Věra Jourová

Jourová has been a member of the ANO political party since 2012, and since 2013, she has been the movement's deputy chairwoman. She was elected as a Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament in October 2013, and became Minister for Regional Development in January 2014 in the government of Bohuslav Sobotka.[8] Her popularity ratings remained consistently high, helping to drive the party to second place in the 2013 national elections and to victory in the 2014 European elections.[4]

Jourová testifies before the European Parliament in 2019 for confirmation as Vice-President and Commissioner for Values and Transparency

In July 2014, the three parties in the Czech government agreed that the country's next European commissioner should be Jourová.[9] At the time, there was speculation she would vie for the important posts of European Commissioner for Regional Policy or the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services.[9]

After an EU Parliament hearing[10] she was confirmed as the European Union's Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality as a part of the Juncker Commission.[2] The Corporate Europe Observatory "expressed serious doubts" about her possible conflicts of interest due to her ties with ANO Chairman Andrej Babiš, who is also the Czech Finance Minister and a billionaire businessman.[6][11] Her party, ANO, belongs to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament.

Her responsibilities include gender equality, judicial cooperation within the EU, and privacy concerns, including concluding negotiations on a comprehensive EU-U.S. Safe Harbor Agreement and working with the Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip to pass "EU data protection reform and by modernis[e] and simplify[] consumer rules for online and digital purchases".[12] In addition, her portfolio includes "overseeing remuneration rules across the City of London, enforcing EU pay curbs and bonus caps", something that was explicitly carved out of Jonathan Hill's portfolio as Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union "amid concerns that members of the European Parliament will try to veto his appointment".[7] In 2018, Jourová was put in charge of drafting rules to assess the independence and functioning of a country's judicial system as a condition for receiving funds from the budget of the European Union.[13]

Jourová said that Germany acted "according to the rules" regarding Spain's extradition request for Catalan president Carles Puigdemont.[14]

Following the 2019 European elections, Babiš nominated Jourová for a second term in the European Commission.[15]

In April 2021, Jourová was included in a list of eight public officials that were banned by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs from entering the country in retaliation for EU sanctions on Russians.[16]