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.
Planas was born in Valencia in 1952.[1] He is the nephew of Josep Maria Planes, a distinguished journalist who was one of the promoters of the investigative journalism in Catalonia and that was murdered by anarchist militiamen at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.[2] He studied at the University of Valencia where he received his law degree and an Extraordinary Degree award.[3]
Early career
Labour Inspector and first contacts with politics
In 1980, he joined by public contest to the Labour Inspectorate and was assigned to Córdoba. In the 1982 general election, Planas was elected Member to the Cortes Generales 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 Member of the European Parliament. 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. 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.[3]
First stage as Regional Minister, 1993–1996
In 1993 Planas was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Andalusia and the following year, Minister of the Presidency of Andalusia, both positions under Manuel Chaves.[3] He was also appointed member of the European Committee of the Regions.[3] At the same time, he also served as Member of the Parliament of Andalusia for Cordoba. In 1996, he briefly served as senator to Cortes Generales by designation of the regional parliament of Andalusia.
In 2004, Planas was appointed Ambassador of Spain in Morocco, serving from May 1, 2004, until October 5, 2010.[1] He then served as Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union from October 5, 2010, and until December 31, 2011.
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.[9][10] In order to give a solution and after a deep negotiation with involved actors,[11] 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.[12]
In April 2023, Planas wrote to the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, to request for aid for Spain’s 890,000 farm workers and ranchers amid extreme drought conditions in its agricultural heartlands.[13]