Luis Planas

Luis Planas Puchades (born 20 November 1952) is a Spanish labour inspector, diplomat and politician serving as minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food since 2018. He has served as acting minister of Territorial Policy and Civil Service from May 2019 to January 2020 and represented Córdoba in the Congress of Deputies from 1982 to 1987 and from 2019 to 2020, and Andalusia region in the Spanish Senate from April to June 1996.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Planas and the second or maternal family name is Puchades.
The Most Excellent
Luis Planas
OOA DHSRA
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Assumed office
7 June 2018
Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez
Preceded byIsabel García Tejerina
Minister of Territorial Policy and Civil Service
Acting
In office
21 May 2019 – 13 January 2020
Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez
Preceded byMeritxell Batet
Succeeded byCarolina Darias
Member of the European Parliament
In office
1 January 1987 – 6 June 1993
ConstituencySpain
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office
21 May 2019 – 21 February 2020
ConstituencyCórdoba
In office
28 October 1982 – 23 April 1987
ConstituencyCórdoba
Member of the Senate
In office
17 April 1996 – 13 June 1996
ConstituencyAndalusia
Personal details
Born (1952-11-20) 20 November 1952
Valencia, Spain
Political partySpanish Socialist Workers' Party
Alma materUniversity of Valencia

Planas was born in Valencia. He studied at the University of Valencia where he received his law degree. He joined the public service in 1980, when he joined the Labour Inspectors Corps and was assigned to Córdoba. He was first elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies from Córdoba in 1982 and elected Member of the European Parliament in 1987 representing Spain.

In 1993, Andalusian president, Manuel Chaves, appointed him as Regional Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and in 1994 he was appointed Regional Minister of the Presidency. In 1996, he was designated as senator by the Parliament of Andalusia but he was quickly appointed Chief of Staff of the European Commission Vice President, Manuel Marín. He continued in European posts until 2004, when he was appointed Spanish Ambassador before Morocco. In 2010, he was appointed Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union.

In 2013 Andalusian president, José Antonio Griñán, appointed him Regional Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment until late 2013. In 2014, he was elected Secretary-General of the European Economic and Social Committee, an office he left in June 2018 when prime minister Pedro Sánchez appointed him as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Early life and education

Planas was born in Valencia in 1952.[1] He is the nephew of Josep Maria Planes, a distinguish journalist who was one of the promoters of the investigative journalism in Catalonia and that was murdered by anarchist militiamen at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.[2] He studied at the University of Valencia where he received his law degree and an Extraordinary Degree award.[3]

Early career

Labour Inspector and first contacts with politics

In 1980, he joined by public contest to the Labour Inspectorate and was assigned to Córdoba. In the 1982 general election, Planas was elected Member to the Cortes Generales for Córdoba. While serving, he was a member of the Constitutional Committee and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, he served as spokesman for the Socialist Parliamentary Group on European Affairs and member of the Joint Committee on Cortes Generales-European Parliament.

Member of the European Parliament, 1986–1993

From 1986 to 1993 Planas served as a Member of the European Parliament. He was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Institutional Affairs Committee, as well as member of the Delegation for the relationship with the Congress of the United States. He served as Deputy Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee (1987–1989) and Vice President of the European Socialist Group (1991–1993). In addition to his committee assignments, he was a founding member in 1990 of the Transatlantic Economic Council.[3]

First stage as Regional Minister, 1993–1996

In 1993 Planas was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Andalusia and the following year, Minister of the Presidency of Andalusia, both positions under Manuel Chaves.[3] He was also appointed member of the European Committee of the Regions.[3] At the same time, he also served as Member of the Parliament of Andalusia for Cordoba. In 1996, he briefly served as senator to Cortes Generales by designation of the regional parliament of Andalusia.

European Commission, 1996–2004

At the end of 1996, Planas returned to Brussels as chieff of staff of the Vice-President of the European Commission Manuel Marín, where he was responsible for relations with the Mediterranean, Latin America and Asia. In 1994 and until 2004, he served as chief of staff of European Commissioner of Economic and Monetary Affairs Pedro Solbes.[1]

Diplomatic career

In 2004, Planas was appointed Ambassador of Spain in Morocco, serving from May 1, 2004, until October 5, 2010.[1] He then served as Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union from October 5, 2010, and until December 31, 2011.

Briefly, after the 2012 general election, Planas returned to Spain to be appointed Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment in the Government of Andalusia under President José Antonio Griñán on May 7, 2012,[3] a position he left on late September 2013. On March 1, 2014, Planas returned to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) as Secretary-General.[4]

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

On June 6, 2018, Planas, who at that time was still secretary-general of the EESC, was appointed as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by prime minister Pedro Sánchez.[5] On 20 May 2019, Territorial Policy Minister Meritxell Batet resigned to the position in order to assume as President of the Congress of Deputies. Due to this, Planas was appointed as acting Minister of Territorial Policy and Civil Service.[6] In this capacity, he was in charge of drafting a set of measures valued at 774 million euros ($850 million) to help the municipalities affected by deadly floods as well as by wildfires in 2019.[7][8]

In early 2020, Planas had to face rural unrest due to the European Union budget cuts on agriculture as well as the low prices to rural producers.[9][10] In order to give a solution and after a deep negotiation with involved actors,[11] the government approved an urgent royal decree-law on February 26, 2020, to reform the Food Chain Act of 2013. Among the measures adopted, there are the prohibition of distributors to pay prices below the real cost, regulation of commercial promotions, publicity of sanctions for those who violate the measures and to strengthen the Agency for Food Information and Control role, increasing its budget and staff.[12]

In April 2023, Planas wrote to the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, to request for aid for Spain’s 890,000 farm workers and ranchers amid extreme drought conditions in its agricultural heartlands.[13]

References
  1. "elmundo.es – Luis Planas Puchades, nuevo embajador en Marruecos". www.elmundo.es. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  2. "Las diferencias políticas entre Susana Díaz y Luis Planas". sevilla (in Spanish). 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  3. "El exconsejero andaluz Luis Planas, nuevo ministro de Agricultura". eldiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  4. EESC secretary-general European Voice, January 22, 2014.
  5. "Los ministros del Gobierno de Pedro Sánchez". El País (in Spanish). 2018-06-07. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  6. "Planas asume Política Territorial y Función Pública tras la marcha de Batet para presidir el Congreso". Europa Press. 2019-05-21. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
  7. Raphael Minder (August 20, 2019), Gran Canaria Fire, Spain’s Worst This Year, Forces Evacuation of 9,000 New York Times.
  8. Joan Faus and Emma Pinedo (September 20, 2019), Spain approves 774 million euro help package after floods, wildfires Reuters.
  9. Corner, The (2020-02-24). "Amid Spanish farmers' protests, the EU budget cuts agriculture and cohesion funds significantly". The Corner. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  10. Bock, Pauline (2020-02-18). "Why are Spanish farmers protesting against low prices?". euronews. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  11. Femmine, Laura Delle (2020-02-04). "El Gobierno cita a las cadenas de supermercados y a la industria alimentaria para paliar la crisis del campo". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  12. "El BOE publica hoy el Real Decreto-Ley 5/2020 de medidas urgentes en materia de agricultura y alimentación". Revistafrisona.com (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  13. "Spain pleads for EU crisis funds as drought hits farmers". 2 May 2023.
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