# European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth

The European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth is a member of the European Commission. The portfolio was previously titled European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport until 2019 when it was merged with the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation to form its current title.
The portfolio is responsible for policies in education and training, youth, sport, civil society, and culture. The commissioner leads the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture.

## History of the portfolio

Commissioner Ján Figeľ was approved by the European Parliament in 2004 as the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism. This was enlarged since the Prodi Commission with the addition of training and multilingualism (The Directorate-General is still just Directorate-General for Education and Culture).
However, when Romania joined the European Union on 1 January 2007, responsibility for multilingualism was handed over to the new Romanian commissioner, Leonard Orban. In its place the portfolio now also includes youth, sport and civil society. Figeľ describes his position is very orientated to "the citizens and their quality of life".
The commission has become increasingly active in education. The ERASMUS programme, which was established in 1987, is a student exchange programme promoting mobility of students between European universities. The Bologna process aims to create a European Higher Education Area where academic qualifications can be recognised across Europe. The European Institute of Technology is a proposed research university.
With the 2014 inauguration of the Juncker Commission, the portfolio was once again renamed – multilingualism was removed in favor of citizenship: "Education, Culture, Youth and Citizenship". Citizenship in turn was soon replaced by sport. The title from 2014 to 2019 was thus European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.

## List of commissioners

The previous portfolio to the current was Culture, merged with Audiovisual policy and EP relations.
| No. | Commissioner | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Party | Country | Commission |
| 1 | Reding, VivianeViviane Reding (born 1951) | 13 September 1999 | 21 November 2004 | 5 years, 69 days | CSV | Luxembourg | Prodi |
| 2 | Grybauskaitė, DaliaDalia Grybauskaitė (born 1956) | 1 May 2004 | 11 November 2004 | 194 days | Independent | Lithuania | Prodi |
| 3 | Figeľ, JánJán Figeľ (born 1960) | 22 November 2004 | 1 October 2009 | 4 years, 313 days | KDH | Slovakia | Barroso |
| 4 | Šefčovič, MarošMaroš Šefčovič (born 1966) | 1 October 2009 | 9 February 2010 | 131 days | PES | Slovakia | Barroso |
| 5 | Vassiliou, AndroullaAndroulla Vassiliou (born 1943) | 9 February 2010 | 1 November 2014 | 4 years, 265 days | EDI | Cyprus | Barroso |
| 6 | Navracsics, TiborTibor Navracsics (born 1966) | 1 November 2014 | 30 November 2019 | 5 years, 29 days | Fidesz | Hungary | Juncker |
| 7 | Gabriel, MariyaMariya Gabriel (born 1979) | 1 December 2019 | 15 May 2023 | 3 years, 166 days | GERB | Bulgaria | Von der Leyen |
| 8 | Ivanova, IlianaIliana Ivanova (born 1975) | 19 September 2023 | 30 November 2024 | 1 year, 72 days | GERB | Bulgaria | Von der Leyen |
| 9 | Zaharieva, EkaterinaEkaterina Zaharieva (born 1975) | 1 December 2024 | Incumbent | 85 days | GERB | Bulgaria | Von der Leyen II |