Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi has been announced as the new European Commissioner for Health, in a portfolio that now includes animal welfare.

He succeeds Cyprus’s Stella Kyriakides, whose portfolio was health and food safety.

Várhelyi has been the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement since 2019, leading efforts to increase membership of the European Union.

“He will be responsible for building a European health union and continuing the work of beating cancer and on preventive health,” said Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, announcing his appointment as part of her new European Commission College on Tuesday.

However,  before assuming office, all appointees still face questioning by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), need the  support of two-thirds of the MEPs on their respective committees and the college has to be voted in by the Parliament.

Honoured to be nominated for the Health and Animal Welfare portfolio.

As a Hungarian 🇭🇺 Commissioner-designate this nomination is honouring the excellence of Hungarian medical professionals from Semmeilweis to Szent-Györgyi or Katalin Karikó and many others.
1/2 https://t.co/1LfQaQe9vi

— Oliver Varhelyi (@OliverVarhelyi) September 17, 2024

Várhelyi was nominated by right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. He has a legal background and has served in various positions in the Hungarian public administration, including in trade and industry and foreign affairs. 

Prior to becoming a commissioner, he was Hungary’s Ambassador to the EU. Hungary is one of the least democratic EU members, restricting NGOs, media and women’s and LGBTQ rights.

In July 2022, the European Commission referred Hungary to the Court of Justice of the EU for its 2021 amendments to the Child Protection Law “which included unjustified restrictions on LGBT content, with the excuse of protecting children”, according to Human Rights Watch.

In September 2022, the Hungarian Ministry of Health issued a decree making it mandatory for pregnant women seeking abortions to listen to the foetal heartbeat before terminating the pregnancy.

As Commissioner in charge of enlargement, Várhelyi was accused of not paying enough attention to aspirant EU members’ records on democracy and human rights. In particular, he was accused of “pushing” Serbia’s EU membership despite its failure to make progress on key democratic and human rights issues, according to a report by Politico.

His predecessor, Kyriakides, who describes herself as a human rights advocate on X, comes from Cyprus’s Democratic Party, a centre-right Christian democratic political party

Unlike Várhelyi, she has a background in health and worked in her country’s Ministry of Health between 1976 and 2006, as a clinical psychologist in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

She also championed efforts to combat cancer, serving as president of the First Breast Cancer Movement in Cyprus and then president of the European Breast Cancer Coalition, Europa Donna.