European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare

The European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare is a member of the European Commission. The current Commissioner is Olivér Várhelyi. The portfolio is responsible for matters of public health and animal welfare.

European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety
Incumbent Olivér Várhelyi since 1 December 2024
Appointer	President of the European Commission
Precursor	European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety
Inaugural holder	Richard Burke
Formation	1977

Portfolio

Markos Kyprianou was appointed to the Barroso Commission as European Commissioner for Health & Consumer Protection; however, with the accession of Bulgaria on 1 January 2007, the Consumer Protect portfolio was split off and given to Meglena Kuneva (See: European Commissioner for Consumer Protection). The post's Directorate-General is still merged with that office.

One policy is the promotion of warnings on tobacco packets, with the Commission moving towards pictorial warnings.^[1] Following several European Union member states enacting bans on smoking in public places Kyprianou proposed a plan for an EU-wide ban of that kind.^[2]

In May 2007, Kyprianou released a paper to tackle the shortage of organ donation in the Union. The plan included promotion, specially trained medical staff and an EU wide organ donor card.^[3] After Kyprianou was appointed Foreign Minister of Cyprus, he was replaced by Androulla Vasiliou on 3 March 2008.

List of commissioners

#	Name		Country	Period	Commission
1		Richard Burke	Ireland	1977–1981	Jenkins
2		Karl-Heinz Narjes	West Germany	1981–1985	Thorn
3		Stanley Clinton Davis	United Kingdom	1985–1988	Delors I
4		Grigoris Varfis	Greece	1985–1989	Delors I
5		Karel Van Miert	Belgium	1989–1992	Delors II
6		Christiane Scrivener	France	1992–1994	Delors II
7		Emma Bonino	Italy	1995–1999	Santer
8		David Byrne	Ireland	1999–2004	Prodi
9		Pavel Telička	Czech Republic	2004	Prodi (Parallel to Byrne)
10		Markos Kyprianou	Cyprus	2004–2010	Barroso I (Health only)
11		Androulla Vassiliou	Cyprus	2008–2010	Barroso I (Health only)
12		John Dalli	Malta	2010–16 October 2012	Barroso II
13		Maroš Šefčovič	Slovakia	2012	Barroso II (Acting)
14		Tonio Borg	Malta	2012–2014	Barroso II (Health only from 2013)
15		Neven Mimica	Croatia	2013–2014	Barroso II (Consumer protection only)
16		Vytenis Andriukaitis	Lithuania	2014–2019	Juncker
17		Stella Kyriakidou	Cyprus	2019–2024	von der Leyen I
18		Olivér Várhelyi	Hungary	2024–present	von der Leyen II

See also

• Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety
• European Agency for Safety and Health at Work