Stella Kyriakides


Stella Kyriakides is a Cypriot psychologist and politician of the conservative Democratic Rally party who has been serving as European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety since 2019. She served as the first Cypriot national and third woman President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Early life and education

Born in Nicosia, Kyriakides got a degree in Psychology at the University of Reading and a master's degree in child maladjustment at Manchester.

Early career

Kyriakides worked as clinical psychologist in the Ministry of Health between 1976 and 2006 in the departement of Child and Adolescent psychiatry.
Kyriakides has two children. She had breast cancer in 1996 and 2004.
In 1999 Kyriakides was appointed president of the First Breast Cancer Movement in Cyprus. From 2004 until 2006, she served as president of the European Breast Cancer Coalition Europa Donna. In 2016, she was appointed President of the National Committee on Cancer Strategy of the Council.

Political career

Career in national politics

Kyriakides was elected deputy in the 2006 elections, representing Nicosia District for the conservative Democratic Rally, party she is vice-president since 2013.
In addition to her parliamentary activities, Kyriakides has been serving as the chairperson of the delegation of Cyprus to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2012 until 2019. From 2016 until 2018, she chaired the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Regional Development. After the resignation of the Spanish Pedro Agramunt, she ran for the presidency of the PACE, winning the voting in the third round against the Lithuanian Emanuelis Zingeris. From 2018 until 2019, she served as PACE representative to the Venice Commission.
Since 2013, Kyriakides has been serving as vice president of the Democratic Rally party, under the leadership of its president Nicos Anastasiades.
In 2018, Kyriakides pushed for a law decriminalizing abortion.

Member of the European Commission

Following the 2019 European elections, President Nicos Anastasiades nominated Kyriakides to become the country's next European Commissioner.
In early March 2020, Kyriakides was appointed by President Ursula von der Leyen to serve on a special task force to coordinate the European Union's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.