Xavier Prats Monné (born 1956 in

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tarr ...

, Spain) is a Spanish former high-ranking official of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

, who served as Director-General of the

Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), until 2014 known as the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO), is a directorate-general of the European Commission. The DG is responsible for the implementation of E ...

(2015–2018) and Director-General at the

Directorate-General for Education and Culture The Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC; formerly the Directorate-General for Education and Culture) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The Education, Youth, Sport and Culture Directorate-General i ...

(2014–2015).

Background

Born in

, Spain, he completed his primary and secondary education at the Istituto Massimo of Rome, Italy. He majored in social anthropology at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...

, and holds degrees in

development economics Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural ...

from the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies in France; and in European Affairs from the

College of Europe The College of Europe (french: Collège d'Europe) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with its main campus in Bruges, Belgium and a second campus in Warsaw, Poland. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 by leading ...

in Belgium, where he graduated first of the Class of 1981–82 (the Johan Willem Beyen Promotion) and served as assistant professor. He is fluent in Spanish, English, French, Italian, and Catalan.

European Commission career

He previously was a high-ranking official of the

, as: Director General of the

(2015-2018), Deputy Director General (2010–2014) and Director General (2014–2015) at the

. As Director-general for Health and Food Safety he was responsible for the promotion of public health, the assessment of national healthcare systems' performance, animal health and welfare, and the strengthening of Europe's capacity to deal with crisis situations in human health and food safety. As Director-general for Education and Culture, the main policy areas under his responsibility were: the modernisation of European education and training systems; educational mobility, including the "Erasmus" programme for students; and international relations in the field of education, culture and youth. He represents the European Commission (EC) at the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT). From mid-2007 till the end-2010, he served as the EC Director for employment policy, Europe 2020 Strategy and international relations in the field of employment; in this capacity, he was also responsible for relations between the EC and the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

(ILO), and EC "sherpa" representative at the G20 Labour Ministers meeting. He was also, from 2007 to end-2010, one of the five founding members of the EC Impact Assessment Board, which vets all impact assessments produced by the institution and reports directly to the President. He previously served as: Director for the

European Social Fund The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs), which are dedicated to improving social cohesion and economic well-being across the regions of the Union. The funds are redistributive financ ...

; Deputy Chief of Staff of the EC Vice-President for external relations; Advisor of the EC Commissioner for Regional policy; assistant to the European Commission Spokesperson; Administrator at the Directorate General for Development policy and at the General Secretariat of the European Commission.

Later work

Prats Monné left the European Commission in 2018. Since 2018 he is a special advisor at Teach For All, a non-profit organisation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prats Monne, Xavier 1956 births College of Europe alumni Spanish officials of the European Union People from Tarragona Living people