Eva Joly, born in Oslo, was elected in 2009 as a French member of the European Parliament for Europe Écologie. She is currently Vice-Chair of the Special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance, and Vice-Chair of the delegation for relations with Afghanistan. Joly is also a member of the Committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs, and substitute on the Committee of economic and monetary affairs. She chaired the Development Committee of the European Parliament in her first parliamentary term.
Eva Joly practices law in France and is a member of the Paris Bar. Since 2015 she has been a Commissioner at ICRICT, Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporte Taxation.
Background
Eva Joly moved to Paris at the age of 20 to work as an au pair, and today holds both a French and Norwegian citizenship.
Having studied law, Joly specialized in financial affairs and took office as examining magistrate at the High Court in Paris. She investigated the financial scandal of the French state-owned petroleum company Elf Aquitaine and became known for her persistent and courageous fight against corruption and fraud.
Following a long career as a judge in France, Joly in 2002 returned to Norway and was a special adviser at the Ministry of Justice and the Police. From 2005 to 2009 she worked as a special adviser to the Norwegian Minister of International Development, heading Norad’s campaign against corruption and money laundering. She was a member of the Government Commission on Capital Flight from Poor Countries.
In 2009 she was brought in by the Icelandic government as a special adviser to investigate the possibility that white-collar crime may have played a part in the 2008–2009 Icelandic financial crises. From 2012 to 2015, she has been a member of MEC (Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee) in Afghanistan as an anti-corruption expert.
In 2012, she was the Europe Ecologie - Les Verts candidate at the French presidential elections.
Publications
Eva Joly has published several books, the most recent ones being Le Loup dans la Bergerie published by Les Arènes in 2016 (a critical approach of Jean-Claude Junker as President of the European Commission) and French Uranium also published by Les Arènes in 2017 (a politico-financial thriller).
Other published books include: Notre affaire à tous in 2000 (published in English under the title Justice under Siege in 2006) and her autobiography Korrupsjonsjeger (Corruption hunter) in 2001. In her book Plan for en bedre verden (Plan for a better world), published in 2004, Ms Joly described her views on development assistance, globalisation and the fight against poverty. She is Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Bergen, and has received numerous other awards including, in 2012, the Sophie Prize for her "tireless and fearless" work against economic crime and corruption, and her vision of a sustainable and fair society.