Most Influential People2019

After spending more than a month in a Czech jail on false corruption charges in 2006, Vera Jourova decided to delve into European law to understand how such injustice could be committed.

Now, as the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Jourova is a leading voice calling for regulation of big tech companies. Thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which Jourova helped to pass and implement, Europeans have rigorous new privacy rights. She continues to fight to make data protection an everyday reality, in defiance of intense pushback. Jourova approaches this difficult task with a passion that comes from a fundamental belief: that her mission is to protect Europeans.

We now see more clearly the dark side of tech, but it still holds so much promise. Jourova is asking the question: How can we make tech trustworthy so that people don’t reject the benefits it can bring?

Vestager is the European Commissioner for Competition