EC chief nominates Varhelyi as health and animal welfare commissioner
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has nominated Hungary's Oliver Varhelyi for the post of European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare.
Unveiling her new leadership team at a press conference held on the sidelines of an EP plenary session on Tuesday, von der Leyen said Varhelyi would be responsible for building a common European health-care union and would be tasked with leading the work on beating cancer and disease prevention.
Varhelyi said on social media that he was “honoured to be nominated”, adding that the nomination recognised “the excellence of Hungarian medical professionals from Semmeilweis to Szent-Gyorgyi or Katalin Kariko and many others”.
“The task of representing that excellence with integrity is enormous,” he said.
Varhelyi served as Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement in the previous commission.
