President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades chose Member of Parliament Stella Kyriakides as the country’s next European Commissioner on Thursday.
Kyriakides will replace the current EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stilianides, who served during the EU presidency of Jean-Claude Juncker.
The 63-year old center-right Cypriot politician is a psychologist who has studied in the UK.
Kyriakides is the current President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and is the first Cypriot, and just the third woman in history, to hold this position.
President Anastasiades had a conversation with EU President-elect Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday, during which he informed her of his decision to nominate Kyriakides for the European Commission.
Earlier this month, Greece nominated the current Chief Spokesman of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, to represent Greece in the next European Commission.
The new members of the European Commission are expected to take office on November 1, 2019.
Von der Leyen’s administration will include 26 or 27 Commissioners, who hold positions equivalent to those of ministers in national governments.
Germany will not have a Commissioner under the new administration, since von der Leyen is herself a German national.
It is still unclear if the United Kingdom will appoint an EU Commissioner this year, since it is unknown at this point whether or not it will actually leave the EU in October of 2019.
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