Androulla Vassiliou

Androulla Vassiliou Ανδρούλλα Βασιλείου


European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth
In office 9 February 2010 – 1 November 2014
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Maroš Šefčovič (Education, Training, Culture and Youth) Leonard Orban (Multilingualism)
Succeeded by	Tibor Navracsics (Education, Culture, Youth and Sport)
European Commissioner for Health
In office 3 March 2008 – 9 February 2010
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Markos Kyprianou
Succeeded by	John Dalli (Health and Consumer Policy)
Personal details
Born	(1943-11-30) 30 November 1943
Political party	United Democrats
Spouse(s)	George Vasiliou
Alma mater	University of Law

Androulla Vassiliou (Greek: Ανδρούλλα Βασιλείου; born 30 November 1943) is a Cypriot and European politician. Between March 2008 and February 2010, she was the European Commissioner for Health,^[1] and then, until November 2014, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth. Vassiliou is very active in social and cultural fields particularly within the UN and EU. In Cyprus she has held many important posts and is on the Board of many public and private companies.

Legal career

Between 1961 and 1964 Vassiliou studied law at Middle Temple (Inn of Court) in London, United Kingdom and then between 1964 to 1966 she studied international affairs at the London Institute of World Affairs (United Kingdom). She then returned to Cyprus in 1968 to practice law while acting as legal advisor to the Standard Chartered Bank and then the Bank of Cyprus (also being on the board of various corporations). In 1988 she ended her legal practice when her husband, George Vassiliou, became President of Cyprus.

Political career

Vassiliou was elected to the House of Representatives of Cyprus in 1996, for the Movement of United Democrats, and re-elected in 2001 until 2006. During this time she served on the European Affairs Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Cyprus and the EU She was also an Alternate Representative of the Cyprus to the European Convention which drew up the European Constitution.

Between 2001 and 2006 she was Vice President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, and the chairperson of the European Liberal Women's Network.

In February 2008 Vassiliou was nominated to succeed Markos Kyprianou as European Commissioner for Health. On 3 March 2008 she took over from him in the European Commission and faced a hearing before the European Parliament in early April 2008; she was approved on 9 April 2008 by 446 to 7 with 29 abstentions.^[2] Under the Second Barroso Commission, from February 2010, she was given the portfolio of Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.

Other activities and personal life

Since 2002 she has been chairperson of the board of trustees of the Cyprus Oncology Centre and she has also been President of the Cyprus Federation of Business and Professional Women since 1996.

She was involved in the United Nations Association of Cyprus, being elected as President of it for four consecutive terms, participated in numerous human rights conferences. In 1991 she was elected President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations and re-elected for two terms before being made an honorary president.

She is married to George Vassiliou, former President of Cyprus, with whom she has three children. Her hobbies are music, walking, swimming and reading. She speaks Greek, English and French.

References

Androulla Vassiliou: European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth filmneweurope.com, 13 June 2014
Nomination of Mrs Androulla Vassiliou as successor to Mr Markos Kyprianou, European Commission 28/02/08

External links

Androulla Vassiliou Official Media Gallery
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/vassiliou/index_en.htm#position_3

Political offices
Preceded by Markos Kyprianou	Cypriot European Commissioner 2008–2014	Succeeded by Christos Stylianides
Preceded by Markos Kyprianou	European Commissioner for Health 2008–2010	Succeeded by John Dalli as European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy
Preceded by Maroš Šefčovič as European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth	European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth 2010–2014	Succeeded by Tibor Navracsics as European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport

Preceded by Leonard Orban as European Commissioner for Multilingualism

Barroso Commission I (2004–09)

Joaquín Almunia Catherine Ashton⁶ José Manuel Barroso¹ Jacques Barrot² Joe Borg Karel De Gucht⁹ Stavros Dimas Benita Ferrero-Waldner Ján Figeľ¹⁰ Franco Frattini^{2, 5} Mariann Fischer Boel Dalia Grybauskaitė⁷ Danuta Hübner⁸ Siim Kallas² László Kovács Neelie Kroes Meglena Kuneva³ Markos Kyprianou⁴ Peter Mandelson⁶ Charlie McCreevy Louis Michel⁹ Leonard Orban³ Andris Piebalgs Janez Potočnik Viviane Reding Olli Rehn Paweł Samecki⁸ Maroš Šefčovič¹⁰ Algirdas Šemeta⁷ Vladimír Špidla Antonio Tajani^{2, 5} Androulla Vassiliou⁴ Günter Verheugen² Margot Wallström²

1 = President. 2 = Vice President. 3 = Served from 1 January 2007. 4 = Vassiliou replaced Kyprianou on 3 March 2008. 5 = Tajani replaced Frattini on 18 June 2008. 6 = Ashton replaced Mandelson on 3 October 2008. 7 = Šemeta replaced Grybauskaitė on 1 July 2009. 8 = Samecki replaced Hübner on 4 July 2009. 9 = De Gucht replaced Michel on 17 July 2009. 10 = Šefčovič replaced Figeľ on 1 October 2009.

Barroso Commission II (2009–14)

Foreign Affairs and Security Policy	Catherine Ashton¹ (2010–14)

Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship	Viviane Reding² (2010–2014) Martine Reicherts (2014)

Competition	Joaquín Almunia² (2010–14)

Transport	Siim Kallas² (2010–14)

Digital Agenda	Neelie Kroes² (2010–14)

Industry and Entrepreneurship	Antonio Tajani² (2010–14) Ferdinando Nelli Feroci (2014)

Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration	Maroš Šefčovič² (2010–14)

Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro	Olli Rehn² (2010–14) Jyrki Katainen² (2014)

Environment	Janez Potočnik (2010–14)

Development	Andris Piebalgs (2010–14)

Internal Market and Services	Michel Barnier² (2010–14)

Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth	Androulla Vassiliou (2010–14)

Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud	Algirdas Šemeta (2010–14)

Trade	Karel De Gucht (2010–14)

Health	John Dalli (2010-12) Tonio Borg (2012–14)

Research, Innovation and Science	Máire Geoghegan-Quinn (2010–14)

Financial Programming and the Budget	Janusz Lewandowski (2010–14) Jacek Dominik (2014)

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries	Maria Damanaki (2010–14)

International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis	Kristalina Georgieva (2010–14)

Energy	Günther Oettinger² (2010–14)

Regional Policy	Johannes Hahn (2010–14)

Climate Action	Connie Hedegaard (2010–14)

Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy	Štefan Füle (2010–14)

Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion	László Andor (2010–14)

Home Affairs	Cecilia Malmström (2010–14)

Agriculture and Rural Development	Dacian Cioloș (2010–14)

Consumer Policy	Neven Mimica (2013–14)

1 = First Vice President. 2 = Vice President.

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 24144782943122283768

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.