Italy and Ireland have both put forward candidates to run the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome, led by China’s Qu Dongyu since 2019. The United States, Angola, Morocco and Turkey are all vying for the role, but the dual candidacy of Italy’s Maurizio Martina, and Ireland’s Phil Hogan, risks weakening the European claim.

Selmayr told EU member country diplomats on Wednesday the EU should choose between Martina, backed by Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Hogan, a former heavyweight European commissioner, and field a single candidate to avoid splitting the vote and weakening Europe’s hand, according to three people present at the closed-door meeting in the Council of the EU.

Neither Selmayr, nor the diplomats in the room, indicated a preference for Hogan or Martina during the meeting.

A discussion on the matter is expected next week during an informal dinner with EU leaders in Brussels, on the sidelines of the EU summit, attended by UN Secretary General António Guterres, Euractiv has learned.

Three UN agencies in Rome — FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) — will hold elections in the coming months for their top posts, and Europe is struggling to agree a common stance amid mounting US criticism of the legitimacy of the UN system.

Selmayr, the former right-hand of ex-Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who now represents the EU to the UN institutions in Rome, told European diplomats the US should not take the EU for granted when bidding to continue its decades-long leadership of the WFP, which provides urgent food aid to hungry people around the globe.

The US has changed its stance on aid under Donald Trump’s second term, having dissolved USAID, reduced their contributions, and put the WFP into the hands of the US Department of Agriculture.

According to Reuters, Americans want to consolidate their traditional leadership of the WFP. Earlier this month, a coalition of US farming groups also called on Trump to nominate the FAO’s Deputy Director General Beth Bechdol for the top job at the FAO.

One diplomat suggested that the talks so far indicate that Washington does not want a European candidate for FAO and that the Americans want to ensure spending is more efficient.

The same diplomat added that Selmayr’s message to Washington was clear: “Candidates should commit to UN principles, and the Americans should be ready to put their hand in their pocket.”

The United States is the largest FAO contributor, providing 22% of the organisation’s funding, followed by China with 15.2%. Although the European Union is not listed as a single contributor, the combined donations of EU member states among the top 25 contributors make it the second largest funder. 

The same applies for the World Food Programme. Another EU diplomat said the US now wants to introduce a “pay in kind” approach rather than increasing cash contributions.

“The Americans are essentially telling us that they want to promote their domestic growers’ and food companies’ products,” the diplomat said.

(adm, jp)