Dita Charanzová
MEP
Vice President of the European Parliament
Assumed office
3 July 2019
Serving with See List
PresidentDavid Sassoli
Roberta Metsola
Member of the European Parliament for the Czech Republic
Assumed office
1 July 2014
Personal details
Born (1975-04-30) 30 April 1975
Prague, Czechoslovakia
(now Czech Republic)
Political partyANO 2011
Alma materUniversity of Economics in Prague
Diplomatic School of Spain

Dita Charanzová (born 30 April 1975) is a Czech politician and diplomat who has served as Vice President of the European Parliament since 2019, and as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2014 for the ANO 2011 party.

Early life and career

Born in Prague. Charanzová graduated from the University of Economics in Prague and from the Diplomatic School of Spain in Madrid. In 2001, she obtained a Ph.D. degree from the Faculty of International Relations at the University of Economics in Prague.

Charanzová worked in the diplomatic service of the Czech Republic for eight years, four of which she was posted in the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU. During the Czech Presidency of the EU, she chaired the Trade Policy Committee of the Council of the European Union. Between 2000 and 2001, she participated in an EU project which was focused on the reform of public governance in the Czech Republic. During the same two years, she also served as an OSCE supervisor for election monitoring during the Kosovo elections.

In the past, she worked in Strasbourg as a TV Studio Manager during the sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Political career

In 2014, Charanzová ran for the elections to the European Parliament as an independent (non-party) candidate on the 3rd place from the list of candidates for ANO 2011 and was elected with a total number of 8,356 preferential votes (i.e. 3.41% of total votes).[1] In 2018, she was elected Vice President of the ALDE Party.[2]

In the 2019 elections, Charanzová was re-elected to the European Parliament for a second term, with a total number of 53 924 preferential votes (i.e. 10.73% of total votes).[6] She has since been serving as one of the Parliament’s Vice-Presidents; in this capacity, she is part of the Parliament’s leadership under President David Sassoli.[7] In her role as Vice-President, Charanzová is responsible for the Security Policy of the European Parliament for relations with Latin America and a part of the Chancellery of the European Citizens’ Prize.

In the European Parliament, Charanzová is a member of the Renew Europe political group. She is the coordinator for Renew Europe in the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and an active substitute member of the Committee on International Trade (INTA) and of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA).

Charanzová is also a member of the delegation for relations with the United States, the Delegation for the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat) and the Delegation for relations with Mercosur.

The main topics Charanzová deals with in the European Parliament are consumer protection, the digital economy international trade, and human rights. As a member of the IMCO Committee, she served as rapporteur on web accessibility.[3] She has actively worked on the negotiations of new business opportunities for Czech and European companies, for instance in the US and Latin America, but also globally.

In 2015, Charanzová and Fernando Maura Barandiarán nominated the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.[4]

In June 2023, Charanzová was the recipient of the Digital Strategy and Single Market Award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards[5]

Other activities

Recognition

In recognition of foreign policy activities, or more precisely, for promoting human rights, Charanzová was the first Czech MEP to win the MEP of the Year Award for 2016 in the category of foreign affairs in March 2016.[6] She won the MEP of the Year Award in 2020 in the Internal Market and Consumer Protection category.[7]

In 2016, Charanzová received the "New Europe 100" Prize awarded to persons from Central and Eastern Europe who have made a significant contribution to the digital development of the region. She was the first Czech MEP to receive this award in the history of the prize.[8] In 2017, Politico listed Charanzová as one of the 41 most influential MEPs. In the same year, Politico also ranked her among the top 20 women who shape Brussels, and she was placed in the same ranking in 2018 and 2020 as well.[9] Politico considers Charanzová as the leading woman on tech issues in the European Parliament at a time when the EU’s digital strategy has taken center stage.[10]

In 2018, Czech Forbes ranked her within the top 10 in their list of the Top 100 most influential women.[11]

In December 2020, Charanzová received the Internal Market & Consumer Protection award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards.[12]

Personal life

Charanzová and her partner have two daughters, Sophie and Mia. She is fluent in Czech, English, French, Spanish and Russian.

Publications

Charanzová is the author of various publications that deal with European issues. These include:

  • Charanzová, Dita. Surovinové strategie Evropské unie: globální a domácí výzvy.
  • Charanzová, Dita. Salvador de Madariaga. Velcí Evropané.

References

  1. ↑ "Lists of names | volby.cz". www.volby.cz. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  2. ↑ "Members of the ALDE Party Bureau | ALDE Party". Archived from the original on 2019-05-26. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  3. ↑ Toby Vogel (September 11, 2014), Committees choose rapporteurs European Voice.
  4. ↑ Vince Chadwick (October 15, 2015), Slain Kremlin critic shortlisted for EU award Politico Europe.
  5. ↑ "MEP Awards: Winners 2022". The Parliament Magazine. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  6. ↑ "MEP Awards 2016: A few words from the winners". The Parliament Magazine. 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  7. ↑ "MEP Awards 2020: Reaction and comment from our winners". 2 December 2020.
  8. ↑ "New Europe 100". Visegrad Insight. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  9. ↑ "The tech MEP gang". POLITICO. 2018-11-08. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  10. ↑ "Dita Charanzová". 9 March 2020.
  11. ↑ "Nejvlivnější Češkou je Lenka Bradáčová. V top 10 je poprvé Schillerová". Forbes (in Czech). 2018-11-01. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  12. ↑ Johnson, Brian (2 December 2020). "MEP Awards 2020: Reaction and comment from our winners". The Parliament Magazine. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
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