- Joseph Daul
Joseph Daul (born
13 April 1947 inStrasbourg ) is a French politician andMember of the European Parliament for the East of France. He is a member of theUnion for a Popular Movement ; part of theEuropean People's Party–European Democrats group. On9 January 2007 he was elected Chair of the EPP-ED group, replacingHans-Gert Pöttering , who was elected as the newPresident of the European Parliament .Daul had previously come to prominence as Chair of
European Parliament 's powerful Committee on Agriculture, a position he was elected to on23 July 2004 . He has been Mayor ofPfettisheim (Bas-Rhin ) since 1989, and is an Officer of the Agricultural Order of Merit, Knight of the National Order of Merit and Knight of theLégion d'honneur .In addition to French he speaks Alsatian, his native language, and is fluent in German. Joseph Daul was under investigation for misuse of public funds in France. He was part of an inquiry into the diversion of €16 million (£10.6 million) of agricultural money in the 1990s that has also ensnared three former agriculture ministers. The eurosceptic
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) unearthed the allegations on January 11, 2007.Mr Daul had been head of the National Breeding Confederation, the beef producers' union, between 1993 and 1998. He was placed under investigation in 2004 for allegedly diverting money to finance the farmers' union, the FNSEA, and to pay his own staff. He was not accused of benefiting personally but of "complicity and concealment of the abuse of public funds". [ [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4923b9fa-a1e2-11db-8bc1-0000779e2340.html European party head faces funds inquiry] ] On August 8, 2007, the court has however asked that all charges against him be dropped, stating that the cases made against him did not require legal punishement. [ [http://www.terre-net.fr/actualite-agricole/france-local/article-203-41708.html Affaire Unigrains - Le parquet demande un non-lieu général] fr icon]
Notes
External links
* [http://president.epp-ed.eu/index.php?lang=en Daul's website as Chairman of the EPP-ED in the European Parliament]
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