Florika Fink-Hooijer

Florika Fink-Hooijer
Director General

Directorate-General for the Environment

European Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 September 2020
PresidentUrsula von der Leyen
Preceded byDaniel Calleja Crespo
Director General

Directorate-General for Interpretation

European Commission
In office
1 June 2016 - 31 August 2020
PresidentJean-Claude Juncker
Preceded byMarco Benedetti
Personal details
Born (1962-03-16) 16 March 1962 (age 62)
Darmstadt, West Germany
SpouseJohannes Jeroen Hooijer
Children3
Alma materFree University of Berlin
University of Bonn
University of Lausanne
Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Florika Fink-Hooijer (born 1962) is a Senior EU official at the European Commission. She leads the Directorate-General for the Environment, which under her helm became a trailblazer for advancing the green transformation under the European Green Deal.

Florika Fink-Hooijer joined the European Commission in 1990 and has held various high level and senior management posts in the area of external (bilateral) policy as well as foreign and security policy, humanitarian aid, disaster risk reduction and environmental protection.

Early life and education

Fink-Hooijer was born in Darmstadt, West Germany, and raised in West Berlin. She is the second of three children born to Dr. Bertold Fink, a supreme court judge at the Federal Administrative Court of West Germany (Bundesverwaltungsgericht), and Margret Fink (originally Witte), a senior business teacher (Gewerbeoberstudienrätin).

Fink-Hooijer pursued her legal studies at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and at the Université de Lausanne. She went on to complete a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International and Comparative Law from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.[1][2]

Subsequently, she obtained a Ph.D. in copyright law from the Free University of Berlin, with a dissertation focusing on the subject of immediate termination in copyright contract law.[3][4]

Prior to joining the European Commission, she worked at the law firms of Nordemann, Vinck & Hertin in Berlin, and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in The Hague.[5]

European career

Fink-Hooijer began her career as a European civil servant in the European Commission in 1990. Her initial roles included positions as an administrator in the Internal Market and External Policies departments, as well as in the Secretariat-General, where she contributed extensively to EU policy documentation.[6][7][8][9][10]

Cabinet of Commissioner Monika Wulf-Mathies, 1995-1998

In 1995, Fink-Hooijer joined the Cabinet of Monika Wulf-Mathies, the Commissioner responsible for EU Regional Policy. In this role, she was instrumental in developing the pre-accession instruments as part of the Agenda 2000 initiative and handled broader legal and institutional affairs.

Cabinet of Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, 1999-2000

From 1999, Fink-Hooijer served in the Cabinet of Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, who was responsible for the Internal Market and Financial Services. She played a key role in shaping the European Patent Convention and introduced significant policy advancements in copyright, e-commerce and data protection for the digital age.[11][12]

Various Tenures as Head of Unit, 2000-2010

Between 2000 and 2010, Fink-Hooijer held various middle management positions, first in the Directorate-General for External Relations (RELEX) (the predecessor of the European External Action Service), and later in the Secretariat-General.

During this period, she was instrumental in the establishment of the EU's first civilian crisis management missions, including police, monitoring, training, and protection operations. Additionally, she played a central role in the creation of early EU military structures and contributed to the development of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). As the EU's chief negotiator for the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme on conflict diamonds, she led the implementation of this pioneering crisis management tool across the EU and globally.[13][14]

Later, Fink-Hooijer managed bilateral relations with Northeast and Southeast Asia and was pivotal in shaping the Monitoring and Certification Mechanism for Bulgaria and Romania, which later evolved into the European Rule of Law Mechanism applicable to all EU Member States.[15][16][17]

Head of the Cabinet of Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva, 2010-2012

In 2010, Fink-Hooijer became Head of Cabinet for Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva during her tenure as the first Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. In this capacity, she spearheaded the creation of the European Emergency Response Coordination Centre, which coordinates the delivery of humanitarian aid and civil protection assistance in crisis-, conflict- or disaster-stricken regions, both within and outside the EU, including at the request of the United Nations. She also played a significant role in strengthening the EU Civil Protection Mechanisms, enhancing their coordination with humanitarian aid in crisis situations.[18][19][20]

Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), 2012-2016

By 2012, Fink-Hooijer had become the first Policy Director in the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, where she managed responses to such crisis as the Ebola outbreak (2013-2016)[21] and maritime incidents (Maritime Incident Response Group).[22] She substantially advanced the EU's role in humanitarian aid and disaster risk reduction by introducing cash-based aid systems (as opposed to traditional in-kind aid delivery), promoting gender- and age-sensitive aid approaches, and advocating for international humanitarian law.[23] She also established a multifaceted early warning system, created the EU's first Disaster Knowledge Centre, and helped set up the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps to build local capacity and resilience in disaster-affected communities. Additionally, as a Policy Director for Humanitarian Aid, she pioneered civil-military cooperation with the European External Action Service (EEAS) to enhance the protection of civilians in emergencies.[24]

Director-General of the Directorate-General for Interpretation (SCIC), 2016-2020

In 2016, Fink-Hooijer was appointed Director-General of DG Interpretation, the largest interpreting service in the world and the only Directorate-General operating on an entrepreneurial model, functioning as a fee-based service provider for various EU institutions and agencies, and comprising both statutory and freelance staff.[25][26] Under her leadership, the first-ever Knowledge Centre on Interpretation (KCI) was established and she emphasized the need to "future-proof" interpretation services through the integration of new technologies and Artificial Intelligence.[27][28] Subsequently, she drove forward the digitalization of the service by introducing features like automatic speech recognition and other support services to interpreters.[29] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fink-Hooijer swiftly scaled up multilingual interpretation for hybrid meetings via digital platforms, a "watershed moment" that ensured the continued relevance of interpretation services even in fully remote settings.[30]

Director-General of the Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV), 2020-present

In 2020, Fink-Hooijer became Director-General of the Directorate-General for Environment.[31] In this role, she has been a key architect of the transformative environmental and green economic agenda under the European Green Deal, with a focus on circular economy, biodiversity, and zero pollution.[32]

Her leadership has laid the foundations for a green industrial policy within the Single Market, including the creation of a market for secondary raw materials to reduce dependence on critical raw materials. This is exemplified by the innovative Batteries Regulation (entered into force on 17 August 2023) and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (entered into force on 18 July 2024), both of which promote sustainability principles such as mandatory minimum recycled content.

Recognizing the link between climate change and biodiversity loss, Fink-Hooijer prioritized initiatives to halt biodiversity decline, leading to the introduction of the first-ever Nature Restoration (entered into force on 18 August 2024) and Soil Health (proposed on 5 July 2023) Laws and the EU's pioneering anti-Deforestation Regulation (entered into force on 29 June 2023). She also guided the EU's negotiations for the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted by the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on 19 December 2022, and a key deliverable under the European Green Deal, further solidifying her role as a global advocate for nature-based solutions and smarter resource management.[33][34]

In her capacity as Director-General for Environment, Fink-Hooijer also oversaw the revision of the Environmental Crime Directive (entered into force on 20 May 2024), setting new standards for environmental protection through criminal law and minimum rules with regards to the definition of criminal offences and penalties.

Under her leadership, further progress has been made toward a toxic-free environment through groundbreaking initiatives on air, water, soil, and chemicals, such as the updated Industrial and Livestock Rearing Emissions Directive (IED 2.0) (entered into force on 4 August 2024), the Zero Pollution Action Plan (adopted on 12 May 2021) and the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (adopted on 14 October 2020), providing regulatory predictability for industry, stimulating industrial competitiveness, and fostering investment in sustainable clean-tech solutions.

Additionally, Fink-Hooijer has become a prominent global advocate for preserving green and blue water cycles and enhancing water efficiency, driving the development of an EU Water Resilience Agenda.[35][36]

Personal life

Fink-Hooijer speaks German (her mother tongue), English, Dutch and French fluently.

She is married to fellow European Commission official Johannes Jeroen Hooijer and has three adult children: Valentin, Benjamin and Charlotte Hooijer.[37]

References

  1. ^ "European Commission appointed IES alumna Florika Fink-Hooijer as Director-General of its department for Interpretation (DG SCIC) | LLM". www.llminbrussels.eu. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  2. ^ European Commission. "Florika FINK - HOOIJER CV". European Commission.
  3. ^ Fink-Hooijer, Florika (1991). Fristlose Kündigung im Urhebervertragsrecht: die Beendigung von Dauerschuldverhältnissen im Urheberrecht unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Kündigungsrechts. Berliner Hochschulschriften zum gewerblichen Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht. Frankfurt am Main [u.a.]: Zugl.: Berlin, Freie Univ., Diss., 1989. ISBN 9783631428856.
  4. ^ Hoyng, W. and Fink-Hooijer, F., 1990. The patent term of pharmaceuticals and the legal possibilities of its extension. Intl. Review of Industrial Property and Copyright Law, volume II, pp. 161 - 182
  5. ^ "Florika Fink-Hooijer". POLITICO. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  6. ^ Fink-Hooijer, Florika (1994). "The Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union". European Journal of International Law. 5 (2): 173–198. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.ejil.a035865. ISSN 1464-3596.
  7. ^ The Evolution of the EC / EU Sanction Policy, CFSP-FORUM, vol. 4 (1994), Institut für Europäische Politik Bonn.
  8. ^ Florika., Fink-Hooijer (1991). Fristlose kündigung im Urhebervertragsrecht : Die Beendigung von Daverschuldverhaltnissen im Urheberrecht unter besorderer Berücksichtigung des Kündigungsrechts. P. Lang. ISBN 3-631-42885-5. OCLC 870526867.
  9. ^ Fink-Hooijer, Florika. Schutz des Urheberrechts und der verwandten Schutzrechte in der Informationsgesellschaft ein Zwischenstandsbericht über jüngere Entwicklungen auf europäischer Ebene. OCLC 1185316059.
  10. ^ Federal Ministry of Defence and Sports of the Republic of Austria (2015). Handbook on CSDP missions and operations : the common security defence policy of the European Union. Vienna: Federal Ministry of Defence and Sports of the Republic of Austria. pp. 84–89. ISBN 978-3-902275-42-4. OCLC 913782433.
  11. ^ The challenge of resilience in a globalized world. Europäische Gemeinschaften. Gemeinsame Forschungsstelle. Luxembourg. 2015. p. 60. ISBN 978-92-79-48438-4. OCLC 950726773.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ^ "MOFA: Japan-European Union (EU) Regulatory Reform Dialogue in Brussels in FY2005 (Overview)". www.mofa.go.jp. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  13. ^ Sara., Govaere, Inge. Poli (2014). EU management of global emergencies legal framework for combating threats and crises. Brill Nijhoff. pp. XIX. ISBN 978-90-04-26832-6. OCLC 905947144.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Financing of terrorism (Views from governments and civil society on cooperative security)", SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations, Washington, DC – Vol.2, No 1 – March 2004.
  15. ^ European Company for Strategic Intelligence (2010). "Going Global: Europe's Security Policy Challenge" (PDF). pp.97.
  16. ^ L'efficacité des mesures financières restrictives – évaluation de la pratique; Collection Contentieux Européen, édition A. Pedone 2006, Université de Paris, pages 129-137.
  17. ^ Financing of terrorism (Views from governments and civil society on cooperative security)", SAIS Centre for Transatlantic Relations, Washington, DC – Vol.2, No 1 – March 2004.
  18. ^ The challenge of resilience in a globalised world report by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission's in-house science service. European Commission. Joint Research Centre. Luxembourg: Publications Office. 2015. ISBN 978-92-79-48438-4. OCLC 1056521089.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. ^ Fink-Hooijer, Fink (15-16 May 2013). Disasters: Protecting and responding together - 4th European Civil Protection Forum. Brussels.
  20. ^ EU-Japan cooperation in disaster management and humanitarian relief: a challenging new dimension of a long standing partnership; University of Tokyo/ KU Leuven, EU-Japan Conference, 2011, 14th edition.
  21. ^ Fink-Hooijer, Florika (2015). Civil protection and humanitarian aid in the Ebola response: lessons for the humanitarian system from the EU experience. Humanitarian Practice Network. pp. nr 64. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  22. ^ "Dr. Florika Fink Hooijer - maritime incident response group". studylib.net. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  23. ^ Boin, Arjen. (2013). The European Union as crisis manager : patterns and prospects. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781461936695. OCLC 854975218.
  24. ^ Fink-Hooijer, Florika (1 January 2014). "7 The EU's Competence in the Field of Civil Protection (Article 196, Paragraph 1, a–c TFEU)". EU Management of Global Emergencies: 137–145. doi:10.1163/9789004268333_009. ISBN 9789004268326.
  25. ^ "World's Largest Interpretation Service Gets New Boss". Slator. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  26. ^ "European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - European Commission appoints new Directors-General to lead its departments for Informatics and for Interpretation, names three Deputy Directors-General". europa.eu. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  27. ^ Fink-Hooijer, Florika (11 January 2017). "Artificial Intelligence – the (un)desired revolution?". Lebende Sprachen. 62 (2): 269–274. doi:10.1515/les-2017-0020. ISSN 1868-0267. S2CID 67104547.
  28. ^ Interpreters, E. U. (27 May 2019). ".@FlorikaFink 'We need to "futureproof" our services by strengthening the skills of colleagues to work with new technologies.' #IAMLADP2019EU @EUinterpreters |@EP_Interpreters |@EUCourtPress |@EUCouncil |@UNDGACM_EN|@translatorespic.twitter.com/XMCotLRgrE". @EUInterpreters. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  29. ^ Sarno, Ivano (2019). "IAMLADP: Directors General of Interpretation and Translation discuss multilingualism". Knowledge Centre on Interpretation - European Commission. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  30. ^ 100 Years of Conference Interpreting: A Legacy. Newcastle upon Tyne: Kilian G. Seeber. 2021. pp. 284–288. ISBN 978-1-5275-6878-5.
  31. ^ "College Meeting: The European Commission appoints two Director-Generals and two Directors". European Commission. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  32. ^ "European Recovery under the Green Deal: All hands on deck!". Water Europe. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  33. ^ EU Green Week 2020 - Opening Session - A New Beginning, 6 November 2020, retrieved 26 May 2021
  34. ^ Material world: Using resources sustainably in a time of planetary crises, 26 February 2024, retrieved 19 August 2024
  35. ^ "Debate: How can we all do our bit and wise up about water resilience?". euronews. 5 June 2024. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  36. ^ "EU continues its engagement in global water cooperation - European Commission". environment.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  37. ^ "SCIC-UNIVERSITIES CONFERENCE 2019 (05/04/2019) - Streaming Service of the European Commission". webcast.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 29 July 2019.