VZCZCXRO1912
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHRL #1496/01 3081537
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 031537Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2546
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001496 
 
USDA FOR OFSO DYOUNG, OCRA Salmon, Baysinger, OSTA EJones 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ECON PGOV INRB GM
 
SUBJECT:  New German Agriculture Minister Likely to Follow 
Seehofer's Positions on Trade and Agriculture 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  Ilse Aigner has been appointed as the German 
Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, replacing 
Horst Seehofer who has returned to Bavaria as Minister President. 
It is unclear how this change will affect Germany's agricultural and 
trade policy decisions in the coming year.  In Bavaria, Helmut 
Brunner, the new state agriculture minister will likely continue to 
push anti-biotech policies.  Seehofer leaves a mixed result from his 
3-year tenure as German Agricultural Minister.  ConGen Munich is 
reporting septel on Seehofer and his new Bavarian Government.  End 
Summary. 
 
A New Agriculture Minister is Named 
 
¶2.  (U)On October 31, Ilse Aigner assumed responsibilities  as the 
new Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection 
(BMELV) in Germany.  Aigner is a member of the Bavarian Christian 
Social Union and takes over the post from Horst Seehofer, the new 
Bavarian Minister President.  CSU was allocated this position in the 
Federal Cabinet under the agreement that established the German 
Grand Coalition Government in late 2005. 
 
¶3. (SBU)Ilse Aigner is single, 43 years old and represents Starnberg 
and the surrounding countryside, a rural area near Munich that is 
one of Germany's most affluent.  She has been a Bundestag member 
since 1998.  Aigner is an electrician by training and in the past 
has worked with helicopter development.  As a member of the 
Bundestag, Aigner has most recently been the deputy chairperson of 
the ethics committee.  In this role, she has been involved in German 
debate on stem cell research.  In those debates, she demanded more 
liberal conditions for the German stem cell researchers.  She has 
been a member of the budget committee and the research and education 
committee in the Bundestag.  In the budget committee Aigner, was the 
rapporteur for agriculture.  German federal officials say that in 
this role she gained a thorough understanding of the administration 
and programs of BMELV.  She was described as tough and is regarded 
by at least some in the German Government as a good choice to lead 
BMELV at least until the 2009 elections.  Her biography can be found 
at diplopedia.state.gov/index.php?title=Ilse_Aig ner. 
 
¶4.  (U)Aigner is considered to be a promising young CSU politician. 
While congratulating Aigner on her new duties, the German Farmers 
Association was not effusive in welcoming her.  Aigner is unlikely 
to change German policies regarding the Common Agricultural Policy 
Health Check or commitment to a successful conclusion of the Doha 
negotiations.  Aigner already stated that she will not break away 
from Seehofer's relatively negative stance on agricultural 
biotechnology application but stressed the importance of research in 
this field.  Some suspect that Seehofer will continue to exert 
strong influence on agricultural policy decision making in Berlin 
when it touches Bavarian interests, especially since he handpicked 
Aigner as his replacement.  One such area will be EU changes to the 
milk quota and how the dairy industry in Bavaria might be 
compensated. 
 
In Bavaria, Environment Trumps Agriculture 
 
¶5.  (SBU) For the Bavarian cabinet, Seehofer nominated Markus Soeder 
as the next Minister for Health and Environment (Bavarian Cabinet 
choices report in detail Septel).  Soeder and Seehofer have been the 
leading opponents to cultivation of biotech crops throughout Germany 
in the past two years.  For Soeder, this position could provide him 
a platform to promote an anti-biotech agenda.  Insiders expect that 
41-year-old Soeder will try to position himself as counterweight to 
Sigmar Gabriel, the current Federal Minister of the Environment. 
For Bavaria's Agriculture Minister, Seehofer selected Helmut 
Brunner, a 54-year-old farmer who has been a member of the Bavarian 
parliament for 14 years.  He was also the chairperson of the 
agricultural committee in the Bavarian parliament.  However, 
according to insiders, he kept a low profile in this position. 
Brunner was chosen, in part, because of his Lower Bavarian roots 
helped to provide regional balance, an important consideration in 
CSU politics. 
 
Seehofer as Agricultural Minister 
 
¶6. (SBU) During his tenure as Federal Agricultural Minister, Horst 
Seehofer often went against recommendations of his Ministry and 
party on contentious issues. For example, despite publicly 
supporting the use of green biotechnology during the very early part 
of his term, Seehofer's enthusiasm waned as the Green Party and 
non-governmental organizations intensified their anti-biotech 
campaigns.  By the end of his term, Seehofer had determined the 
political costs of support for agricultural biotechnology were too 
great given his longer term political aspirations. 
 
¶7. (SBU) As Agricultural Minister, Seehofer opposed the 
 
BERLIN 00001496  002 OF 002 
 
 
Transatlantic Economic Council's (TEC) initiative to resolve the 
U.S./EU poultry dispute. Seizing on strong opposition from 
agricultural groups and consumers, Seehofer postioned himself as the 
consumers' advocate and fought against lifting the ban on U.S. 
poultry.  Seehofer supported the WTO negotiations for further trade 
liberalization, but he also understood that Germany's agricultural 
sector is apprehensive about the impact on subsidies.  Seehofer 
often stated that he believed it was important to ensure that 
farmers were not hurt socially and economically by any trade 
agreement. 
 
¶8. (U) Seehofer's advocacy for social issues played well with his 
agricultural constituents and often kept him in the media spotlight. 
One such issue involved the German dairy strike of summer 2008, 
which was centered in Bavaria.  While Seehofer did not publicly 
support the strike, he supported the farmers' demands for a quote 
fair unquote milk price and was reported to have promised to work 
against a further quota increase in Brussels.  He also convened 
German milk summit and called for the creation of an EU milk fund to 
support dairy farms in disadvantaged areas.  His action not only 
strengthened his ties to the large groups of predominantly small 
Bavarian farmers, the CSU, and the German Farmers Union, but more 
importantly allowed him to maintain his popularity in Bavaria. 
 
¶9.  (U)Embassy Berlin coordinated this cable with Consulate General 
Munich. 
 
TIMKEN JR 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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