EUROPE: Health Commissioner-designate Stella Kyriakides hearings today

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The parliamentary hearings for EU Health Commissioner-designate Stella Kyriakides will be held in Brussels on Tuesday, with the health issues activist expected to be grilled by members of the European Parliament at 6.30pm local time, who have already rejected two candidates.


Incoming EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen assigned Kyriakides the key portfolio of Health in early September.

At the time, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades wished Kyriakides good luck in her new duties, pointing out that her post is one of the “most important” because it deal with the health and well-being of EU citizens.

He also said the new Commission is a powerful one comprising of a “highly prominent and dynamic group of distinguished personalities”.

The President also expressed his gratitude to the outdoing Cypriot Commissioner Christos Stylianides and the work he has accomplished in Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.

MP and women’s healthcare activist Stella Kyriakides is part of a strong female presence in the new-look executive.

Kyriakides, one of 13 women commissioners from 27, replaces outgoing Christos Stylianides as Cyprus’ commissioner in Brussels.

German von der Leyen’s “college” of commissioners will take office on November 1, assuming they secure approval from the European Parliament – not a given after it only narrowly backed her in July.

Under EU rules, the commission should have 28 members, including the president, one representing each EU member country.

However, no British commissioner was on her list due to “the assumption that Brexit will happen on the 31st of October,” European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said.

Kyriakides, a clinical child psychologist, has been a DISY deputy since 2006 and deputy chairperson since 2013.

She was elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe following the resignation of Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) on October 6, 2017 and remained in office until January 2018.

She was the 30th President of PACE since 1949, the first Cypriot, and the third woman to take up the post.

Kyriakides is expected to step down as president of Europa Donna Cyprus, the local branch of the breast cancer awareness group, while local reports have suggested she will have to sell shares she held in public companies and multi-nationals, to avoid any criticism of conflict of interest.