Dita Charanzová

Dita Charanzová
European Parliament
Assumed office
July 2014
Personal details
Born (1975-04-30) 30 April 1975
Prague, Czechoslovakia
(now Czech Republic)
Political party Non-affiliated, ran from ANO 2011 list
Alma mater University of Economics in Prague
Diplomatic School of Spain

Dita Charanzová (born 30 April 1975 in Prague) is a Member of the European Parliament.

Dita Charanzová is a former Czech diplomat, manager, consultant and senior government official whose carrier focused on European Union and International Trade issues. Since July 2014 she is a Member of the European Parliament.

Studies and career

Charanzová holds an Engineer's degree from the University of Economics in Prague (09/1992-07/1996) and later graduated with a master's degree from Diplomatic School of Spain in Madrid. In 2001, she obtained a Ph.D. degree at the Faculty of International Relations at the University of Economics in Prague.[1]

Charanzová worked in the diplomatic service of the Czech Republic for eleven years (10/2001-06/2012). During this time, she was posted for four years (08/2005-08/2009) at the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union, where during the Czech Presidency of the Union, she served as Chair of the Council of the European Union Committee on Trade and Development Policy. Before joining the Foreign Ministry, in the years 2000 and 2001, Charanzová participated in the organisation of the European Union projects on reform of public governance in the Czech Republic (PHARE). During the same two years, she also served as an OSCE election observer during the Kosovo elections. After leaving the Czech Foreign Ministry, she worked at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France (01/2012-06/2014).[2]

Political career

In 2014, Charanzová ran for the elections to the European Parliament as an independent candidate on the 3rd place from the list of candidates for ANO 2011 and was elected with a total number of 8356 preferential votes(i.e. 3.41% of total votes). The preferential votes result moved her from 3rd place to 2nd place in the elected order of ANO 2011 list MEPs. [3]

In the European Parliament, Charanzová is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) political group. She serves as the ALDE Coordinator and Spokesperson (ranking member) for the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). On the committee, she serves as rapporteur on web accessibility.[4] She is also an active substitute member of the Committee on International Trade (INTA).

In January 2016, she became a member of the European Parliament's Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS), which was established after the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

In addition to these committees, Charanzová is a member of five parliamentary delegations: Delegation for the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat), Delegation for relations with Mercosur, Delegation for relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (Cariforum), Delegation for relations with Chile, and the Delegation to the EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees. The main topics Dita Charanzová deals with are the negotiations of trade agreement between the EU and the USA, TTIP, along with the agenda of the digital single market and consumer protection.

Besides her committee assignments, she is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Digital Agenda.[5]

In 2015, Charanzová and Fernando Maura Barandiarán nominated the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), a Venezuelan election coalition formed to unify the opposition to president Hugo Chávez, for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.[6]

Charanzová is known to be very active on human rights issues, particularly in Latin America. She is also a well-known voice in favour of increased international free trade and a support of the TTIP agreement between the United States and the European Union as well as strengthened relations with Mexico.

In recognition of these works, she won the MEP of the Year Award for 2016 in the category of foreign affairs. [7]

Other activities

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:

References


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