New Director General at DG Sante

Xavier Prats Monné has taken over as Director General of Health and Food Safety at the European Commission, replacing Paola Testori Coggi who resigned in October 2014. Fluent in English, Spanish, French, Italian and Catalan, Mr Prats Monné is Spanish, although went to school in Italy, with higher education studies in Madrid, Paris and at the College d’Europe in Bruges. He has worked for the European Commission since 1986. His previous roles at the Commission encompass international affairs, regional policy, employment policy, impact assessment and most recently, at the Directorate General for Education and Culture, where he had been Director General since 2014.  In the new role, he is responsible for public health and healthcare systems, food and plant safety, pandemics and crisis management. Unit D of DG Santé, Health systems and products, is still headed by Andrzej Rys.