (communicate and engage with the sector), developing organics (drive sustainable

food production methods and build organic capacity).

EU’s advocacy work is the very important task of IFOAM EU. Mr. Busacca interpreted the

different tasks of EU Commission, EU Parliament and the council of EU patiently. EU Council is

a decision-making and legislative body, EU Commission is an executive body and EU

Parliament is an advisory and supervisory body. And IFOAM EU’s task is to influence the

relevant policies, and promote the organic movement. The relevant policies for organic food and

farming are GMOs, labels,

organic regulations, animal

welfare and health, food

safety, climate change,

environmental policies,

rural development.

By Fangyin Cao

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Dow AgroSciences

Date: 09.10.2014

Time: 09:00-11:00

Venue: Offices of the Bavarian

Representation to the EU

Institution: Dow AgroSciences

Speaker: Dr. Filip Cnudde

Dr. Cnudde started with giving a brief overview over the

company’s history: in 1955 the agricultural unit of The

Dow Chemical Company was founded. In 1989 a joint

venture with Elanco Plant Sciences was started as Dow

Elanco. This joint venture was fully acquired by The

Dow Chemical Company in 1997 and renamed Dow AgroSciences. To this day, Dow

AgroSciences is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company.

Following this introduction, Dr. Cnudde explained global trends in agriculture that lead to a

demand for a higher production level in farming. Furthermore he talked about the rising R&D

budgets of the world’s leading agrochemical companies (Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, BASF,

DOW, Bayer) for research on agrochemicals, but mainly seeds and traits. To relativize the fear

about the big agricultural corporations’ market power in global food production, he compared

their global sales figures to those of the food processing (Nestle, Unilever, etc.) and food

distribution (Wal-Mart, Tesco, Carrefour, etc.) sector. This comparison shows that sales of food

processing and distribution exceed the sales of seeds and agrochemicals by the factor 17.

The presentation continued with an explanation of formal and informal processes within the EU

that lead to legislation and regulation as well as the approval of specific products, Dow and

others produce for the European market. Complex regulations put the European Union as a

Net-Importer of agricultural goods more and more under pressure as it leads to R&D budgets

being moved to other parts of the world, which decreases Europe’s long-term ability to keep up

with the necessary food production. Dr. Cnudde stated that many of Dow’s products bare a high

hazard but the risk that the hazard actually occurs is non-existent. To elucidate this topic, he

explained the testing-regulations for unlikely risk scenarios and pointed out, that the over-

regulation of advanced technologies in the EU is very harmful.

Thereafter, we were given an overview about the positive and negative effects as well as the

chances and the risks, TTIP (which is in a crucial phase at the time of the excursion) brings with

it from a food risk and safety point of view.

To conclude his presentation, Dr. Cnudde gave an overview over methods, NGOs, political

parties, media and other stakeholders use to discredit technologies like biotechnology, the

application of pesticides, herbicides and other plant protection products as well as large-scale-

farming in general.

By Josef Bosch

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COPA-COGECA

Date: 09.10.2014

Time: 11:00-13:00

Venue: Office of the Bavarian

Representation to the EU

Institution: COPA-COGECA

Speaker: Mr. Francois Guerin

First, we were given a brief overview on the chronicle of COPA COGECA, whereby COPA was

created in 1958 after the Stresa Conference. The creation of COGECA followed in 1959 and the

Joint Secretariat was grounded in 1962. COPA brings together 56 EU farmers’ associations,

whereas COGECA reunites 33 agricultural cooperative associations. These two organizations

represent 11 million farmers and their families, as well as around 38,000 different cooperatives.

An essential part of its mission is defending the general interests of agriculture, maintaining and

developing relations with EU-institutions as well as with representative organizations at EU level

as well as finding solutions that are in the common interest.

Both, COPA and COGECA, have their own Praesidium, but are both regulated and supervised

by the common Joint Secretariat. COPA-COGECA is organized in a way that working parties

can directly correspond with COPA via the Policy Coordination Committee (POCC) and with the

Co-operative Co-ordination Committee of COGECA (CCC), whereby all member associations

are represented. The CCC and POCC further communicate interests of working parties to the

concerning Praesidium. The Praesidia address the European Commission, Council of Ministers,

European Parliament, Permanent Representations, media etc. Therefore intervention at a high

political level is common. The field of operation related with commodities and trade covers about

25 product areas. Current issues within these areas are the future of the CAP, and bringing new

obligations for farmers. The step-by-step process of the CAP implementation is followed,

promoted and sustained by COPA COGECA. Another active and ongoing issue is trade

negotiations with USA concerning the TTIP in order that some commodities and products are

better protected on the US market. Also, agricultural commodity markets are a main issue.

Other issues are economic analysis and non-food issues. COPA COGECA’s perception of the

CAP is that this reform offers less transparency to the public and is much more burdensome for

farmers and governments.

Current issues of general affairs cover food chain competitiveness, cooperative affairs, rural

development policy, environmental policy (climate change, biodiversity, soil, water framework

directive, waste), as well as animal health and welfare (animal health law), sustainable

consumption and production (SCP), the role of women in agriculture, social affairs and feed

components.

By Natalie Becker

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The European Parliament (EP)

Date: 09.10.2014

Time: 14:30-15:30

Venue: European Parliament

Institution: European Parliament

Speaker: Dr. Pavel Cernoch,

Mr. De Back

Dr. Pavel Cernoch gave us a brief insight into the functioning of European Union (EU) and

European Parliament (EP). He gave his presentation in a very entertaining way in order to let us

better understand the complex system of the functioning of EU and EP.

The EU, as we know it was founded in 1992 by the first six member states: France, Germany,

Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. These six states were united in 1951 into the

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Nowadays, the EU has 28 member states. The

three major criteria for a country to join the EU are economic development, democracy and

being situated in Europe. The three major EU expenditures are agriculture (about 40%),

infrastructure and science/education.

EU legislation is carried out by three main institutions: EP, European Council and European

Commission.

The 751 members of EP (MP) are directly elected by the EU-citizens. The proportion of the

representatives of each country in the EP depends on the population of the country, but it

cannot be less than 6 and more than 96. The Council represents the governments of each EU-

member state, therefore there are 28 delegates. The Commission represents the general

interests of the EU. Each Commissioner is responsible for a specific political area. Each of its 28

members is nominated by the MP and eventually defined by the Council. The potential

candidates present themselves to the EP. For each specific political area there are two

candidates competing for the same

position.

As the second part of the visit to the

European Parliament, the excursion

group had the chance to meet a

Member of the European Parliament

(MEP).

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Philippe De Backer is a Belgian politician and member of the Flemish party Open Vld (Open

Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten). In September 2011, he joined the European Parliament

(EP) as a MEP and there teamed up with the political group Alliance of Liberals and Democrats

for Europe Group (ALDE). In 2014, he was reelected in Belgium to continue his work at the EP

in the capacity of an MEP. As regards content, Mr. De Backer works on the dossiers ‘Industry,

Research and Energy’ in the capacity of a full committee member, and on the dossier

‘Economic and Monetary Affaires’ in the capacity of a committee member substitute.

In the course of the meeting, Mr. De Backer talked about his career path that lead him to

become MEP, his motivation to do the job, about the general organization of the EP’s workflow

and about his personal day-to-day work schedule in collaboration with his office team.

Mr. De Backer completed a full academic education with

the achievement of the doctorate in the research area

of biotechnology. Subsequently he worked for an

investment fund that specialized in healthcare.

Throughout his studies and professional engagement

in the private sector however, he was politically active

in support of the liberals. Beginning with collaborations

in the liberal Flemish student association in Ghent, he

then became a core member of the liberal think tank

‘Liberales’ and from 2007 to 2010, was president of

Jong VLD National, the youth section of Open Vld.

During the latter period he gained policymaking

experience as member of the city council of Kapellen.

When in 2011 the then MEP from De Backer’s party

resigned from his position, De Backer filled the gap.

Dr. De Backer emphasized that all MEPs have a common intrinsic motivation to work for the EP,

which is to tackle the existing problems and shortcomings in the European societies in order to

make it a better place to live in. Otherwise there would be no basis to bear the personal

sacrifices the tiring job involves, even when considering the admittedly good pay.

In general, all MEPs are bound to take decisions in favor of the community of the EU countries

irrespective of their personal origin. Because of this reason, he explained that the MEPs take

their seats in the plenaries according to their political affiliation and not according to their

national citizenship.

The MEPs have three roles in their parliamentarian life. They are members of at least two

committees (for one as full member and for the other as substitute member), in most cases are

affiliated with a political group and have to take part in the plenary sessions (absence from

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voting is penalized with cuts in benefits). The workflow of the parliament is mainly determined by

the scheduling of the monthly four-day plenary sessions held in Strasbourg. Approximately one

week per month is dedicated for work in the committees where problems are debated

addressing certain dossiers and solutions are elaborated. After that the political groups hold

internal meetings where the political standpoints towards each committee’s work content is

elaborated. Then the plenaries take place at which the issues are discussed among the entire

parliament and the voting is executed. However, the plenary hearings where content debates

take place are mainly attended by the respective experts of the political groups, and only for the

voting do all MEPs physically appear.

During voting time no discussion is permitted and several decisions are taken per minute by a

show of hands. Only in case of uncertainty or after extraordinary request the electronic voting

system is used. In principle the MEPs are free to express their personal opinion during the

votes, but in most cases the political groups vote according to their consolidated line. Dr. De

Backer pointed out that the issues at stake often are highly complex, but what it boils down to in

the parliament in the end is whether to be in favor, against or to abstain. The remainder of the

time not covered by committee work, political group meetings or plenary sessions is at the

MEPs’ disposal to consult interest groups, form their own opinion about discussed issues and

also to bid other MEPs or political groups for support concerning controversial topics.

Dr. De Backer said that his working day starts at 8 a.m. with breakfast meetings. The daytime is

filled with one of the three core commitments (committees, political group, plenary) and the

evenings are occupied by informative meetings. The work only ends at around 2 a.m. after the

content of the agenda of the next day has been worked through.

As a personal message, he observed that lobbyists are, despite their questionable reputation,

often valuable discussion counterparts and are a very important source of information. In his

opinion a good lobbyist first explains how his interest group would be affected by different

political scenarios and then suggests a favored decision-making outcome.

By Anna Zvorykina and Timo Weinbrenner

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BASF

Date: 10.10.2014

Time: 13:00 - 16:00

Venue: BASF Agricultural Center Limburgerhof

Institution: BASF - The Chemical Company

Speaker: Sebastian Bauer

Upon arriving at BASF in Limburgerhof around midday, the company kindly offered us a

delicious lunch. Thereafter Mr. Sebastian Bauer gave us an interesting presentation about the

company BASF and its products.

BASF, which was founded 1865, has a widespread portfolio. Crop protection, which is located at

Limburgerhof, is just one out of 5 segments of the BASF portfolio and was responsible for 7% of

the company’s income in 2013.

When it comes to crop protection, we were told about the long and expensive process it takes to

develop a product for the market. Starting off with around 140.000 substances, it takes about 10

years of research and development, costing approximately 200 million euros until in the end

there is one product, ready for registration and production.

Later we were shown around the site. This way, we were able to take a look at the laboratories

where prescreening, microtests and greenhouse tests are done, reducing the number of

potential substances down from 140.000 to around 100 substances, which then undergo field

trials.

By Sebastian Bernwieser

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5. Notices

Students responsible for organizing gifts for our hosts: Bernadette Ackermann and Elisabeth Hahn.

Document formatted and copy-edited by Jie Lu.

Final proofing by Richard Smart

Photographers: Dave Hermsdorf, Linda Richter, and Magdalena Zöggeler

Disclaimer: this booklet is for information purposes only for students and staff of the Technische Universität München

participating in an international excursion to Brussels in Belgium, organized by the said university. The contributing

authors, formatters, copy-editors and proof readers absolve themselves of any inaccuracies that may appear in this

document. This document is not for sale or general distribution.

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6. Participation List (Alphabetical Order)

Surname First Name Degree Program and area of interest

Ackermann Bernadette Bachelor of Agricultural Science

Becker Natalie Master's program Agricultural Science

Bernwieser Sebastian Master's program Agricultural Management

Birkle Ingo Master of Science Agricultural Sciences with a focus in agricultural economics

Bosch Josef Master's in Agricultural Sciences - Economics and Agribusiness

Cao Fangyin Master's program Agricultural Science and my subject area is Agribusiness/Agricultural Economics

Chen Ruomei Master's program Life Science Economics and Policy

Dauermann Angelika Master's program Agricultural Science and my subject area is Agricultural Economics

Dehoff Andrea Master's program Agricultural Science and my subject area is Animal Science

Faltermeier Franz Master's program Agricultural Management

Feucht Charlotte Master's program Agricultural Science

Göbel Hannah Master's program Agricultural Science and my subject area is Agroecosystem

Hahn Elisabeth Bachelor of Agricultural Science

Haßauer Christine Master's program Agricultural Science and my subject area is Agribusiness/Agricultural Economics

Hermsdorf David Master's program Agricultural Science

Hoffmann Dominik Master's program Agricultural Management

Hörndl Dorothea Master's program Agricultural Management

Kaufmann Jonas Master's program Agricultural Science and my subject area is Agroecosystem

Lu Jie Master's program Agricultural Science and my subject area is Agroecosystem

Mack Christina Master's in Agricultural Sciences - Agricultural Economics

Mahmoodi Saire Master's program Life Science Economics and Policy

Mayr Bernadette Master's program Agricultural Management, specializing in dairy cattle and crops

Moinul Haque Gazi Md. Master's program Life Science Economics and Policy

Nobbe Konstantin Master's program Life Science Economics and Policy

Perl Irmengard Master's in Agricultural Sciences - Agricultural Economics

Rennberger Gabriel Master's program Agricultural Science and my subject area is Agrobiosciences - Plant

Richter Linda Master's program Life Science Economics and Policy

Sanaullah MD. (Ronny) Master's program Life Science Economics and Policy

Sauer Johannes Professor of Agricultural Production and Resource Economics

Schröder Sam Bachelor of Agricultural Science

Schroeter Julian Master's in Agricultural Sciences - Agricultural Economics (regional marketing and food marketing)

Schulte Julius Master's program Life Science Economics and Policy

Smart Richard Researcher: regulation of biotechnology

Song Hyewon Master's program Life Science Economics and Policy

Urban Adrian Master's program Agricultural Management

Weinbrenner Timo PhD candidate: biodiversity economics

Wree Philipp PhD candidate: innovations in agriculture esp. GMOs; agricultural trade and the role of commodity markets

Zöggeler Magdalena Master's program Life Science Economics and Policy

Zvorykina Anna Master's program Agricultural Science and my subject area is Agroecosystem

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7. Acknowledgements

Support for the excursion was obtained from the following, whom we sincerely thank: