EU Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare

Last month it was announced that there is to be a Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare at the European Commission. 

Nominated for the role is Hungarian Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi.  Animal welfare campaigners are pleased about the role. There have been some concerns expressed about whom has been selected for it. 

Seb Starcevic and Paula Andrés report the remarks of a spokesperson for the director of the Four Paws Brussels office ‘We are ready no matter who the candidate is’, continuing ‘The movement is expecting that animal welfare will be literally at the top of the European agenda.’ Starcevic and Andrés report also the Eurogroup for Animals political affairs manager, Stephanie Ghislain, saying this, ‘We are very happy about the title, we reserve our views on the person’. They describe that Ghislain said that the ideal commissioner should have ‘some kind of experience’ in animal welfare issues and ‘a heart for animals’. Communicating the reservations of the coordinator of the EU for Animals campaign for an animal welfare commissioner, Stacevic and Andrés give his comment on the creation of a dedicated portfolio that it represented ‘a historic turning point’ (‘Err ... him?! EU’s new animal welfare chief yet to win hearts and minds’, politico.eu, 17th September 2024).

An important comment came from Animal Equality United Kingdom. It said ‘While farming animals is never acceptable, this new role is a pivotal change. By placing animal welfare under the Commissioner for Health rather than Agriculture, the EU is recognising it as a critical issue in and of itself, moving away from the narrow focus of industry concerns.’ (EU to appoint its first commissioner for animal welfare in historic move’, News, Animal Equality United Kingdom,19th September 2024).   

In regards the nominee Olivér Várhelyi, that his nomination may not be approved by the European Parliament is suggested by Max Griera, Barbara Moens and Elisa Braun - depicting Váhelyi as ‘The black sheep’, (The 5 commissioners most likely to get the chop’, politico.eu, 18th September 2024).

The main and positive thing is that there now is the dedicated role, ‘EU Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare’.