Antonio Parenti

Director, Public Health, Cancer, and Health Security

Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), European Commission

Antonio Parenti is currently the Director for Public Health, Cancer and Human Security in the Directorate General for Human and Food Security of the European Commission

Until August 2024 he was the Head of the European Commission Representation in Italy. He represented the Commission in Italy under the political authority of President Ursula von der Leyen and oversaw the two offices of Rome and Milan.

Before Italy, he was the Minister Counsellor in charge of the economic affairs, trade and development section of the EU Delegation to the United Nations. In that capacity, he served as Chief negotiator of the European Union for the UN Global Compact on Migration. Much of his career took place in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade where he served as Deputy Chief negotiator of the free trade agreement with Japan, responsible for relations with the countries of the Far East including the China and Chief negotiator for the accession of several countries to the WTO. He served not only in Brussels and New York but also in Moscow where he served as the Counsellor for economic and commercial affairs of the EU Delegation during the final stages of Russia's accession negotiations to the WTO.

Antonio Parenti has a Law Degree and a LL.M in European Law from the University of Bologna and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins University). He is the author of numerous articles and essays on European affairs and international trade.

Updated: October 2024