EU disease control centre picks Austrian centre-left lawmaker for top job

Retired Austrian centre-left lawmaker Pamela Rendi-Wagner has been chosen for the top job at the Stockholm-based EU disease prevention centre, an appointment bringing the accomplished tropical disease expert back to her roots.

Rendi-Wagner, who previously led the Austrian Social Democrats (SPÖ), said she was “honoured and grateful” in a statement.

She received more than two-thirds support from the managing board, composed of 27 EU country representatives, two from the European Parliament and three from the European Commission.

Before her appointment, she will be invited to speak to the EU’s health lawmakers.

“We look forward to her upcoming hearing in the European Parliament in March,” said Anni Virolainen-Julkunen, chair of the ECDC’s managing board.

She beat three other candidates in the race and her five-year posting is considered a return to her “roots” – after a stint as the first woman at the helm of Austria’s SPÖ from 2018 to 2023, when party members booted her from the top post and she retired from politics.

The ECDC, whose task is to strengthen Europe’s defence against infectious diseases, plays a role in monitoring the spread of COVID-19 variants and coordinating EU reactions to novel diseases.

Austria’s Health Minister Johannes Rauch said her “many years of political experience” alongside her “extensive expertise in the field of epidemiology” made her a perfect fit for the job.

Rendi-Wagner will succeed the German Andrea Ammon, who led the ECDC since 2017. 

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

Read more with Euractiv