Luis Planas Puchades (born 20 November 1952) is a Spanish labour inspector, diplomat and politician serving as

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889. ...

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 The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members elect ...

from 1982 to 1987 and from 2019 to 2020, and

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

region in the Spanish Senate from April to June 1996. Planas was born in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. He studied at the

University of Valencia The University of Valencia ( ca-valencia, Universitat de València ; also known as UV) is a public research university located in the city of Valencia, Spain. It is one of the oldest surviving universities in Spain, and the oldest in the Vale ...

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 The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members elect ...

from Córdoba in 1982 and elected

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

in 1987 representing

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. 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 The Parliament of Andalusia ( es, Parlamento de Andalucía) is the legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia instituted by the Andalusian Charter of Autonomy of 1981. It is elected by the residents of Andalusia every four years. ...

but he was quickly appointed Chief of Staff of the European Commission Vice President,

Manuel Marín Manuel Marín González (21 October 1949 – 4 December 2017) was a Spanish politician, former President of the Congress of Deputies of Spain. He was a long-time member of the European Commission, and acting president during the Santer Commiss ...

. 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 The Ambassador Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union is a senior diplomat of the Spanish government representing the Kingdom of Spain before the Institutions of the European Union. As such, it is the official responsible for car ...

. In 2013 andalusian president,

José Antonio Griñán José Antonio Griñán Martínez (born 7 June 1946) is a Spanish politician. He was the chairman of the centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), and from 23 April 2009 until 7 September 2013 he held the position of President of the R ...

, 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

in 1952. He is the nephew of Josep Maria Planes, a distinguish journalist who was one of the promoters of the investigative journalism in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

and that was murdered by anarchist militiamen at the beginning of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

. He studied at the

where he received his law degree and an Extraordinary Degree award.

Early career

Labour Inspector and first contacts with politics

In 1980 he joined by public contest to the

Labour Inspectorate An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity. ...

and was assigned to Córdoba. In the 1982 general election, Planas was elected Member to the

Cortes Generales The Cortes Generales (; en, Spanish Parliament, lit=General Courts) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meet ...

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

. 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 The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Wash ...

. 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.

First stage as Regional Minister, 1993–1996

In 1993 Planas was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of

and the following year, Minister of the Presidency of

, both positions under Manuel Chaves. He was also appointed member of the

European Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

. At the same time, he also served as Member of the

for Cordoba. In 1996, he briefly served as senator to

by designation of the regional parliament of Andalusia.

European Commission, 1996–2004

At the end of 1996, Planas returned to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

as chieff of staff of the

Vice-President of the European Commission A Vice-President of the European Commission is a member of the European Commission who leads the commission's work in particular focus areas in which multiple European Commissioners participate. Currently, the European Commission has a total of ...

, 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.

Diplomatic career

In 2004, Planas was appointed Ambassador of Spain in Morocco, serving from May 1, 2004, until October 5, 2010. He then served as

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 President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

on May 7, 2012, a position he left on late September 2013. On March 1, 2014, Planas returned to the

European Economic and Social Committee The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body of the European Union (EU) established in 1958. It is an advisory assembly composed of "social partners", namely: employers ( employers' organisations), employees (trade ...

(EESC) as

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

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

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Pedro Sánchez. On 20 May 2019, Territorial Policy Minister

Meritxell Batet Meritxell Batet Lamaña (born 19 March 1973) is a Spanish jurist and politician member of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia, currently serving as President of the Congress of Deputies. Prior to this, she served as Minister for Territorial Poli ...

resigned to the position in order to assume as

Speaker of the Congress of Deputies The president of the Congress of Deputies ( es, Presidente del Congreso de los Diputados) is the speaker of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Cortes Generales (the Spanish parliament). The president is elected among the members o ...

. Due to this, Planas was appointed also Minister of Territorial Policy and Civil Service. 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. 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. In order to give a solution and after a deep negotiation with involved actors, 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Planas, Luis 1952 births 20th-century Spanish politicians Agriculture ministers of Spain Living people Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) MEPs for Spain 1986–1987 MEPs for Spain 1987–1989 MEPs for Spain 1989–1994 People from Valencia Environment ministers of Spain Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians University of Valencia alumni Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain)