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 The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

from 1982 to 1987 and from 2019 to 2020, and

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

region in the

Spanish Senate The Senate () is the upper house of the , which along with the Congress of Deputies – the Lower house, lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palacio del Senado, Palace of the Senate in Madri ...

from April to June 1996. Planas was born in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. He studied at the

University of Valencia The University of Valencia ( ), shortened to UV, is a public research university in Valencia, Spain. It is one of the oldest universities in Spain, and the oldest in the Valencian Community. It is regarded as one of Spain's leading academic i ...

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 () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

from Córdoba in 1982 and elected

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

in 1987 representing

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. 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 () 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. Functions *To elect the ...

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 Commis ...

. 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

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

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

and that was murdered by

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

militiamen at the beginning of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. 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 Observational study, examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, test (assessment), tests, and Gauge (instrument), gauges applied to cer ...

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

Cortes Generales The (; ) are the Bicameralism, bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house) and the Senate of Spain, Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, ...

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 legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

. 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 The Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) is a body set up between the United States and European Union to direct economic cooperation between the two economies. Establishment and chairmanship The TEC was established by an agreement signed on Apri ...

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. 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, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

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 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 The Regional Government of Andalusia () is the government of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Regional Government and the Government Council. The 2011 budget was 31.7 billion euros. It emp ...

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

José Antonio Griñán 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 representatives from employers' organization, employers' associations, workers' unio ...

(EESC) as

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

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 A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Pedro Sánchez. 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. 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. In April 2023, Planas wrote to the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, to request for aid for

’s 890,000 farm workers and ranchers amid extreme drought conditions in its agricultural heartlands.

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) Members of the 15th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Agriculture ministers of Andalusia Permanent representatives of Spain to the European Union Ambassadors of Spain to Morocco