Err … him?! EU’s new animal welfare chief yet to win hearts and minds

BRUSSELS — Campaigners rejoiced at news Tuesday that there will be a new commissioner for animal welfare in the next EU executive.

Then they saw who was up for the job.

Hungarian Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, who is currently responsible for the Neighborhood and Enlargement portfolio, was handed Health and Animal Welfare in a move widely considered a rebuke of Budapest over Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s constant obstructionism on Ukraine.

Várhelyi himself is a controversial figure who has faced criticism over his handling of the enlargement portfolio, his approach to candidate countries with rule of law and democracy concerns, and his abrasive leadership style.

Though delighted that their calls for an animal welfare commissioner were answered, animal welfare campaigners and some MEPs expressed doubt that Várhelyi was the best choice.

“Thanks for the animal welfare Commissioner, von der Leyen, & for responding to the demands of citizens,” Green MEP and president of the Parliament’s Intergroup on animal welfare, Tilly Metz, said on X.

“Whether a Fidesz candidate is the right choice for this position remains to be seen,” she added.

Outgoing Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides oversaw animal welfare rules for the past five years. In line with the previous EU’s green agriculture and food agenda — the Farm to Fork Strategy — Kyriakides and the Commission’s health unit were expected to deliver a major overhaul of the bloc’s decades-old farm animal welfare rules.

However, the EU executive has only presented new bills on animal transport and the illegal pet trade at the last minute.

The recent conclusions of the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture — a stakeholder roundtable launched by von der Leyen to help shape future agrifood policy — called for the remaining proposals, including a ban on the use of cages in farming, to be put forward by 2026.

Ready or not

Now, the new grand title for a commissioner on animal welfare is raising hopes that the missing files will finally be delivered. However, von der Leyen’s mission letter to Várhelyi only makes a vague reference to modernizing rules on animal welfare.

“We are ready no matter who the candidate is,” said a spokesperson for Joe Moran, director of the Four Paws Brussels office. “The movement is expecting that animal welfare will be literally at the top of the European agenda.”

Stephanie Ghislain, political affairs manager at Eurogroup for Animals, said campaigners were “very pleased” by the creation of an animal welfare portfolio at the Commission — but less so about Várhelyi landing the gig.

“We are very happy about the title, we reserve our views on the person,” she said.

The ideal commissioner should have “some kind of experience” in animal welfare issues and “a heart for animals,” she added, as well as a track record of bringing stakeholders together.

Asked about speculation that Várhelyi was given the reins to health and animal welfare as a middle finger to Budapest, “We can say we are worried about it,” Ghislain said. “We hope that President von der Leyen will confirm that this is not that kind of move by being very clear in the mission letter.”

“It’s important to see what happens in the hearing,” she added, referring to the sessions in the European Parliament where MEPs have the chance to interrogate commission nominees. Várhelyi is likely to be grilled and his appointment may not be approved.

“We don’t know what the position of the proposed commissioner is on animal welfare,” said Adolfo Sansolini, coordinator of the EU for Animals campaign that collected over 300,000 signatures calling for the creation of an animal welfare commissioner.

The campaigner added that “[Várhelyi] doesn’t seem to have any competence for the job [and] surely competence should be a basic requirement for a European commissioner.”

Still, animal welfare has previously been an “afterthought” in the work of the Commission and often “delegated to the goodwill of a specific commissioner,” so the creation of a dedicated portfolio was “a historic turning point,” he added, regardless of the nominee.

“There is huge potential in this job … If the person who gets this job has goodwill, he or she can really shine,” Sansolini said. And if Várhelyi does not: “He shouldn’t be a commissioner.”