Cyprus

Androula Vassiliou was born and raised in Cyprus. She studied Law and International Affairs in London. She practiced Law for 25 years. She was elected member of the Cyprus House of Representatives for two consecutive terms (1996-2006) and served on various parliamentary committees. She represented The Cyprus Parliament at the IPU and the ‘Convention on the Future of Europe’. In March 2008, she became member of the European Commission responsible for Health, a position she held until February 2010.
In March 2010 she was reappointed to the European Commission and was entrusted with the portfolio of Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, a position she held until October 2014.
Back to Cyprus, she had been re-appointed Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Cyprus Oncology Centre, a position she held until recently. She is the Chair of the Bi-Communal Technical Committee on Culture and a member of the Board of CVAR. She is a member of the High Council of the European University Institute of Florence and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Cyprus Institute of Research and Education.
Her mother tongue is Greek. She speaks English fluently and has sufficient knowledge of French.
She has received the following honors: ‘The Grand Cross of the Order of Benefaction’ from the Hellenic Republic, she was named ‘Commander of the Order of the Arts and the Letters’ by the French Republic in 2015 and in January 2016 she received from the Prime Minister of Spain ‘the Grand Cross of ‘Alfonso X el Sabio’ at a special ceremony at the Prado museum. She has an Honorary Doctorate from Dimitri Cantemir University of Romania; on 19 September 2019, at a special event at St James’s Palace in London, she was honored by the Global Heritage Fund, along with 3 other women, from other regions of the world, as ‘Women Leaders in the field of heritage’. She is married to Dr George Vassiliou, former President of the Republic of Cyprus and has three children.