Olivér Várhelyi has been serving as Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement in the EU Commission since December 2019. His main duty was to negotiate with countries looking to be a new EU Member State about their potential accession. Now Ursula von der Leyen has chosen him for another role: Mr Várhelyi is set to oversee health and animal welfare matters in the EU. But he has not been idle waiting to be confirmed in his new position but continued to meet with leaders of candidate countries over the past weeks.
All 27 Member States delegate one Commissioner to the EC. In July 2024, following the European Parliamentary elections, it was revealed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that Hungary was renominating Várhelyi for the Brussels body. However, based on reports by the German newspaper Die Welt, it also became likely that Mr Várhelyi would no longer be in charge of EU enlargement during his new term in the Commission. According to Die Welt, that position is going to be filled by EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis of Latvia.
Those reports turned out to be not entirely accurate. It was Marta Kos of Slovenia who was eventually nominated for Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, while Dombrovskis got the nod for the European Commissioner for Economy position. However, what was proven to be accurate is that Várhelyi is in fact being reassigned to a new position.
If confirmed by the EP, he will be serving as EU Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare in the incoming EU Commission. He posted to his X (Twitter) page after the news became official, showing his gratitude to RC President von der Leyen for his new assignment, saying that it is a ‘great honour’.
‘This nomination is a recognition of the Hungarian health care system and an acknowledgement that it has been at the forefront of the world for more than a century,’ he added.
Minister for EU Affairs János Bóka of Hungary congratulated Várhelyi on the same platform.
However, not everyone in the Hungarian government was so enthusiastic about the new developments. At a press conference with Serbian Finance Minister Siniša Mali, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó of Hungary voiced his discontent about Várhelyi’s new commission. He said:
‘The decision by the President of the European Commission not to allow Olivér Várhelyi to continue his work as Commissioner for Enlargement is part of the hypocrisy in Brussels regarding the EU’s enlargement policy.’
The newly appointed EU Commissioners will take office at the start of December 2024. In the remaining little over two months, Comminisser Várhelyi still has some time to work towards the EU accession of West Balkan countries, an issue that has been named as one of the top priorities of Hungary’s rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Accordingly, he met with leaders of the region at the Western Balkan Summit in Kotor, Montenegro last week, on 19 September. There, he had discussions with Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić of Montenegro, and Hristijan Mickoski of North Macedonia, among others, on how to make EU enlargement into the Balkans a reality.
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