Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has nominated lawmaker Stella Kyriakides to become the country’s next European commissioner, the country’s government announced on Friday.
Anastasiades contacted Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday with his decision, according to a government statement.
Kyriakides currently serves in Cypus’ House of Representatives, representing Nicosia since 2006. A member of the Democratic Rally Party, which forms part of the center-right European People’s Party, she has also served as president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
A clinical psychologist by training, she is a long-standing campaigner on breast cancer and has worked on health policy issues in the Cypriot legislature.
Cyprus is among a handful of countries to heed von der Leyen’s call to nominate female candidates in order to ensure gender balance in the next Commission. So far, 11 countries have nominated male candidates, while seven have nominated women.
