Luis Planas

Luis Planas Puchades (pronounced [ˈlwis ˈplanas]; 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 from 1982 to 1987 and from 2019 to 2020, and Andalusia region in the Spanish Senate from April to June 1996. Planas was born in Valencia. He studied at the University of Valencia 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 from Córdoba in 1982 and elected Member of the European Parliament in 1987 representing Spain. 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 but he was quickly appointed Chief of Staff of the European Commission Vice President, Manuel Marín. 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.