Ondřej Kovařík

My career to date has been dedicated to public service, primarily in various roles within the Czech civil service, but also in European public administration, where I worked in the European Parliament. Specifically, I have worked at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Government, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ottawa, the Czech Ministry of Defence and the European Parliament.

In 2019, I was elected as a Member of the European Parliament by the people of the Czech Republic. Since taking up my position, I’ve taken on various roles and responsibilities. I am the Chairman of the Working Group for Access to Finance for SMEs, which functions under the umbrella of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. My other areas of focus in this Committee are within the realm of the digitalisation of the economy, where I led the Parliament’s work in the area of digital finance and the deepening of the single market when it comes to capital and investment, known as the Capital Markets Union. I am also a substitute member of the European Parliament’s special Committee on Taxation, and have led the Parliament’s work on a number of tax-related files, including elements of the new EU VAT regime which will come into force this year.

I hold various other positions in the European parliament, for example as a member of the Parliament’s Delegation for relations with Canada, and a substitute member of several other parliamentary committees. My work in these committees varies from working on tourism, the future of the transport and passenger rights to migration, border management and research and practical use of new technologies, for example those based on Artificial intelligence, across a broad range of economic sectors.